scholarly journals Association of urban forest landscape characteristics with biomass and soil carbon stocks in Harbin City, Northeastern China

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hailiang Lv ◽  
Wenjie Wang ◽  
Xingyuan He ◽  
Chenhui Wei ◽  
Lu Xiao ◽  
...  

Background Urban forests help in mitigating carbon emissions; however, their associations with landscape patterns are unclear. Understanding the associations would help us to evaluate urban forest ecological services and favor urban forest management via landscape regulations. We used Harbin, capital city of the northernmost province in China, as an example and hypothesized that the urban forests had different landscape metrics among different forest types, administrative districts, and urban–rural gradients, and these differences were closely associated with forest carbon sequestration in the biomass and soils. Methods We extracted the urban forest tree coverage area on the basis of 2 GF-1 remote sensing images and object-oriented based classification method. The analysis of forest landscape patterns and estimation of carbon storage were based on tree coverage data and 199 plots. We also examined the relationships between forest landscape metrics and carbon storage on the basis of forest types, administrative districts, ring roads, and history of urban settlements by using statistical methods. Results The small patches covering an area of less than 0.5 ha accounted for 72.6% of all patches (average patch size, 0.31 ha). The mean patch size (AREA_MN) and largest patch index (LPI) were the highest in the landscape and relaxation forest and Songbei District. The landscape shape index (LSI) and number of patches linearly decreased along rural-urban gradients (p < 0.05). The tree biomass carbon storage varied from less than 10 thousand tons in the urban center (first ring road region and 100-year regions) to more than 100 thousand tons in the rural regions (fourth ring road and newly urbanized regions). In the same urban–rural gradients, soil carbon storage varied from less than five thousand tons in the urban centers to 73–103 thousand tons in the rural regions. The association analysis indicated that the total forest area was the key factor that regulates total carbon storage in trees and soils. However, in the case of carbon density (ton ha−1), AREA_MN was strongly associated with tree biomass carbon, and soil carbon density was negatively related to LSI (p < 0.01) and AREA_MN (p < 0.05), but positively related to LPI (p < 0.05). Discussion The urban forests were more fragmented in Harbin than in other provincial cities in Northeastern China, as shown by the smaller patch size, more complex patch shape, and larger patch density. The decrease in LSI along the rural-urban gradients may contribute to the forest carbon sequestrations in downtown regions, particularly underground soil carbon accumulation, and the increasing patch size may benefit tree carbon sequestration. Our findings help us to understand how forest landscape metrics are associated with carbon storage function. These findings related to urban forest design may maximize forest carbon sequestration services and facilitate in precisely estimating the forest carbon sink.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hingabu Hordofa Koricho ◽  
Ararsa Derese Seboka ◽  
Shaoxian Song

Abstract Background: The recent urban challenges due to climate change and urban environment deterioration requires proper planning and inventories of urban forests. In this paper, trees and shrub information were used to estimate leaf area/biomass, carbon storage, carbon sequestration, pollution removal, and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, hydrological and functional values of Adama city urban forest. This study was conducted to assess and quantify the ecosystem services of urban forests of Adama city, Central Ethiopia.Results: The result of i-tree Eco model has indicated that the tree species such as Azadirachta indica, Eucalyptus globulus, Carica papaya and Delonix regia sequester high percentage of carbon which is approximately 14.7%, 7.4%, 7.3% and 6.2% of all annually sequestered carbon respectively. Besides, urban forests of the city was estimated to store 116,000 tons of carbon; the most carbons were stored by the species such as Eucalyptus globulus, Azadirachta indica, Carica papaya and Delonix regia that stores approximately 22.1%, 12.3%, 9.5% and 4.2% of all stored carbon respectively. Trees in Adama urban forests were estimated to produce 19.93 thousand tons of oxygen per year. It was estimated that trees and shrubs remove 188.3 thousand tons of air pollution due to O3, CO, NO2, PM2.5 and SO2 per year. In the city, 35 percent of the urban forest's VOC emissions were from Eucalyptus cinerea and Eucalyptus globulus. Besides, the monetary value of Adama urban forest in terms of carbon storage, carbon sequestration, and pollution removal was estimated to 16,588,470 ETB/yr, 118,283 ETB /yr and 12,162,701,080. 9 ETB /yr respectively.Conclusion: Urban forest of Adama city has significant contribution in terms of enhancing woody species diversity and the regulation of urban environment of the study area. From the management and conservation perspectives, urban forests of the study area needs consolidated interventions in terms of tree planting in bare areas and management works. Hence, reliable commitment should be demanded form the key stakeholders such as government, urban foresters and city dwellers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Li ◽  
Chunyan Xue ◽  
Hua Shao ◽  
Ge Shi ◽  
Nan Jiang

