Detecting land cover and land use change and its impact on biomass carbon emission from 2001 to 2019 in Arkansas, USA

Land cover and land use change (LCLUC) is a significant contributor to the changes in biomass carbon emissions. The state of Arkansas in the U.S.A. has experienced LCLUC over last five decades. This study combined geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing, and spatiotemporal analysis to quantify changes in vegetation carbon storage resulting from LCLUC during 2001-2019. The result showed that there were fluctuating changes among all land cover land use types, while the significant transition occurred mainly between forest and grassland. From 2001 to 2011, there were similar to 1973.8 km(2) forest gain, mostly contributed from grassland/shrubland (similar to 1448.8 km(2)), followed by farmland (similar to 489.5 km(2)). The similar to 3575.3 km(2) of forest was mainly changed into grassland/shrubland (similar to 3343.4 km(2)) and built-up land (114.0 km(2)), leading to a net loss of similar to 1601.5 km(2) in forest during this 10-year period. Similarly, the changes of grassland/shrubland, farmland, and built-up land with forest resulted in similar to 493.1 km(2) net gain in forest from 2011 to 2019. During the process, a total of similar to 1.3 million tC biomass carbon was lost over the past 18 years in Arkansas, which is largely because of forest loss. However, due to the regrowth of trees, Arkansas also witnessed carbon gain during some periods. The spatiotemporal change of carbon storage and its drivers revealed by this study provide an important scientific basis for sustainable land use planning in Arkansas.

Automated summary

This study used GIS, remote sensing, and spatiotemporal analysis to quantify changes in vegetation carbon storage resulting from land cover and land use change in Arkansas from 2001 to 2019. The results showed significant transition mainly between forest and grassland, with a total loss of approximately 1.3 million tC biomass carbon over the past 18 years. However, due to tree regrowth, there were also periods of carbon gain. The findings of this study provide important scientific basis for sustainable land use planning in Arkansas.