Biogeochemical sequestration of carbon within phytoliths of wetland plants: A case study of Xixi wetland, China

As an important long-term terrestrial carbon sequestration mechanism, biogeochemical sequestration of carbon within phytoliths may play a significant role in the global carbon cycle and climate change. The aim of this study is to explore the potential of carbon bio-sequestration within phytoliths produced by wetland plants. The results show that the occluded carbon content of phytoliths in wetland plants ranges from 0.49% to 3.97%, with a CV (coefficient of variation) value of 810%. The data also indicate that the phytolith-occluded carbon (PhytOC) content of biomass for wetland plants depends not only on the phytolith content of biomass, but also the efficiency of carbon occlusion within phytoliths during plant growth in herb-dominated fens. The fluxes of carbon bio-sequestration within phytoliths of herb-dominated fen plants range from 0.003 to 0.077 t CO2 equivalents t-e-CO2ha-1a-1 . In China, 0.04×106 to 1.05×106t CO2 equivalents per year may be sequestrated in phytoliths of herbaceous-dominated fen plants. Globally, taking a fen area of 1.48×108 ha and the largest phytolith carbon biosequestration flux (0.077 t-e-CO 2 ha-1a-1 ) for herb-dominated fen plants, about 1.14×10 7 t CO 2 equivalents per year would have been sequestrated in phytoliths of fen plants. If other wetland plants have similar PhytOC production flux with herb-dominated fen plants (0.077 t-e-CO2ha-1a-1 ), about 4.39×10 7 t-e-CO2a-1 may be sequestrated in the phytoliths of world wetland plants. The data indicate that the management of wetland ecosystems (e.g. selection of plant species) to maximize the production of PhytOC have the potential to bio-sequestrate considerable quantities of atmospheric CO2 .     

林业碳汇提升的主要原理和途径

降低大气CO₂含量、缓解气候变暖,已成为当今科学界和国际社会广泛关注的前沿热点问题。林业碳汇作为基于自然解决方案实现“碳达峰、碳中和”的一个重要途径,在应对全球气候变化方面发挥着基础性、战略性、独特的作用。林业碳汇不仅是森林碳汇,林产品碳汇也起着不可忽视的重要作用。林业碳汇潜力提升是一个森林生态系统净碳收支平衡和全产业链林产品碳汇的调控过程,主要包括无机碳的植物固定(光合过程、净生产力等)、土壤有机碳的周转与固定(动植物和微生物残体分解与黏土固定)、林产品碳的固持(林产品产量、木材转换效率、种类和使用寿命等)等3方面的调控原理。笔者从森林碳汇和林产品碳汇两个维度阐述了提升林业碳汇的主要原理、方法或途径。提升林业碳汇潜力的主要途径包括:①通过适地适树、适钙适树人工造林,以增加森林面积;②以完善森林经营措施来增加森林净生产力;③利用矿质黏土对有机碳的保护来增加森林土壤碳汇;④提升林产品产量和改进林产品用途以增加其寿命。在全球尺度上,增加森林面积或提高森林净生产力3.4%,或用可再生能源替换薪炭木材,再将薪炭木材用于制造锯材和人造板,都可以连续30 a每年增加1 Pg的碳汇量。减少全球森林火灾面积1/4或增加森林土壤有机碳含量0.23%,也可以增加碳汇1 Pg。此外,林业固碳还有巨大潜力可以挖掘。     

岩溶区钙与土壤有机碳关系的研究进展

土壤碳库在全球碳循环中占有重要的地位,土壤有机碳的稳定程度直接影响到其对大气CO2产生碳汇的潜力,土壤钙不仅是盐基离子,能影响土壤pH值,而且对土壤有机碳的稳定性和吸收大气CO2的能力产生影响。本文综述了土壤有机碳稳定机制研究方法,钙对土壤有机质稳定性影响研究进展,以及岩溶区富钙偏碱的地球化学背景下土壤大量钙存在对有机碳稳定性影响的研究进展。     

Increase in observed net carbon dioxide uptake by land and oceans during the past 50 years

