Spatial dynamics of aboveground carbon stock in urban green space:a case study of Xi'an,China

Greenhouse gas emission of carbon dioxide（CO2） is one of the major factors causing global climate change.Urban green space plays a key role in regulating the global carbon cycle and reducing atmospheric CO2.Quantifying the carbon stock,distribution and change of urban green space is vital to understanding the role of urban green space in the urban environment.Remote sensing is a valuable and effective tool for monitoring and estimating aboveground carbon（AGC） stock in large areas.In the present study,different remotely-sensed vegetation indices（VIs） were used to develop a regression equation between VI and AGC stock of urban green space,and the best fit model was then used to estimate the AGC stock of urban green space within the beltways of Xi＇an city for the years 2004 and 2010.A map of changes in the spatial distribution patterns of AGC stock was plotted and the possible causes of these changes were analyzed.Results showed that Normalized Difference Vegetation Index（NDVI） correlated moderately well with AGC stock in urban green space.The Difference Vegetation Index（DVI）,Ratio Vegetation Index（RVI）,Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index（SAVI）,Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index（MSAVI） and Renormalized Difference Vegetative Index（RDVI） were lower correlation coefficients than NDVI.The AGC stock in the urban green space of Xi＇an in 2004 and 2010 was 73,843 and 126,621 t,respectively,with an average annual growth of 8,796 t and an average annual growth rate of 11.9%.The carbon densities in 2004 and 2010 were 1.62 and 2.77 t/hm2,respectively.Precipitation was not an important factor to influence the changes of AGC stock in the urban green space of Xi＇an.Policy orientation,major ecological greening projects such as ＂transplanting big trees into the city＂ and the World Horticultural Exposition were found to have an important impact on changes in the spatiotemporal patterns of AGC stock.

Climatic and Topographical Factors Affecting the Vegetative Carbon Stock of Rangelands in Arid and Semiarid Regions of China

Rangeland systems play an important role in ecological stabilization and the terrestrial carbon cycle in arid and semiarid regions. However, little is known about the vegetative carbon dynamics and climatic and topog- raphical factors that affect vegetative carbon stock in these rangelands. Our goal was to assess vegetative carbon stock by examining meteorological data in conjunction with NDVI （normalized difference vegetation index） time se- ries datasets from 2001-2012. An improved CASA （Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach） model was then applied to simulate the spatiotemporal dynamic variation of vegetative carbon stock, and analyze its response to climatic and topographical factors. We estimated the vegetative carbon stock of rangeland in Gansu province, China to be 4.4×10^14 gC, increasing linearly at an annual rate of 9.8×10^11 gC. The mean vegetative carbon density of the whole rangeland was 136.5 gC m-2. Vegetative carbon density and total carbon varied temporally and spatially and were highly associated with temperature, precipitation and solar radiation. Vegetative carbon density reached the maximal value on elevation at 2500-3500 m, a slope of 〉30°and easterly aspect. The effect of precipitation, tem- perature and solar radiation on the vegetative carbon density of five rangeland types （desert and salinized meadow, steppe, alpine meadow, shrub and tussock, and marginal grassland in the forest） depends on the acquired quantity of water and heat for rangeland plants at all spatial scales. The results of this study provide new evidence for ex- plaining spatiotemporal heterogeneity in vegetative carbon dynamics and responses to global change for rangeland vegetative carbon stock, and offer a theoretical and practical basis for grassland agriculture management in arid and semiarid regions.