Implication of community-level ecophysiological parameterization to modelling ecosystem productivity:a case study across nine contrasting forest sites in eastern China

Parameterization is a critical step in modelling ecosystem dynamics.However,assigning parameter values can be a technical challenge for structurally complex natural plant communities;uncertainties in model simulations often arise from inappropriate model parameterization.Here we compared five methods for defining community-level specific leaf area(SLA)and leaf C:N across nine contrasting forest sites along the North-South Transect of Eastern China,including biomass-weighted average for the entire plant community(AP_BW)and four simplified selective sampling(biomass-weighted average over five dominant tree species[5DT_BW],basal area weighted average over five dominant tree species[5DT_AW],biomass-weighted average over all tree species[AT_BW]and basal area weighted average over all tree species[AT_AW]).We found that the default values for SLA and leaf C:N embedded in the Biome-BGC v4.2 were higher than the five computational methods produced across the nine sites,with deviations ranging from 28.0 to 73.3%.In addition,there were only slight deviations(<10%)between the whole plant community sampling(AP_BW)predicted NPP and the four simplified selective sampling methods,and no significant difference between the predictions of AT_BW and AP_BW except the Shennongjia site.The findings in this study highlights the critical importance of computational strategies for community-level parameterization in ecosystem process modelling,and will support the choice of parameterization methods.

Multi-year throughfall reduction enhanced the growth and non-structural carbohydrate storage of roots at the expenses of above-ground growth in a warm-temperate natural oak forest

The more frequent occurrence and severer drought events resulting from climate change are increasingly affecting the physiological performance of trees and ecosystem carbon sequestration in many regions of the world.However,our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the responses and adaption of forest trees to prolonged and multi-year drought is still limited.To address this problem,we conducted a long-term manipulative throughfall reduction(TFR,reduction of natural throughfall by 50%–70%during growing seasons)experiment in a natural oriental white oak(Quercus aliena var.acuteserrata Maxim.)forest under warm-temperate climate.After seven years of continuous TFR treatment,the aboveground growth in Q.aliena var.acuteserrata started to decline.Compared with the control plots,trees in the TFR treatment significantly reduced growth increments of stems(14.2%)and leaf area index(6.8%).The rate of net photosynthesis appeared to be more susceptible to changes in soil water in trees subjected to the TFR than in the control.The TFR-treated trees allocated significantly more photosynthates to belowground,leading to enhanced growth and nonstructural carbohydrates(NSC)storage in roots.The 7-year continuous TFR treatment increased the biomass,the production and the NSC concentration in the fine roots by 53.6%,153.6%and 9.6%,respectively.There were clear trade-offs between the aboveground growth and the fine root biomass and NSC storage in Q.aliena var.acuteserrata trees in response to the multi-year TFR treatment.A negative correlation between the fine root NSC concentration and soil water suggested a strategy of preferential C storage over growth when soil water became deficient;the stored NSC during water limitation would then help promote root growth when drought stress is released.Our findings demonstrate the warm-temperate oak forest adopted a more conservative NSC use strategy in response to long-term drought stress,with enhanced root growth and NSC storage at the expenses of above-ground growth to mitigate climate changeinduced drought.

Species spatial distributions in a warm-temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest in China

Spatial distribution is fundamental for understanding species coexistence mechanisms in forest communities.Here we comprehensively explored fine-scale spatial patterns of tree species in a secondary warm-temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest community in north China.Aggregated distribution patterns were predominant.Species functional traits had no significant effects on their spatial patterns.The aggregation intensity decreased with increasing DBH and abundance.The multivariate linear stepwise regression showed that abundance and maximum DBH were correlated with the aggregation intensity.Our results partially confirm that species attributes(abundance,DBH)and habitat heterogeneity may primarily contribute to spatial patterns and species coexistence in this secondary forest.