The landscape patterns of urban forests not only reflect the influence of urbanization on urban forests, but also determines its function in urban ecosystem services. In the case of mastering the overall forest landscape pattern of a city, a study of the structure of urban forest landscapes at different scales and in urbanized regions is beneficial to a comprehensive understanding of the forest characteristics of a city. In the present study, an attempt was made to map and monitor the spatio-temporal dynamics of an urban forest in Shanghai from 2004 to 2014 using remote sensing techniques. Methods of landscape ecology analysis are followed to quantify the spatiotemporal patterns of an urban forest landscape by urban and rural gradient regionalization. The results show that the spatial structure of an urban forest landscape is essentially consistent with an urban landscape pattern. Due to strong interference from human activities, the ecological quality of forest landscapes is low. At the landscape level, the urban forest coverage rate increased from 11.43% in 2004 to 16.02% in 2014, however, the number of large patches decreased, there was a high degree of urban forest landscape fragmentation, landscape connectivity was poor, landscape patch boundaries were uniform, and weak links were present between ecological processes. Different urban and rural gradient division methods exhibit obvious gradient characteristics along the urban–rural gradient in Shanghai. The regional differences in the urban forest landscape ecological characteristics have further increased as a result of urban planning and zoning. The total amount of urban forest is located closer to the urban center, which has the smallest total amount of forest; however, in terms of urban forest coverage, the suburbs have more coverage than do the outer suburbs and the central urban areas. The urban forest landscape’s spatial distribution area is evidently different. Urbanization affects the areas closest to urban residential areas, which are markedly disturbed by humans, and the urban forest landscape has a high degree of fragmentation. The forest patches have become divided and unconnected, and the degree of natural connectivity has gradually decreased over the past 10 years. At the landscape class level, broadleaf forests are dominant in Shanghai, and their area exhibits an increasing trend; shrublands and needleleaf forests, however, show a decreasing trend. Compared with other forest types, the spatial distribution of broadleaf forest is concentrated in the suburbs, and the aggregation effect is relatively apparent. From the perspective of urban forest landscape pattern aggregation characteristics in Shanghai, the spatial distribution of urban forest landscape point patterns in the study area exhibit extremely uneven characteristics. The point density of urban forest patches larger than 1 ha in Shanghai increased from 2004 to 2014. However, the total number of patches with areas larger than 5 ha decreased, and this decrease plays an important role in the ecological environment. In the past 10 years, the concentration characteristics of urban forests with large patches has gradually decreased. In 2014, the urban forest landscapes decreased by 5 km compared to the intensity of aggregates in 2004, which also indicates that urban forests in Shanghai tend to be fragmented. The results of this study can be useful to help improve urban residents’ living environments and the sustainable development of the urban ecosystem, and they will also be vital to future management.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuyang Yu ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Zixiang Zhou ◽  
Li Zeng ◽  
Cheng Zhang

The Qinling-Daba Mountain area is a transitional zone between north and south China and not much is known about its carbon storage, particularly its pool of soil organic carbon (SOC). Given this shortcoming, more reliable information regarding its SOC is needed. In light of this, we quantified above and below-ground carbon sinks using both the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford approach (CASA) model and an improved carbon cycle process model. We also assessed the net present value (NPV) for carbon budgets under different carbon price and discount rate scenarios using the NPV model. Our results indicated that the net primary productivity (NPP) was lower in places with low density forests that were situated at high elevation. The spatial distribution of carbon storage depended on NPP production and litter decompositon, which reflected specific vegetation as well as temperature and moisture gradients. The lowest amounts of carbon storage were in the center of the Qinling Mountains and also partly in the Daba area, which is a location associated with sparse grassland. Contrastingly, the broad-leaved forested area showed the highest amount of carbon storage. NPV was positively correlated with discount rate and carbon prices, thus resulting in the highest values in the forests and grassland. The net present value of total soil carbon sequestration in the six scenarios in 2015 was 3.555 b yuan, 3.621 b yuan, 5.421 b yuan, 5.579 b yuan, 7.530 b yuan, 7.929 b yuan; The net present value of total soil carbon sequestration in 6 scenarios in 2017 is 2.816 b yuan, 2.845 b yuan, 4.361 b yuan, 4.468 b yuan, 6.144 b yuan, 6.338 b yuan (billion = 109; b; RMB is the legal currency of the China, and its unit is yuan, 1 euro = 7.7949 yuan, and 1 pound = 9.2590 yuan). Levying a carbon tax would be a notable option for decision makers as they develop carbon emission reduction policies. Given this, incorporating discount rates and carbon pricing would allow for more realistic value estimations of soil organic carbon. This approach would also provide a theoretical basis and underscore the practical significance for the government to set a reasonable carbon price.


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Chang Liu ◽  
Guanglong Ou ◽  
Yao Fu ◽  
Chengcheng Zhang ◽  
Cairong Yue

Even though studies on forest carbon storage are relatively mature, dynamic changes in carbon sequestration have been insufficiently researched. Therefore, we used panel data from 81 Pinus kesiya var. langbianensis forest sample plots measured on three occasions to build an ordinary regression model and a quantile-regression model to estimate carbon sequestration over time. In the models, the average carbon reserve of the natural forests was taken as the dependent variable and the average diameter at breast height (DBH), crown density, and altitude as independent variables. The effects of the DBH and crown density on the average carbon storage differed considerably among different age groups and with time, while the effect of altitude had a relatively insignificant influence. Compared with the ordinary model, the quantile-regression model was more accurate in residual and predictive analyses and removed large errors generated by the ordinary model in fitting for young-aged and over-mature forests. We are the first to introduce panel-data-based modeling to forestry research, and it appears to provide a new solution to better grasp change laws for forest carbon sequestration.


Author(s):  
Abderrahmane Ameray ◽  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
Osvaldo Valeria ◽  
Miguel Montoro Girona ◽  
Xavier Cavard

Abstract Purpose of Review Carbon sequestration and storage in forest ecosystems is often promoted as a solution for reducing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. Yet, our understanding is lacking regarding how forest management strategies affect the net removal of greenhouse gases and contribute to climate change mitigation. Here, we present a review of carbon sequestration and stock dynamics, following three strategies that are widely used in boreal, temperate and tropical forests: extensive forest management, intensive forest management and old-growth forest conservation. Recent Findings Several studies show that specific forest management strategies can improve carbon sequestration capacity and soil carbon storage. Within these studies, the old-growth forest conservation strategy results in greater carbon storage in soils than do extensive and intensive forest management. Intensive forest management enhances forest carbon sequestration capacity through afforestation using fast-growing species, mechanical soil preparation from low to moderate intensity and N fertilization. Extensive forest management is an intermediate compromise regarding carbon sequestration and soil carbon storage, between conservation and intensive forest management strategies. With respect to silvicultural treatments, partial cutting is a practice that increases forest carbon sequestration rates and maintains higher carbon storage in soils compared to clear-cuts. Each silvicultural practice that is discussed in this review showed a similar effect on forest carbon in all biomes, although the magnitude of these effects differs mainly in terms of heterotrophic respiration. Summary To achieve sustainable management and fulfill industrial demand and profitability, specific gaps must be dealt with to improve our scientific knowledge regarding forest carbon sequestration in a climate change context, mainly through the integration of the three aforementioned strategies in a functional zoning approach at the landscape scale. We present a review with promising strategies for guiding sustainable forest management in such a global context.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 745-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Olin ◽  
M. Lindeskog ◽  
T. A. M. Pugh ◽  
G. Schurgers ◽  
D. Wårlind ◽  
...  

Abstract. Croplands are vital ecosystems for human well-being and provide important ecosystem services such as crop yields, retention of nitrogen and carbon storage. On large (regional to global)-scale levels, assessment of how these different services will vary in space and time, especially in response to cropland management, are scarce. We explore cropland management alternatives and the effect these can have on future C and N pools and fluxes using the land-use-enabled dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS (Lund–Potsdam–Jena General Ecosystem Simulator). Simulated crop production, cropland carbon storage, carbon sequestration and nitrogen leaching from croplands are evaluated and discussed. Compared to the version of LPJ-GUESS that does not include land-use dynamics, estimates of soil carbon stocks and nitrogen leaching from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems were improved. Our model experiments allow us to investigate trade-offs between these ecosystem services that can be provided from agricultural fields. These trade-offs are evaluated for current land use and climate and further explored for future conditions within the two future climate change scenarios, RCP (Representative Concentration Pathway) 2.6 and 8.5. Our results show that the potential for carbon sequestration due to typical cropland management practices such as no-till management and cover crops proposed in previous studies is not realised, globally or over larger climatic regions. Our results highlight important considerations to be made when modelling C–N interactions in agricultural ecosystems under future environmental change and the effects these have on terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nahuel Bautista ◽  
Bruno D. V. Marino ◽  
J. William Munger

Forest carbon sequestration offset protocols have been employed for more than 20 years with limited success in slowing deforestation and increasing forest carbon trading volume. Direct measurement of forest carbon flux improves quantification for trading but has not been applied to forest carbon research projects with more than 600 site installations worldwide. In this study, we apply carbon accounting methods, scaling hours to decades to 28-years of scientific CO2 eddy covariance data for the Harvard Forest (US-Ha1), located in central Massachusetts, USA and establishing commercial carbon trading protocols and applications for similar sites. We illustrate and explain transactions of high-frequency direct measurement for CO2 net ecosystem exchange (NEE, gC m−2 year−1) that track and monetize ecosystem carbon dynamics in contrast to approaches that rely on forest mensuration and growth models. NEE, based on eddy covariance methodology, quantifies loss of CO2 by ecosystem respiration accounted for as an unavoidable debit to net carbon sequestration. Retrospective analysis of the US-Ha1 NEE times series including carbon pricing, interval analysis, and ton-year exit accounting and revenue scenarios inform entrepreneur, investor, and landowner forest carbon commercialization strategies. CO2 efflux accounts for ~45% of the US-Ha1 NEE, an error of ~466% if excluded; however, the decades-old coupled human and natural system remains a financially viable net carbon sink. We introduce isoflux NEE for t13C16O2 and t12C18O16O to directly partition and quantify daytime ecosystem respiration and photosynthesis, creating new soil carbon commerce applications and derivative products in contrast to undifferentiated bulk soil carbon pool approaches. Eddy covariance NEE methods harmonize and standardize carbon commerce across diverse forest applications including, a New England, USA regional eddy covariance network, the Paris Agreement, and related climate mitigation platforms.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1047-1100 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Olin ◽  
M. Lindeskog ◽  
T. A. M. Pugh ◽  
G. Schurgers ◽  
D. Wårlind ◽  
...  

Abstract. We explore cropland management alternatives and the effect these can have on future C and N pools and fluxes using the land use-enabled dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS. Simulated crop production, cropland carbon storage, carbon sequestration and nitrogen leaching from croplands are evaluated and discussed. Compared to the version of LPJ-GUESS that does not include land use dynamics, estimates of soil carbon stocks and nitrogen leaching from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems were improved. We explore trade-offs between important ecosystem services that can be provided from agricultural fields such as crop yields, retention of nitrogen and carbon storage. These trade-offs are evaluated for current land use and climate and further explored for future conditions within the two future climate change scenarios, RCP 2.6 and 8.5. Our results show that the potential for carbon sequestration due to typical cropland management practices such as no-till and cover-crops proposed in literature is not realised, globally or over larger climatic regions. Our results highlight important considerations to be made when modelling C–N interactions in agricultural ecosystems under future environmental change, and the effects these have on terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.


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