One of the greatest sources of uncertainty for future climate predictions is the response of the global carbon cycle to climate change. Although approximately one-half of total CO(2) emissions is at present taken up by combined land and ocean carbon reservoirs, models predict a decline in future carbon uptake by these reservoirs, resulting in a positive carbon-climate feedback. Several recent studies suggest that rates of carbon uptake by the land and ocean have remained constant or declined in recent decades. Other work, however, has called into question the reported decline. Here we use global-scale atmospheric CO(2) measurements, CO(2) emission inventories and their full range of uncertainties to calculate changes in global CO(2) sources and sinks during the past 50 years. Our mass balance analysis shows that net global carbon uptake has increased significantly by about 0.05 billion tonnes of carbon per year and that global carbon uptake doubled, from 2.4?±?0.8 to 5.0?±?0.9 billion tonnes per year, between 1960 and 2010. Therefore, it is very unlikely that both land and ocean carbon sinks have decreased on a global scale. Since 1959, approximately 350 billion tonnes of carbon have been emitted by humans to the atmosphere, of which about 55 per cent has moved into the land and oceans. Thus, identifying the mechanisms and locations responsible for increasing global carbon uptake remains a critical challenge in constraining the modern global carbon budget and predicting future carbon-climate interactions.     

Simultaneous mineralization of CO2 and recovery of soluble potassium using earth-abundant potassium feldspar

CO2 capture and storage(CCS) is an important strategy in combatting anthropogenic climate change.However,commercial application of the CCS technique is currently hampered by its high energy expenditure and costs.To overcome this issue,CO2 capture and utilization(CCU) is a promising CO2 disposal method.We,for the first time,developed a promising method to mineralize CO2 using earth-abundant potassium feldspar in order to effectively reduce CO2 emissions.Our experiments demonstrate that,after adding calcium chloride hexahydrate as an additive,the K-feldspar can be transformed to Ca-silicates at 800 C,which can easily mineralize CO2 to form stable calcium carbonate and recover soluble potassium.The conversion of this process reached 84.7%.With further study,the pretreatment temperature can be reduced to 250 C using hydrothermal method by adding the solution of triethanolamine(TEA).The highest conversion can be reached 40.1%.The process of simultaneous mineralization of CO2 and recovery of soluble potassium can be easily implemented in practice and may provide an economically feasible way to tackle global anthropogenic climate change.     

Uncertainty in crossing time of 2 °C warming threshold over China

The 2 °C warming target has been used widely in global and regional climate change research. Previous studies have shown large uncertainties in the time when surface air temperature (SAT) change over China will reach 2 °C relative to the pre-industrial era. To understand the uncertainties, we analyzed the projected SAT in the twenty-first century using 40 state-of-the-art climate models under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5. The 2 °C threshold-crossing time (TCT) of SAT averaged across China was around 2033 and 2029 for RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. Considering a ±1σ range of intermodel SAT change, the upper and lower bounds of the 2 °C TCT could differ by about 25 years or even more. Uncertainty in the projected SAT and the warming rate around the TCT are the two main factors responsible for the TCT uncertainty. The former is determined by the climate sensitivity represented by the global mean surface temperature response. About 45 % of the intermodel variance of the projected 2 °C TCT for averaged SAT over China can be explained by climate sensitivity across the models, which is contributed mainly by central and southern China. In a climate more sensitive to CO₂ forcing, stronger greenhouse effect, less stratus cloud over the East Asian monsoon region, and less snow cover on the Tibetan Plateau result in increased downward longwave radiation, increased shortwave radiation, and decreased shortwave radiation reflected by the surface, respectively, all of which may advance the TCT.     

Observed and simulated features of the CO2 diurnal cycle in the boundary layer at Beijing and Hefei,China

The mechanism of the CO2diurnal cycle is a basis for investigating the carbon budget and its impacts on climate and environment change.Regional diurnal variations in CO2concentration based on observations and modeling have been studied widely.However,few studies have focused on the pattern of the CO2diurnal cycle in China.In this study,a three-dimensional global chemical transport model,Goddard Earth Observing System(GEOS)-Chem,was applied to simulate the CO2concentration and its variation over China from 2004 to 2012.Meanwhile,we also analyzed the CO2concentration as observed by two eddy covariance flux observation towers,one located in Beijing(39°580N,116°220E)and one in Hefei(31°550N,117°100E),using LI-COR 7500A infrared gas analyzers.Observations showed the amplitude of the CO2diurnal cycle at Hefei to be larger than at Beijing,due to stronger ecological activities.GEOS-Chem successfully captured the main aspects of the diurnal cycle of the CO2concentration in the boundary layer observed at both Beijing and Hefei.However,some discrepancies between the model and observations did exist;specifically,the model tended to underestimate the amplitude of the CO2diurnal cycle.The data also showed that traffic emissions significantly enhanced the CO2concentration in the boundary layer.     

