Carbon pools in China’s terrestrial ecosystems: New estimates based on an intensive field survey

Significance Previous estimations of carbon budgets in China’s terrestrial ecosystems varied greatly because of the multiplicity of data sources and the inconsistency of methodologies. By conducting a methodologically consistent field campaign across the country, we estimated that the total carbon pool in China’s forests, shrublands, grasslands, and croplands was 79.24 ± 2.42 Pg C. The carbon density exhibited a strong dependence on climate regime: it decreased with temperature but increased with precipitation. The country’s forests have a large potential of biomass carbon sequestration of 1.9–3.4 Pg C in the next 10 to 20 years assuming no removals. Our findings provide a benchmark to identify the effectiveness of the government’s natural protection policies.