Latitudinal gradients of biodiversity and ecosystem services in protected and non-protected oak forest areas can inform climate smart conservation

Adaptive governance of areas set aside for future protection of biodiversity,sustainable production,and recreation requires knowledge about whether and how effects of area protection are modulated by climate change and redistribution of species.To investigate this,we compare biodiversity of plants(assessed using vegetation plots)and arthropods(collected with Malaise traps,analyzed using metabarcoding)and productivity(tree growth,determined using dendrochronology)in protected and non-protected oak(Quercus spp.)forests along a latitudinal gradient(55.6°N–60.8°N)in Sweden.We also compare historical,recent and projected future climate in the region.In contrast to established global latitudinal diversity gradients,species richness of plants and arthropods increased northwards,possibly reflecting recent climate-induced community redistributions,but neither was higher in protected than in non-protected areas,nor associated with contemporary ground temperature.Species composition of arthropods also did not differ between protected and non-protected areas.Arthropod biomass increased with latitude,suggesting that the magnitude of cascading effects mediated via their roles as pollinators,herbivores,and prey for other trophic levels,varies geographically and will change with a moving climate.Annual growth rate of oaks(an ecosystem service in the form of biomass increase and carbon sequestration)was independent of latitude and did not differ between protected and non-protected areas.Our findings question the efficacy of contemporary designation and management of protected oak forests,and emphasize that development and implementation of modified climate smart conservation strategies is needed to safeguard ecosystem functioning,biodiversity,and recreational values of protected forest areas against future challenges.

On forest ecosystem health and its Connotations

This paper cursorily introduced some ideas and approaches of ecosystem health researches. The definition and connotations of forest ecosystem health have also been expatiated. Defining forest ecosystem health has been discussed from the management objective approach, ecosystem approach, and integration approach. To impel the relative researches in China, more attention on the properties of a forest ecosystem should be paid.

Forestland prediction of China based on forest ecosystem services for the first half of 21st century

A new model was developed to predict forestland demand of China during the years of 2010-2050 in terms of the concept of forest ecosystem services. On the basis of the relationship between forest ecosystem services and classified forest management, we hypothesized that the ecological-forest provides ecological services, whereas commercial-forest supplies wood and timber production, and the influences of the growth of population, social-economic development target, forest management methods and the technology changes on forest resources were also taken into account. The prediction reveals that the demand of total forestland of China will be 244.8, 261.2 and 362.2 million ha by the year 2010, 2020 and 2050, respectively. The results demonstrated that China will be confronted with a shortage of forest resources, especially with lack of ecological-oriented forests, in the future. It is suggested that sustainable management of forest resources must be reinforced and more attention should be drown no enhancing the service function of forest ecosystem.

Preliminary Evaluation on Urban Forest Ecosystem Services Function in Meizhou City

In order to better explore the function of urban forest in human habitation and settlement environment,the ecosystem functions were evaluated in terms of air purification,water conservation,soil conservation,maintenance of biodiversity in Meizhou by the methods of market price,shadow prices approach and opportunity cost,and the problems of the value assessment at home and abroad in urban forest ecosystem services function were simply discussed.

Regional differences of water conservation in Beijing’s forest ecosystem

The water conservation capacities of main forests in Beijing,China were estimated through the quantitative analysis.Various methods developed in published papers on forest hydrology were employed.The forests in Huairou,Yanqing,Miyun,Mentougou and Fangshan districts are the main contributors to water conservation（the cumulative ratio reaches 65%）,and the forests in Tongzhou,Chaoyang,Shunyi and Daxing districts have the highest water conservation capacity（3000 m3/ha）.Altitude and slope are the key factors to affect the water conservation capacity.The forests located in Plain Area,Hilly Area,Low Mountain,and Middle Mountain contributes 27%,28%,24% and 21% of the conserved water,respectively.The water conservation capacity of forests in Plain Area（2 948 m3/ha）,is superior to the forests in other regions.And the forests situated on Flat Slope,Moderate Slope and Gentle Slope constitute the largest proportion（nearly 93%） of water conservation,while the forests on Flat Slope has the highest water conservation capacity（2 797 m3/ha）,and the forest on Steep slope has the lowest water conservation capacity（948 m3/ha）.

Review on carbon storage estimation of forest ecosystem and applications in China

Background:The accuracy in estimating forest ecosystem carbon storage has drawn extensive attention of researchers in the field of global climate change.However,incomparable data sources and various estimation methods have led to significant differences in the estimation of forest carbon storage at large scales.Methods:In this study,we reviewed fundamental types of forest carbon storage estimation methods and their applications in China.Results:Results showed that the major forest carbon storage estimation methods were classified into 3 major categories and 15 subcategories focusing on vegetation carbon storage estimation,soil carbon storage estimation,and litter carbon storage estimation,respectively.The application in China showed that there have been 3 development stages of research in China since the 1990s.Studies of forest carbon storage estimation in province scales were conducted more frequently in the northeastern,eastern and southwestern provinces such as Zhejiang,Heilongjiang and Sichuan with high forest coverage or large forest area.Inventory-based methods,soil type method,and biomass model were the main forest estimation methods used in China,focusing on vegetation,soil and litter carbon storage estimation respectively.Total forest carbon storage of China was approximate 28.90 Pg C,and the average vegetation carbon density(42.04±5.39 Mg·ha?1)was much lower than that of the whole world(71.60 Mg·ha?1).Vegetation carbon density from average biomass method was the highest(57.07 Mg·ha?1)through comparing nine types of vegetation carbon storage estimation methods applied during 1989 to 1993.Conclusions:Many studies on forest carbon storages have been carried out in China at patch scales or regional scales.These efforts enabled the research of forest carbon storage to reach a relatively advanced stage.Meanwhile,the accumulation of massive research data provides the basis for subsequent research work.Some challenges are also existing.This review could provide a reference for more accurate estimation of forest carbon storage in the future.

Forest Ecosystem Services and Their Values in Beijing

As the most important ecosystem in Beijing, the forest supports a lot of ecosystem services to local and around communities, which plays a key role in the maintenance of urban ecological security.However, the valuation on the forest ecosystem services based on regional scale could not provide precise and reasonable values for forestry sector management.In this study, we estimated the magnitudes and economic values of the forest ecosystem services in Beijing at sublot level.The economic value of forest ecosystem services in Beijing was estimated to be 19 339.71×10 6 yuan(RMB) in 2004.Among all the ecosystem services indicators we estimated in this study, only fruit, timber and part of the recreation(which only include the tourism income from the forest parks and scenic areas, but not include that from other forest types) were measured in the social economic system.As estimated in this study, more than 82.19% of the economic value of forest ecosystem services could not be measured in the socio-economic statistical system.The importance of forest ecosystem services in Beijing to human welfare was underestimated by the socio-economic system.Therefore, the policies about the eco-compensation of forest ecosystem services should be established to maintain the sustainable supply of the forest ecosystem services in Beijing.

Carbon,nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometry in Pinus tabulaeformis forest ecosystems in warm temperate Shanxi Province,north China

