Spatio-temporal patterns and control mechanism of the ecosystem carbon use efficiency across the Mongolian Plateau

Xinyi Liu; Quan Lai; Shan Yin; Yuhai Bao; Siqin Tong; Zolzaya Adiya; Amarjargal Sanjjav; Rihe Gao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167883

Spatio-temporal patterns and control mechanism of the ecosystem carbon use efficiency across the Mongolian Plateau

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jan 10:907:167883. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167883. Epub 2023 Oct 18.

Authors

Xinyi Liu¹, Quan Lai², Shan Yin³, Yuhai Bao³, Siqin Tong³, Zolzaya Adiya⁴, Amarjargal Sanjjav⁴, Rihe Gao⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China.
² College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China; Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems, Inner Mongolia, Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China. Electronic address: laiquan@imnu.edu.cn.
³ College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China; Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems, Inner Mongolia, Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China.
⁴ Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 14201, Mongolia.
⁵ College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300382, China.

PMID: 37863235
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167883

Abstract

Carbon use efficiency (CUE) is a crucial parameter that reflects the carbon storage within ecosystems, providing insight into the potential for carbon sequestration at the ecosystem scale and its feedback on climate change. The Mongolian Plateau exemplifies an arid and semi-arid region with a delicate ecological environment that displays heightened sensitivity to global climate change. Understanding the variation and control of CUE is critical for assessing regional carbon. However, few studies have focused on the interaction of factors influencing CUE; furthermore, how CUE responds to climate change and anthropogenic activities remains unclear. Here, we aimed to investigate spatiotemporal patterns and their control mechanisms by generating CUE data based on multi-source remote sensing data. CUE demonstrated a slow downward trend from 2000 to 2018, with higher values in relatively dry-cool regions and lower values in relatively humid-warm regions. Furthermore, CUE values were ranked by biome as follows: grassland > sandy vegetation > cropland > shrubs > forest, driven by climate characteristics, vegetation coverage, water stress, stand age, and management practices. Additionally, climatic factors affected CUE more than the soil variables, except for alpine meadows. The climate factors of precipitation (PPT), index of water availability (IWA) (Q_PPT = 0.487, Q_IWA = 0.444), and soil factors, e.g., pH and soil organic content (SOC) (Q_PH = 0.397, Q_SOC = 0.372), had the greatest influence on CUE. Finally, most two explanatory factors interacted to effectively enhance the explanation of CUE; the synergy of the IWA and PPT contributed the most to CUE (Q_IWA∩PPT = 0.604). Moreover, the joint effect of climate change and anthropogenic activities was identified as the major contributor (68 %) to the decline in CUE within this region. This study presents compelling evidence highlighting the importance of considering climate change and anthropogenic disturbances in ecosystem management and conservation efforts in arid and semi-arid regions.

Keywords: Carbon use efficiency; Climatic factors; Control mechanism; Mongolian Plateau; Soil variable.