Ecosystem carbon storage under different scenarios of land use change in Qihe catchment, China

Abstract

Regional land use change is the main cause of the ecosystem carbon storage changes by affecting emission and sink process. However, there has been little research on the influence of land use changes for ecosystem carbon storage at both temporal and spatial scales. For this study, the Qihe catchment in the southern part of the Taihang Mountains was taken as an example; its land use change from 2005 to 2015 was analyzed, the Markov-CLUES composite model was used to predict land use patterns in 2025 under natural growth, cultivated land protection and ecological conservation scenario, and the land use data were used to evaluate ecosystem carbon storage under different scenarios for the recent 10-year interval and the future based on the carbon storage module of the InVEST model. The results show the following: (1) the ecosystem carbon storage and average carbon density of Qihe catchment were 3.16×10 7 t and 141.9 t/ha, respectively, and decreased by 0.07×10 7 t and 2.89 t/ha in the decade evaluated. (2) During 2005-2015, carbon density mainly decreased in low altitude areas. For high altitude area, regions with increased carbon density comprised a similar percentage to regions with decreased carbon density. The significant increase of the construction areas in the middle and lower reaches of Qihe and the degradation of upper reach woodland were core reasons for carbon density decrease. (3) For 2015-2025, under natural growth scenario, carbon storage and carbon density also significantly decrease, mainly due to the decrease of carbon sequestration capacity in low altitude areas; under cultivated land protection scenario, the decrease of carbon storage and carbon density will slow down, mainly due to the increase of carbon sequestration capacity in low altitude areas; under ecological conservation scenario, carbon storage and carbon density significantly increase and reach 3.19×10 7 t and 143.26 t/ha, respectively, mainly in regions above 1100 m in altitude. Ecological conservation scenario can enhance carbon sequestration capacity but cannot effectively control the reduction of cultivated land areas. Thus, land use planning of research areas should consider both ecological conservation and cultivated land protection scenarios to increase carbon sink and ensure the cultivated land quality and food safety.

Analysis of Spatial Heterogeneity and Influencing Factors of Ecological Environment Quality in China’s North-South Transitional Zone

“…The lack of coordination between the natural ecological environment and economic development makes the ecological environment subject to less human disturbance. It maintains a virtuous cycle of the ecosystem in areas with relatively poor economic development [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ].…”

A Multi-Scenario Simulation and Optimization of Land Use with a Markov–FLUS Coupling Model: A Case Study in Xiong’an New Area, China

“…Some research has focused on a multifractal spectral analysis of construction land in large regions [24], the coupling configuration of different factors, such as the economy and ecology [25], and the bi-fractal structure and evolution of land use morphology [26]. The research on land use change is not limited to urban areas, but also includes river basins [27] and ecologically fragile areas [28].…”

Trade-Offs and Synergies of Multiple Ecosystem Services for Different Land Use Scenarios in the Yili River Valley, China

“…They failed to analyze the ESs trade-offs in different future scenarios and only assessed the present ESs trade-offs, failing to provide stakeholders with future ESs dynamics. Therefore, understanding the interactions among ESs is a major area of interest in the field to achieve rational ecological management [18][19][20].…”