减缓全球气候变暖的新途径

因人类对化石燃料的大量燃烧,致使大气中产生了过量的温室气体CO2,导致全球气候变暖,海平面上升.为了避免温室效应可能给人类带来的灾害,应控制CO2向大气中的过量排放.减少和控制CO2在大气中过量聚集的一种新途径是将工业产生的CO2封存于地质建造中.最适宜CO2封存的地质建造是油气田废弃的或正在生产的储油气层、煤田中的不可采煤层和深层多孔隙含盐建造.人类在石油和天然气生产方面的经验是CO2封存技术和机理研究的有益基础.     

Impact of technology advances on China’s CO2 emission reduction

Global warming tends to be the major characteristics of the dramatic global climate change. To deal with these changes, the impact of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission on Chinese future economic and social development has to be assessed. In this paper, a Regional Integrated model of Climate and the Economy (RICE), which is well known and accepted widely, has been used for Chinese economic assessment of climate change after introduction, assimilation and verification. Based on a sensitivity analysis of technical parameters in the RICE model and constrained targets proposed for energy saving and emissions reduction technological advance programs of China from 2000 to 2050, the economic impact of the programs is examined. The results indicate that when technology advances, Chinese CO₂ emission, climate loss, and the growth rate of atmospheric CO₂ concentration and temperature will all decrease. It is assumed that in 2010, the CO₂ emission is 20% lower than in 2005, CO₂emission in 2050 would only double the level in 2000, the accumulative CO₂ emission would be decreased by 12.4 GtC, and the atmospheric CO2 concentration and temperature in 2050 would reduce by 35 GtC and 0.04°C respectively from 2000 to 2050. The accumulative climate loss from 2000 to 2050 will drop down by 4.6 billion dollar, which only accounts for 6% of the global total benefits. However, the economic benefit the developed countries will obtain is 10 times that for China under such a technological advance scenario. The decrease of the CO₂ emission control rate is 1% in cooperation policy while 4.6% in non-cooperation policy, which would relieve China’s burden in the control of CO₂ total emission and thereby benefit China in participation of the international cooperation for CO₂ emission reduction.     

重点生态功能区净碳汇时空格局研究

重点生态功能区是我国生态固碳的主要区域，在“双碳”目标下研究区域净碳汇时空格局具有重要意义。本研究基于县域空间单元，利用土地利用数据和中国碳核算数据库，对重点生态功能区选取的751个区县的碳汇、碳排放以及净碳汇的时空格局进行了分析，主要得出以下结论：（1）重点生态功能区碳汇量占比超过全国一半以上，在我国生态固碳中的地位显著而突出，且区域碳汇量表现出明显的集聚特征，东北森林带、藏西北、藏东南等地年固碳水平较高，而东南部沿海、黄土高原、华北平原等地固碳水平较低。（2）2000年以来重点生态功能区碳排放量在内蒙古、黄土高原、新疆部分地区以及中东部沿海城市群集聚，排放量也呈现增加的趋势。（3）重点生态功能区碳收支平衡压力相对最小，大兴安岭地区和青藏高原为明显的连片净碳汇区，然而大部分三北地带净碳汇为负值。在双碳目标下，一方面需要强化排放侧管理，另一方面需要加强生态固碳能力建设。     

硅酸盐岩风化碳汇与我国热带季风区花岗岩流域碳循环*

为探讨岩石风化碳汇在环境变化过程中的作用,阐明硅酸盐岩风化作为地质时间尺度净碳汇在全球碳循环过程中的重要意义。综述了岩石化学风化与环境变化之间的关系,总结了岩石风化领域的研究进展,重点论述了有关玄武岩和花岗岩地区碳汇速率的研究成果。结果表明,学者对玄武岩流域的研究开展较早,涉及玄武岩台地、火山岛屿及大陆边缘火山带等代表区域,但由于其在陆壳硅酸盐岩面积比例较低,当综合评价全球硅酸盐岩的碳汇能力时,花岗岩地区更具代表性。有关花岗岩地区的研究集中在北美洲和欧洲地区,学者对亚洲季风区,尤其是热带季风地区关注较少。事实上,热带地区花岗岩风化速率为10.05~44.3 t·km~(-2)·y~(-1),平均碳汇能力达5.25×10~5mol·km~(-2)·y~(-1),与国内外已有成果相比,中国热带季风区花岗岩正经历快速风化和较高的CO_2吸收通量,加上区域内特殊的河流碳输送规律,该区域在全球碳循环研究中意义重大。然而,目前中国花岗岩流域碳循环研究主要在温带及亚热带地区展开,无疑,对于中国热带季风区花岗岩流域碳循环的研究应是学者未来关注的重点。     

