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Impacts of strengthened warming by urban heat island on carbon sequestration of urban ecosystems in a subtropical city of China

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Abstract

Urban heat island could strengthen the warming trend of air temperature and cause the change of carbon cycle of urban ecosystems. The primary goal of this study was to explore the above phenomena in a subtropical city of Shenzhen. We selected four sites along a thermal gradient of the city and ran an ecological model to simulate hourly gross primary productivity and net ecosystem change of carbon for the purpose of analyzing the difference in the effects of urban heat island on vegetation growth and carbon sequestration. The work was also intended to help us understand future warming effects on carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystem in subtropical and tropical areas. The results of the modeling experiments showed that strengthened warming temperature by urban heat island could constrain vegetation carbon sequestration in hot seasons and promote vegetation growth in cool seasons. The seasonal sequence of carbon sequestration for the subtropical city was: spring > summer > autumn > winter. For the study period, the maximum amount of monthly carbon sequestration by urban ecosystems happened in May. In summer and autumn, vegetation gross primary productivity and carbon sequestration first increased with the increase in temperature, and then decreased after hourly temperature reached a threshold value. In addition, the number of days with high temperature constraints on vegetation carbon sequestration were significantly higher in the two urban sites than those in the two suburban sites. The above phenomena was driven by the fact that strengthened warming by urban heat island constrained vegetation photosynthesis and transpiration and caused the increase of ecosystem respirations. The above results indicated that the strengthened warming by urban heat island could create additional constraints on carbon sequestration of urban ecosystems in the subtropical regions. The results implied that future global warming may cause the weakening of vegetation carbon sequestration in the subtropical and tropical ecosystems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Jun Wang

  2. Key Laboratory for Human and Environmental Science and Technology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Ziyuan Xiang & Wenjing Chang

  3. Shenzhen Environmental Monitoring Center, Shenzhen, 518049, China

    Weimin Wang

  4. National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yang Wang

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  1. Jun Wang
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  2. Ziyuan Xiang
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  4. Wenjing Chang
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  5. Yang Wang
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Correspondence to Jun Wang.

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All appropriate ethics and approvals were obtained for this research. All authors are with contents of the manuscript and its publication to this journal. Correspondence and requests for data and materials should be addressed to Jun Wang (wangj829@mail.sysu.edu.cn). The authors have no competing interests. The work was supported by the Shenzhen Basic Research Program (JCYJ20180302150417674) and the National Science Foundation of China (41871191). Jun Wang designed the research; Jun Wang and Ziyuan Xiang, and Weimin Wang performed the analysis; Jun Wang and Ziyuan Xiang drafted the paper; and all authors contributed to the interpretation of the results and to the text. The authors also would like to thank Shenzhen Ecological Monitoring Station for providing the hourly ecosystem CO2 flux data in the city and Shenzhen Meteorological Bureau for providing the hourly meteorological dataset.

Dr. Jun Wang works as an associate professor at School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University. Ziyuan Xiang is a graduate student at Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. Dr. Weimin Wang works as an associate research scientist at Shenzhen Environmental Monitoring Center. Wenjing Chang works as a lab technician at Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. Dr. Yang Wang works as a senior engineer at National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration.

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Wang, J., Xiang, Z., Wang, W. et al. Impacts of strengthened warming by urban heat island on carbon sequestration of urban ecosystems in a subtropical city of China. Urban Ecosyst 24, 1165–1177 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-021-01104-8

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