title: Spatial and temporal patterns of carbon storage in forest ecosystems on Hainan island, southern China.
abstract: Spatial and temporal patterns of carbon (C) storage in forest ecosystems significantly affect the terrestrial C budget, but such patterns are unclear in the forests in Hainan Province, the largest tropical island in China. Here, we estimated the spatial and temporal patterns of C storage from 1993-2008 in Hainan's forest ecosystems by combining our measured data with four consecutive national forest inventories data. Forest coverage increased from 20.7% in the 1950s to 56.4% in the 2010s. The average C density of 163.7 Mg C/ha in Hainan's forest ecosystems in this study was slightly higher than that of China's mainland forests, but was remarkably lower than that in the tropical forests worldwide. Total forest ecosystem C storage in Hainan increased from 109.51 Tg in 1993 to 279.17 Tg in 2008. Soil C accounted for more than 70% of total forest ecosystem C. The spatial distribution of forest C storage in Hainan was uneven, reflecting differences in land use change and forest management. The potential carbon sequestration of forest ecosystems was 77.3 Tg C if all forested lands were restored to natural tropical forests. To increase the C sequestration potential on Hainan Island, future forest management should focus on the conservation of natural forests, selection of tree species, planting of understory species, and implementation of sustainable practices.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Linjun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Environment and Plant Protection, Hainan University, Haikou, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, United States of America.
authors.forename: Dafeng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Shuguang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jian
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Huai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hongfang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Guoyi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xuli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qianmei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Lianlian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xubing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D065928:Forests; D062312:Islands; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D035501:Uncertainty
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon