Conversion of cropland to grassland and forest mitigates global warming potential in northeast China

Abstract

In converting cropland to grassland and forest, more carbon is sequestered in grassland soil and forest biomass, but the mitigation of global warming potential (GWP) is not clear. In this study, we use the longterm conversion from cropland to grassland (28 y) and forest (14 y) to comprehensively assess the impact on GWP of soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), CO2, and N2O emissions. The results showed that compared to the original cropland, conversion to grassland increased soil C content by 51.1%, soil N content by 28.4%, soil C stock (SCS) by four times, CO2 emission by 17%, and N2O emission by 40%; soil N stock (SNS) decreased by half. The corresponding values after afforestation were 7.2%, 5.2%, three times, 3%, -80%, and half, respectively. Overall GWP in the cropland system was calculated using the fuel used for farming production, the change in soil C, and N2O emissions. Due to large C sequestration, the GWP of conversion to grassland (-1667 kg CO2-C equivalent ha-1・y-1) and forest (-324 kg CO2-C equivalent ha-1・y-1) were significantly lower than the cropland system (755 kg CO2-C equivalent ha-1・y-1). The relationship between GWP and greenhouse gas, between GWP and the change of total C and N, suggest that in rain-fed agricultural systems in northeast China, the conversion from cropland to grassland and forest can mitigate GWP through changing CO2 and N2O emissions.