Earth Science Frontiers ›› 2023, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (2): 447-462.DOI: 10.13745/j.esf.sf.2022.2.78

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Carbon sequestration assessment methods at home and abroad for terrestrial ecosystems: Research progress in achieving carbon neutrality

XIE Lijun1(), BAI Zhongke1,2,3,*(), YANG Boyu1, CHEN Meijing1, FU Shuai1, MAO Yanchao1   

  1. 1. School of Land Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing 100035, China
    3. Technology Innovation Center for Ecological Restoration Engineering in Mining Area, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing 100035, China
  • Received:2021-12-06 Revised:2022-03-08 Online:2023-03-25 Published:2023-01-05
  • Contact: BAI Zhongke

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to differentiate the characteristics of different mainstream carbon sink accounting methods developed in the past 30 years for the four main terrestrial ecosystems—forest, grassland, farmland, and wetland—in order to accurately assess the current status of the carbon sink capacity and future carbon sink potential of terrestrial ecosystems. Through literature review, comparative analysis, and induction we show that 1) the existing carbon sink accounting methods are mainly based on formula model calculations, and are affected by sample size, measurement and parameter errors, inconsistent data sources, and model universality when analyzing the spatial pattern of vegetation carbon sinks, which lead to great uncertainty in the calculated result; thus, China urgently needs to establish an unified standard terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink monitoring system. 2) Accurate carbon sink calculation for terrestrial ecosystems requires reliable data sources, reasonable calculation methods and models, multi-channel cross-validation, appropriate error analysis, and interpolation corrections. 3) Methods such as site survey, model construction, micrometeorology, and remote sensing monitoring should be effectively integrated to solve the problem of multi-scale coupling. Future research should be based on a large number of measured data, explore differentiated carbon sink accounting methods according to ecosystem types, regions, and climates, and establish a full-scale, generalized carbon sink calculation model to provide reference for a carbon sink accounting standard for terrestrial ecosystems in China.

Key words: carbon sink, forest, grassland, farmland, wetland, terrestrial ecosystem

CLC Number: