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Land
Special Issues
Carbon Cycling and Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands
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Carbon Cycling and Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land–Climate Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 21 July 2026 | Viewed by 2301

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ligang Xu

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Guest Editor
Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 73 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China
Interests: ecohydrology; carbon sequestration; soil organic carbon; wetlands
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Xiaobing Chen

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Guest Editor
Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China
Interests: soil management; soil policy; soil organic carbon
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Junxiang Cheng

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Guest Editor
Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China
Interests: soil organic carbon; wetland greenhouse gas emissions
Dr. Jiaxing Xu

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Engineering, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211167, China
Interests: wetland greenhouse gas emission; carbon cycling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wetlands are the largest carbon pools available and play a vital role in global carbon cycling and carbon sequestration, making them crucial for climate mitigation. Although widely recognized as important carbon sinks, significant uncertainties remain in estimating their carbon sequestration potential due to limitations in the number and representativeness of observational sites. There are still gaps in our understanding of carbon budget evaluations. Additionally, wetland carbon dynamics are highly sensitive to environmental changes, such as human activities and climate change, which may weaken their carbon sequestration capacity, even turning them into carbon sources. This Special Issue aims to analyze the carbon dynamic process in wetlands, estimate the carbon sequestration potential, reveal the key mechanisms behind them, and explore quantitative assessment methods for their carbon sequestration potential in order to provide a scientific basis for enhancing the carbon sequestration capacity of wetland ecosystems.

This Special Issue aims to reflect on state-of-the-art studies that focus on carbon cycling and carbon sequestration potential in terrestrial and tidal wetland ecosystems. In doing so, experts from different fields will be brought together, including soil scientists, biologists, geologists, hydrologists, social and economic scientists, and others.

The submission of manuscripts that link the following themes will be welcome:

  • Carbon cycle process and environmental impacts;
  • Carbon sequestration mechanisms in terrestrial and coastal ecosystems;
  • The estimation of carbon sequestration potential;
  • Technologies enhancing carbon sequestration and carbon sink;
  • The economic and social values of carbon sequestration.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Ligang Xu
Dr. Xiaobing Chen
Dr. Junxiang Cheng
Dr. Jiaxing Xu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • carbon cycling
  • carbon sequestration
  • climate change
  • soil organic carbon
  • blue carbon
  • wetlands