Although carbon(C), nitrogen(N), and phosphorous(P) stoichiometric ratios are considered good indicators of nutrient excess/limitation and thus of ecosystem health, few reports have discussed the trends and the reciprocal effects of C:N:P stoichiometry in plant–litter–soil systems. The present study analyzed C:N:P ratios in four age groups of Chinese pine, Pinus tabulaeformis Carr., forests in Shanxi Province, China: plantation young forests(AY,<20 year-old); plantation middle-aged forests(AM, 21–30 year-old); natural young forests(NY,<30 year-old); and natural middle-aged forests(NM,31–50 year-old). The average C:N:P ratios calculated for tree, shrub, and herbaceous leaves, litter, and soil(0–100 cm) were generally higher in NY followed by NM,AM, and AY. C:N and C:P ratios were higher in litter than in leaves and soils, and reached higher values in the litter and leaves of young forests than in middle-aged forests;however, C:N and C:P ratios were higher in soils of middle-aged forests than in young forests. N:P ratios were higher in leaves than in litter and soils regardless of stand age; the consistent N:P<14 values found in all forests indicated N limitations. With plant leaves, C:P ratios were highest in trees, followed by herbs and shrubs, indicating a higher efficiency in tree leaf formation. C:N ratios decreased with increasing soil depth, whereas there was no trend for C:P and N:P ratios. C:N:P stoichiometry of forest foliage did not exhibit a consistent variation according to stand age. Research on the relationships between N:P, and P, N nutrient limits and the characteristics of vegetation nutrient adaptation need to be continued.

Review on the decomposition and influence factors of coarse woody debris in forest ecosystem

Coarse woody debris （CWD） is an important and particular component of forest ecosystems and is extremely important to forest health. This review describes the decomposition process, decomposition model and influence factors. CWD decomposition is a complex and continuous process and characterizes many biological and physical processes, including biological respiration, leaching, and fragmentation. All these processes have closed relationships between each other and work synergistically. During decomposition, there are many controlling factors mainly including site conditions （temperature, humidity, and OJCO2concentration）, woody substrate quality （diameter, species and compound） and organism in CWD. The decomposition rate is generally expresses through a constant k which indicate the percent mass, volume or density loss over time, and can be determined by long-term monitoring, chronosequence approach and the radio between input and the total mass. Now using mathematical models to simulate decomposition patterns and estimate the decomposition rate is widely applied, especially the exponential model. We brought forward that managing and utilizing for the CWD in forest was a primary objective on all forest lands. And it is should be intensified to integrate many related research subjects and to carry a comprehensive, long-term and multi-scale research which mainly focus on seven sections.

Young and old forest in the boreal:critical stages of ecosystem dynamics and management under global change

The circumboreal forest encompasses diverse landscape structures, dynamics and forest age distributions determined by their physical setting, and historical and current disturbance regimes. However, due to intensifying forest utilisation, and in certain areas due to increasing natural disturbances, boreal forest age-class structures have changed rapidly, so that the proportion of old forest has substantially declined, while that of young post-harvest and post-natural-disturbance forest proportions have increased. In the future, with a warming climate in certain boreal regions, this trend may further be enhanced due to an increase in natural disturbances and large-scale use of forest biomass to replace fossil-based fuels and products.The major drivers of change of forest age class distributions and structures include the use of clearcut shortrotation harvesting, more frequent and severe natural disturbances due to climate warming in certain regions. The decline in old forest area, and increase in managed young forest lacking natural post-disturbance structural legacies,represent a major transformation in the ecological conditions of the boreal forest beyond historical limits of variability.This may introduce a threat to biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and long-term adaptive capacity of the forest ecosystem.To safeguard boreal forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and to maintain the multiple services provided to societies by this forest biome, it is pivotal to maintain an adequate share and the ecological qualities of young postdisturbance stages, along with mature forest stages with old-growth characteristics. This requires management for natural post-disturbance legacy structures, and innovative use of diverse uneven-aged and continuous cover management approaches to maintain critical late-successional forest structures in landscapes.

Carbon storage of a subtropical forest ecosystem: a case study of the Jinggang Mountain National Nature Reserve in south-eastern China

The carbon cycle of forest ecosystems plays a key role in regulating CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. Research on carbon storage estimation of forest ecosystems has become a major research topic. However, carbon budgets of subtropical forest ecosystems have received little attention. Reports of soil carbon storage and topographic heterogeneity of carbon storage are limited. This study focused on the Jinggang Mountain National Nature Reserve as an example of a mid-subtropical forest and evaluated soil and vegetation carbon storage by field sampling combined with GIS, RS and GPS technology. We classified the forest into nine forest types using ALOS high-resolution remote sensing images. The evergreen broad-leaved forest has the largest area, occupying 26.5% of the total area, followed by coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests and warm temperate coniferous forest, occupying 24.2 and 22.9%, respectively. The vegetation and soil carbon storage of the whole forest ecosystem were 1,692,344 and 5,514,707 t, with a carbon density of 7.4 and 24.2 kg/m^2, respectively, which suggests that the ecosystem has great carbon storage capacity. The topographic heterogeneity of the carbon storage was also analysed. The largest vegetation storage and soil storage is at 700–800 and 1000–1100 m, respectively. The vegetation carbon storage is highest in the southeast, south and southwest.

Temporal Variability in Soil CO_2 Emission in an Orchard Forest Ecosystem

Temporal variability in soil CO2 emission from an orchard was measured using a dynamic open-chamber system for measuring soil CO2 effiux in Heshan Guangdong Province, in the lower subtropical area of China. Intensive measurements were conducted for a period of 12 months. Soil CO2 emissions were also modeled by multiple regression analysis from daily air temperature, dry-bulb saturated vapor pressure, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, soil moisture, and soil temperature. Data was analyzed based on soil moisture levels and air temperature with annual data being grouped into either hot-humid season or relatively cool season based on the precipitation patterns. This was essential in order to acquire simplified exponential models for parameter estimation. Minimum and maximum daily mean soil CO2 effiux rates were observed in November and July, with respective rates of 1.98 ± 0.66 and 11.04 ± 0.96 μmol m^-2 s^-1 being recorded. Annual average soil CO2 emission （FCO2） was 5.92 μmol m^-2 s^-1. Including all the weather variables into the model helped to explain 73.9% of temporal variability in soil CO2 emission during the measurement period. Soil CO2 effiux increased with increasing soil temperature and soil moisture. Preliminary results showed that Q10, which is defined as the difference in respiration rates over a 10 ℃ interval, was partly explained by fine root biomass. Soil temperature and soil moisture were the dominant factors controlling soil CO2 effiux and were regarded as the driving variables for CO2 production in the soil. Including these two variables in regression models could provide a useful tool for predicting the variation of CO2 emission in the commercial forest Soils of South China .

Impacts of Climate Change on Forest Ecosystems in Northeast China

This paper reviews the studies and research on climate change impacts on the forest ecosystems in Northeast China. The results show that in the context of global and regional warming, the growing season of coniferous forests has been increasing at an average rate of 3.9 d per decade. Regional warming favors the growth of temperate broad-leaved forests and has a detrimental effect on the growth of boreal coniferous forests. Over the past hundred years, the forest edge of the cool temperate zone in the southern Daxing＇anling region has retreated 140 km northward. From 1896 to 1986, the northern boundary of broad-leaved forests in Heilongjiang province has extended northwestward about 290 km. Future climatic changes （until 2060） may lead to the northern deciduous needle forests moving out of China＇s territory altogether. The occurrence cycles of pests and diseases have shortened; their distribution ranges have expanded. The life cycle of tent caterpillars （Malacosoma neustria testacea Motschulsky） has shortened from 14-15 years in the past to 8-10 years now. The pine caterpillar （Dendrolimus tabulaeformis Tsai et Liu）, which has spread within western Liaoning province and the nearby areas, can now be found in the north and west. Lightning fires in the Daxing＇anling region have significantly increased since 1987, and August has become the month when lightning fires occur most frequently. Overall, the net primary productivity （NPP） of forest in Northeast China has increased. The NPP in 1981 was around 0.27 Pg C, and increased to approximately 0.40 Pg C in 2002. With the current climate, the broad-leaved Korean pine forest ecosystem acts as a carbon sink, with a carbon sink capacity of 2.7 Mg C hm-2. Although the carbon sink capacity of the forest ecosystems in Northeast China has been weakened since 2003, the total carbon absorption will still increase. The forest ecosystems in Northeast China are likely to remain a significant carbon sink, and will play a positive role in the mitigation of climate change.

Nitrogen Deposition and Its Spatial Pattern in Main Forest Ecosystems along North-South Transect of Eastern China

A continuous three-year observation(from May 2008 to April 2011)was conducted to characterize the spatial variation of dissolved inorganic nitrogen(DIN)deposition at eight main forest ecosystems along the north-south transect of eastern China(NSTEC).The results show that both throughfall DIN deposition and bulk DIN deposition increase from north to south along the NSTEC.Throughfall DIN deposition varies greatly from 2.7 kg N/(ha·yr)to 33.0 kg N/(ha·yr),with an average of 10.6 kg N/(ha·yr),and bulk DIN deposition ranges from 4.1 kg N/(ha·yr)to 25.4 kg N/(ha·yr),with an average of 9.8 kg N/(ha·yr).NH4+-N is the dominant form of DIN deposition at most sampling sites.Additionally,the spatial variation of DIN deposition is controlled mainly by precipitation.Moreover,in the northern part of the NSTEC,bulk DIN deposition is 17%higher than throughfall DIN deposition,whereas the trend is opposite in the southern part of the NSTEC.The results demonstrate that DIN deposition would likely threaten the forest ecosystems along the NSTEC,compared with the critical loads(CL)of N deposition,and DIN deposition in this region is mostly controlled by agricultural activities rather than industrial activities or transportation.

Driving Forces and Their Effects on Water Conservation Services in Forest Ecosystems in China

Identifying the driving forces that cause changes in forest ecosystem services related to water conservation is essential for the design of interventions that could enhance positive impacts as well as minimizing negative impacts. In this study, we propose an assessment concept framework model for indirect-direct-ecosystem service （IN-DI-ESS） driving forces within this context and method for index construction that considers the selection of a robust and parsimonious variable set. Factor analysis was integrated into two-stage data envelopment analysis （TS-DEA） to determine the driving forces and their effects on water conservation services in forest ecosystems at the provincial scale in China. The results showed the following. 1） Ten indicators with factor scores more than 0.8 were selected as the minimum data set. Four indicators comprising population density, per capita gross domestic product, irrigation efficiency, and per capita food consumption were the indirect driving factors, and six indicators comprising precipitation, farmland into forestry or pasture, forest cover, habitat area, water footprint, and wood extraction were the direct driving forces. 2） Spearman＇s rank correlation test was performed to compare the overall effectiveness in two periods： stage 1 and stage 2. The calculated coefficients were 0.245, 0.136, and 0.579, respectively, whereas the tabulated value was 0.562. This indicates that the driving forces obviously differed in terms of their contribution to the overall effectiveness and they caused changes in water conservation services in different stages. In terms of the variations in different driving force effects in the years 2000 and 2010, the overall, stage 1, and stage 2 variances were 0.020, 0.065, and 0.079 in 2000, respectively, and 0.018, 0.063, and 0.071 in 2010. This also indicates that heterogeneous driving force effects were obvious in the process during the same period. Identifying the driving forces that affect service changes and evaluating their efficiency have significant policy implications for the management of forest ecosystem services. Advanced effectiveness measures for weak regions could be improved in an appropriate manner. In this study, we showed that factor analysis coupled with TS-DEA based on the IN-D1-ESS framework can increase the parsimony of driving force indicators, as well as interpreting the interactions among indirect and direct driving forces with forest ecosystem water conservation services, and reducing the uncertainty related to the internal consistency during data selection.