Carbon sequestration within millet phytoliths from dry-farming of crops in China

Phytoliths are noncrystalline minerals that form inside cells and cell walls of different parts of plants. Organic carbon in living cells can be occluded in phytoliths during plant growth. It has been documented that the occluded carbon within phytoliths is an important long-term terrestrial carbon reservoir that has a major role in the global carbon cycle. Common millet and foxtail millet have become typical dry-farming crops in China since the Neolithic Age. The study of carbon conservation within phytoliths in these crops could provide insights into anthropogenic influences on the carbon cycle. In this study, we analyzed the carbon content in phytoliths of common millet and foxtail millet. The results indicated that (1) common millet and foxtail millet contained 0.136% ± 0.070% and 0.129% ± 0.085% phytolith-occluded carbon (PhytOC) on a dry mass basis, respectively; (2) based on the mean annual production of common millet and foxtail millet in the last 10 years, the phytolith occluded carbon accumulation rate of common millet and foxtail millet was approximately 0.023 ± 0.015 and 0.020 ± 0.010 t CO 2 ha 1 a 1 , respectively; (3) assuming a similar phytolith occluded carbon accumulation rate as for common millet (the highest accumulation rate was 0.038 t CO 2 ha 1 a 1 ), this could result in the sequestration of 2.37 × 10 6 t CO 2 per year for the 62.4 × 10 6 ha dry-farming crops in China. Although there was a decline in the annual production rate and planting area of foxtail millet during 1949 to 2008, the total phytolith carbon sequestration rate was 7×10 6 t CO 2 within the 60-year period. However, phytolith occluded carbon has not yet been fully considered as a global carbon sink. Also, this carbon fraction is probably one of the best candidates for the missing carbon sink.     

Perspectives on studies on soil carbon stocks and the carbon sequestration potential of China

Soil carbon stocks and sequestration have been given a lot of attention recently in the study of terrestrial ecosystems and global climate change.This review focuses on the progress made on the estimation of the soil carbon stocks of China,and the characterization of carbon dynamics of croplands with regard to climate change,and addresses issues on the mineralization of soil organic carbon in relation to greenhouse gas emissions.By integrating existing research data,China's total soil organic carbon(SOC) st...     

适应全球气候变化的森林固碳计量方法评述

在全球气候变化背景下,研究森林固碳计量方法理论具有重要意义。笔者基于文献计量学方法评述了该研究领域近年来的最新进展,比较了各森林固碳计量方法的优缺点。森林固碳计量方法主要包括基于样地清查或遥感估测和基于模型模拟的方法。选择合适的方法需要考虑数据信息、研究侧重点及各方法间的兼容性等。目前,森林碳计量的核心目标是构建各树种的异速生长方程,难点主要是尺度转换。样地调查、遥感估测和模型模拟等方法的综合运用是解决尺度转换问题和研究森林生态系统碳循环的主要趋势。特别要加强全球气候变化背景下人工林的适应性管理,科学评估人工林的固碳潜力,提升人工林固碳潜力评估方法的必要性。同时,也需要加强森林生态系统C-N-H₂O耦合循环及其生物调控机制方面的研究,降低森林生态系统碳收支评估的不确定性。     

The impact of ocean warming on marine organisms

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution during the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, there has been rapidly increasing release of greenhouse gases, notably CO₂, into the atmosphere. As a consequence of this atmospheric change, the Earth’s average surface temperature has increased by approximately 0.6 °C over the last 100 years. The rate of release of greenhouse gases continues to increase, and global surface temperature rose by approximately 0.2 °C per decade in the last 30 years, a rate that is greater than at any other time during the last 1,000 years. The wide-ranging effects of these increases in greenhouse gases and temperature on the biosphere are subject to intense scientific study. Much has been learned, but much more needs to be elucidated, if we are to predict how terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems will be affected by global change. This brief review focuses on the marine environment and offers a concise summary of some of the important advances in our knowledge about the impacts of global change, including physical and chemical changes of the ocean, as well as the impact of ocean warming on marine organisms. Our analysis also points out areas where critical new information is needed if we are to predict the future of marine ecosystems in a warming world with accuracy.     

Preliminary regional estimation of carbon sink flux by carbonate rock corrosion: A case study of the Pearl River Basin

The formation of carbonate rocks has had a dramatic sink effect on atmospheric CO2 throughout geological time.The wide global distribution of carbonate rocks and their strong sensitivity to climate change mean that carbonate rock corrosion consuming air/soil CO2 can play an important role in the global carbon cycle.The carbon sink accounts for 12.00%-35.29% of the missing carbon in the global carbon cycle.Using the Pearl River Basin as a case study,we analyzed comprehensively the factors impacting karstific...     