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 6585 KB  
Article
Synergistic Changes in Wetland Carbon Storage and Habitat Quality in the Western Part of Jilin Province and Their Response to Landscape Patterns
by Pengfei Bao, Yingpu Wang, Yanhui Chen and Jiping Liu
Land 2026, 15(5), 736; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15050736 - 26 Apr 2026
Viewed by 205
Abstract
As a key component of ecosystems, the synergistic relationship between wetland carbon storage and habitat quality is vital for maintaining ecological functions, and its evolution is profoundly influence by changes in wetlands. This study focuses on wetlands in western Jilin Province. Based on [...] Read more.
As a key component of ecosystems, the synergistic relationship between wetland carbon storage and habitat quality is vital for maintaining ecological functions, and its evolution is profoundly influence by changes in wetlands. This study focuses on wetlands in western Jilin Province. Based on four sets of land use data from 2010 to 2023 and utilizing the InVEST model, combined with methods such as spatial autocorrelation, the Coupled Coordination Degree Model, and the GeoDetector, the study analyzed the co-variation of carbon storage and habitat quality, as well as their response to landscape patterns. The study found that between 2010 and 2023, the wetland area increased by a net 858.13 km2, and landscape fragmentation was generally alleviated, although local connectivity continued to degrade. Regional carbon storage increased by 68.1%, totaling 7.43 × 106 Mg, while the habitat quality index exhibited high spatiotemporal stability, fluctuating marginally between 0.609 and 0.621. Spatially, high-value areas remained primarily concentrated within nature reserves. Results of bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed a strengthening of spatial positive autocorrelation between carbon storage and habitat quality, with Moran’s I increasing from 0.410 to 0.501. The coupled coordination degree model further confirmed that the level of synergy between the two services exhibited a pattern of higher values in the north and lower values in the south, and that areas of high coordination expanded significantly outward following restoration projects. GeoDetector analysis indicates that the largest patch index is the core factor driving the synergistic development of ecosystem services. The results also suggest that the integrity of core wetland patches and a heterogeneous landscape pattern can promote the synergistic improvement of carbon storage and habitat quality through boundary effects and habitat complementarity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Cycling and Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands)
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19 pages, 10461 KB  
Article
Impacts of Land Use Change on Carbon Storage and Future Projections in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration Under SSP-RCP Scenarios
by Yiling Weng, Hua Zhu and Chang Chen
Land 2026, 15(2), 297; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15020297 - 11 Feb 2026
Viewed by 569
Abstract
Carbon storage (CS) is a critical ecosystem service for climate mitigation. CS in urbanizing areas is being squeezed by climate-driven capacity decline and human-induced stock loss. Focusing on the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA), we integrated the InVEST CS module with climate [...] Read more.
Carbon storage (CS) is a critical ecosystem service for climate mitigation. CS in urbanizing areas is being squeezed by climate-driven capacity decline and human-induced stock loss. Focusing on the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA), we integrated the InVEST CS module with climate projections under SSP-RCP scenarios to quantify CS dynamics during 2000–2020 and project trajectories for 2030–2070, while attributing CS changes to land use change (LUC). The findings indicated that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the share of cropland decreased from 54.72% to 49.60%, while the share of construction land increased from 6.05% to 12.55%. (2) Regional CS ranged from 2829.46 to 2941.96 Tg C and exhibited a persistent spatial gradient, decreasing from south to north. (3) CS is projected to increase under SSP5-8.5, to rise and then decline under SSP1-1.9, and to decrease overall under SSP2-4.5. (4) From 2000 to 2010, the conversion of cropland to forest made the largest positive contribution to CS changes, while the conversion of water to cropland dominated from 2010 to 2020. Conversely, cropland expansion into construction land was the primary driver of negative CS changes throughout the 2000–2020 period. For the future period (2030–2070), under all scenarios, the conversion of grassland to forest is expected to be the dominant driver of positive CS gains, whereas the conversion of grassland to cropland will consistently lead to the largest CS losses. These findings highlight the need for scenario-specific and spatially differentiated land-management strategies to sustain regional carbon sinks and enhance long-term climate resilience in agglomerations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Cycling and Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands)
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29 pages, 4278 KB  
Article
Coupling Coordination Relationship and Evolution Prediction of Water-Energy-Food-Wetland Systems: A Case Study of Jiangxi Province
by Zhiyu Mao, Ligang Xu, Junxiang Cheng, Mingliang Jiang and Jianghao Wang
Land 2025, 14(10), 1960; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14101960 - 28 Sep 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 968
Abstract
Against the backdrop of global population growth and intensified resource competition, the sustainable development of the water-energy-food system (WEF) is facing challenges. Wetlands, as key ecological hubs, play a crucial role in regulating water cycles, energy metabolism, and food production, thus serving as [...] Read more.
Against the backdrop of global population growth and intensified resource competition, the sustainable development of the water-energy-food system (WEF) is facing challenges. Wetlands, as key ecological hubs, play a crucial role in regulating water cycles, energy metabolism, and food production, thus serving as a breakthrough point for resolving the bottleneck of resource synergy. Incorporating wetlands into the WEF framework helps us comprehensively understand and optimize the interrelationships among water, energy, and food. This paper proposes an indicator system based on WEFW to study the coupling of water-energy-food-wetland systems and analyzes the evolution of the comprehensive development index of WEFW and its coupling relationship in Jiangxi Province from 2001 to 2022. It uses the grey correlation model to explore the sustainable development capacity of wetland resources, water resources, energy resources, and food resources in Jiangxi Province, and employs a geographical detector model to quantify the contribution of wetlands to WEFW. The research results show that (1) the comprehensive evaluation of WEFW systems in various cities in Jiangxi Province has generally improved, but there is imbalance in regional development. Cities such as Nanchang and Jiujiang have performed well, while cities like Jingdezhen and Xinyu need to enhance resource integration and sustainable development. (2) The coupling coordination degree (CCD) has experienced a process of “stability-fluctuation-recovery”, with a significant increase after 2014, and the spatial differentiation characteristics are obvious. (3) Wetlands play a dominant role in the spatial differentiation of CCD, and their interaction with water, energy, and food resources significantly enhance the explanatory power of their impact on CCD. (4) The grey model indicates that the CCDs of WEFW systems in most cities of Jiangxi Province have a projected annual growth rate of 1.8% (2022–2032), reaching 0.71–0.73 in leading cities. These results emphasize the importance of wetland protection and sustainable resource management in promoting regional coordinated development. The research and prediction of the coupling coordination relationship of water-energy-food-wetland systems can provide a scientific basis for the sustainable development of Jiangxi Province and also offer important scientific references for other regions to achieve a balance between ecological protection and resource utilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Cycling and Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands)
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