Effects of root dominate over aboveground litter on soil microbial biomass in global forest ecosystems

Background:Inputs of above-and belowground litter into forest soils are changing at an unprecedented rate due to continuing human disturbances and climate change.Microorganisms drive the soil carbon(C)cycle,but the roles of above-and belowground litter in regulating the soil microbial community have not been evaluated at a global scale.Methods:Here,we conducted a meta-analysis based on 68 aboveground litter removal and root exclusion studies across forest ecosystems to quantify the roles of above-and belowground litter on soil microbial community and compare their relative importance.Results:Aboveground litter removal significantly declined soil microbial biomass by 4.9%but root exclusion inhibited it stronger,up to 11.7%.Moreover,the aboveground litter removal significantly raised fungi by 10.1%without altering bacteria,leading to a 46.7%increase in the fungi-to-bacteria(F/B)ratio.Differently,root exclusion significantly decreased the fungi by 26.2%but increased the bacteria by 5.7%,causing a 13.3%decrease in the F/B ratio.Specifically,root exclusion significantly inhibited arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi,ectomycorrhizal fungi,and actinomycetes by 22.9%,43.8%,and 7.9%,respectively.The negative effects of aboveground litter removal on microbial biomass increased with mean annual temperature and precipitation,whereas that of root exclusion on microbial biomass did not change with climatic factors but amplified with treatment duration.More importantly,greater effects of root exclusion on microbial biomass than aboveground litter removal were consistent across diverse forest biomes(expect boreal forests)and durations.Conclusions:These data provide a global evidence that root litter inputs exert a larger control on microbial biomass than aboveground litter inputs in forest ecosystems.Our study also highlights that changes in above-and belowground litter inputs could alter soil C stability differently by shifting the microbial community structure in the opposite direction.These findings are useful for predicting microbe-mediated C processes in response to changes in forest management or climate.

Ecosystem carbon storage and sink/source of temperate forested wetlands in Xiaoxing’anling, northeast China

Wetlands play an important role in the global carbon cycle, but there are still considerable uncertainties in the estimation of wetland carbon storage and a dispute on whether wetlands are carbon sources or carbon sinks. Xiaoxing’anling are one of several concentrated distribution areas of forested wetland in China, but the carbon storage and carbon sink/source of forested wetlands in this area is unclear. We measured the ecosystem carbon storage (vegetation and soil), annual net carbon sequestration of vegetation and annual carbon emissions of soil heterotrophic respiration of five typical forested wetland types (alder swamp, white birch swamp, larch swamp, larch fen, and larch bog) distributed along a moisture gradient in this area in order to reveal the spatial variations of their carbon storage and quantitatively evaluate their position as carbon sink or source according to the net carbon balance of the ecosystems. The results show that the larch fen had high carbon storage (448.8 t ha^(−1)) (6.8% higher than the larch bog and 10.5–30.1% significantly higher than other three wetlands (P < 0.05), the white birch swamp and larch bog were medium carbon storage ecosystems (406.3 and 420.1 t ha^(−1)) (12.4–21.8% significantly higher than the other two types (P < 0.0 5), while the alder swamp and larch swamp were low in carbon storage (345.0 and 361.5 t ha^(−1), respectively). The carbon pools of the five wetlands were dominated by their soil carbon pools (88.5–94.5%), and the vegetation carbon pool was secondary (5.5–11.5%). At the same time, their ecosystem net carbon balances were positive (0.1–0.6 t ha^(−1) a^(−1)) because the annual net carbon sequestration of vegetation (4.0–4.5 t ha^(−1) a^(−1)) were higher than the annual carbon emissions of soil heterotrophic respiration (CO_(2) and CH_(4)) (3.8–4.4 t ha^(−1) a^(−1)) in four wetlands, (the alder swamp being the exception), so all four were carbon sinks while only the alder swamp was a source of carbon emissions (− 2.1 t ha^(−1) a^(−1)) due to a degraded tree layer. Our results demonstrate that these forested wetlands were generally carbon sinks in the Xiaoxing’anling, and there was obvious spatial variation in carbon storage of ecosystems along the moisture gradient.