Ecological restoration enhances dryland carbon stock by reducing surface soil carbon loss due to wind erosion

Jian Song, Shiqiang Wana, Kesheng Zhang, Songbai Hong, Jianyang Xia, Shilong Piao, Ying Ping Wang, Jiquan Chen, Dafeng Hui, Yiqi Luo, Shuli Niu, Jingyi Ru, Hao Xu, Mengmei Zheng, Weixing Liu, Haidao Wang, Menghao Tan, Zhenxing Zhou, Jiayin Feng, Xueli Qiu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Enhancing terrestrial carbon (C) stock through ecological restoration, one of the prominent approaches for natural climate solutions, is conventionally considered to be achieved through an ecological pathway, i.e., increased plant C uptake. By conducting a comprehensive regional survey of 4279 1 × 1 m2 plots at 517 sites across China's drylands and a 13-y manipulative experiment in a semiarid grassland within the same region, we show that greater soil and ecosystem C stocks in restored than degraded lands result predominantly from decreased surface soil C loss via suppressed wind erosion. This biophysical pathway is always overlooked in model evaluation of land-based C mitigation strategies. Surprisingly, stimulated plant growth plays a minor role in regulating C stocks under ecological restoration. In addition, the overall enhancement of C stocks in the restored lands increases with both initial degradation intensity and restoration duration. At the national scale, the rate of soil C accumulation (7.87 Tg C y-1) due to reduced wind erosion and surface soil C loss under dryland restoration is equal to 38.8% of afforestation and 56.2% of forest protection in China. Incorporating this unique but largely missed biophysical C-conserving mechanism into land surface models will greatly improve global assessments of the potential of land restoration for mitigating climate change.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere2416281121
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume121
Issue number46
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 12 2024
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • carbon neutrality
  • climate solutions
  • plant productivity
  • soil carbon
  • soil erosion

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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