Land use changes in the Min River basin and their impact on carbon storage

Background: The changes in land use patterns may provide immediate economic advantages, but they also lead to significant disruptions in ecosystem services. These modifications have the potential to adversely impact water supply, air quality, disaster response, carbon storage, and biodiversity. Therefore, these modifications affect the provision of ecosystem services and have a negative effect on human well-being. Hence, it is crucial to investigate how land use changes affect carbon storage to enhance ecosystem services, lessen the consequences of climate change, advance human welfare, and direct effective land management practices. Methods: Min River Basin (MRB) is a significant water reservoir in China, providing valuable ecosystem services. Currently, the MRB is undergoing significant alterations in the land use due to country's policy changes. Therefore, this study analyzed alterations in land use, dynamics of the alterations, and transfer matrix in MRB. The alterations in these indices were recorded for three time periods, i.e., 2000, 2010, and 2020. Furthermore, the influence of land use changes on carbon storage was investigated by InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) model. Results: The main land use classes in the MRB consisted of forest land, grassland, and arable land, and most of the alterations were recorded among these three classes. The arable land was declined by 163-333 km2, 2 , while grassland reduced by 23-233 km2 2 from 2000 to 2020. Likewise, forest land witnessed a decrease of 34-167 km2 2 from 2000 to 2020. The dominant land use dynamics consisted of construction land and water areas, whereas the entire land use dynamics exhibit a consistent increasing trend. Moreover, carbon storage witnessed a significant decrease during the study period due to the reduction in forest land, grassland, and arable land. Conclusion: The land use patterns in the MRB have witnessed substantial transformations because of recent policy implementations. Land use changes from forest land, arable land and grassland to other types exerted significant influence on carbon storage. Generally, carbon storage decreased from 2000 to 2020. The decline in carbon storage in the MRB is mostly attributed to urban growth, and construction activities. Therefore, these activities should be carefully monitored to improve carbon storage in the basin.