Development of CMAQ for East Asia CO2 data assimilation under an EnKF framework: a first result

Under an Ensemble Kalman Filter(EnKF)framework,Regional Atmospheric Modeling System and Models-3 Community Multi-scale Air Quality(RAMS–CMAQ)modeling system is developed to be a CO2data assimilation system EnKF–CMAQ,and the EnKF–CMAQ system is then applied to East Asia for validation with real continuous surface CO2concentration observations available in the study domain instead of using an observation simulation system experiment.Experiments with an experimental period of January 23 to February 7,2007 are conducted,and the experimental results of the EnKF–CMAQ system and the RAMS–CMAQ model are compared against continuous surface CO2observations from assimilation sites and independent reference sites.Distributions of daily mean CO2concentration increments show that the EnKF–CMAQ system confines the update of daily mean CO2within areas nearby and downwind of the assimilation sites.Both the CO2concentration ensemble spreads and background error covariances show flow-dependent patterns.The results indicate the crucial role of wind transport in the CO2data assimilation,which agrees with the previous studies.The average bias and the average root-mean-square error(RMSE)of daily mean CO2concentration at the assimilation sites are reduced by 1.00 and1.83 ppm,respectively,and those at the reference sites are reduced by 0.24 and 0.22 ppm,respectively.The results demonstrate the EnKF–CMAQ system is capable of assimilating the continuous surface CO2concentration observations to improve the simulation accuracy of the atmospheric CO2synoptic variation.Since growing CO2observations over East Asia are being available nowadays,this work is our first step to generate consistent spatial and temporal atmospheric CO2concentration fields over East Asia,particularly over China,using both in situ and satellite observations.     

湿地恢复对碳固存影响研究进展

湿地生态系统是地球的一种主要生态系统,其储存碳的功能对全球碳的循环和平衡机制具有重要作用,对全球气候变化研究具有重要影响。对于湿地碳固存的含义以及影响因素已有一定研究,但对不同湿地恢复方式对碳固存影响的研究较薄弱,而恢复湿地的固碳功能是湿地碳研究和保护的前提。本文基于文献调研,从湿地碳固存的含义、湿地恢复与其他自然因素对碳固存的影响、相关的研究技术与方法等方面综述了湿地恢复对碳固存影响研究进展,并分析了研究过程中存在的问题,提出相应的发展趋势,为湿地碳固存的保护与恢复提供科学参考。     

Hotspots of the sensitivity of the land surface hydrological cycle to climate change

Due to the shortage of the global observational data of the terrestrial hydrological variables,the understanding of how surface hydrological processes respond to climate change is still limited.In this study,the Community Land Model(CLM4.0)with high resolution atmospheric forcing data is selected to simulate the global surface hydrological quantities during the period 1948–2006and to investigate the spatial features of these quantities in response to climate change at the regional scales.The sensitivities of evaporation and runoff with respect to the dominant climate change factors(e.g.temperature and precipitation)derived from the concept of climate elasticity are introduced.Results show that evaporation has a declining trend with a rate of 0.7 mm per decade,while runoff shows a weak increasing trend of 0.15 mm per decade over the global land surface.Analyses of the hotspots in the hydrological cycle indicate that the spatial distributions for evaporation and runoff are similar over many areas in central Asia,Australia,and southern South America,but differ largely in high latitudes.It is also found that,the evaporation hotspots in arid regions are mainly associated with the changes in precipitation.Our sensitive analysis suggests that the hydrological quantities show a rather complicated spatial dependency of response of the water cycle to the different climate factors(temperature and precipitation).     

Response of leaf dark respiration of winter wheat to changes in CO2 concentration and temperature

Accurate evaluation of dark respiration of plants is important for estimation of the plant carbon budget.The response of leaf dark respiration of winter wheat to changes in CO 2 concentration and temperature was studied,using an open top chamber during 2011-2012,to understand how leaf dark respiration of winter wheat will respond to climate change.The results indicated that leaf dark respiration decreased linearly with increased CO2 concentration.Dark respiration decreased by about 11% under 560 μmol mol-1 CO2 compared with that under 390 μmol mol-1 CO2.Leaf dark respiration showed an exponential relationship with temperature,and the temperature constant(Q10) was close to 2.Moreover,the responses of leaf dark respiration to CO concentration and temperature were independent.A leaf dark respiration model based on CO2 concentration and temperature responses was developed.This model provides a method for estimation of the leaf dark respiration rate of winter wheat under future climate change and guidance for establishment of crop carbon countermeasures.