As the basis of the human existence, few information of the biomass resources in China has been revealed. Recently, Prof. XIE Gaodi and his team from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR) of Chinese Academy of Sciences studied the quality and spatial charactistics of the terrestrial ecosystem in China.

Based on the field site biomass sample data from Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN), biomass inversion model was established. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was used to calculate spatial continuous value, which is the first biomass spatial distribution map of terrestrial ecosystem in China. Biomass maps can be used as baseline information for future landscape level studies, such as greenhouse gas inventories, terrestrial carbon accounting, and monitoring management practices.

"Although there are many studies on biomass estimation, few have estimated the above- and belowground biomass (ABGB) of the whole terrestrial ecosystem spatially and over time”, said Dr. LI Na, the first author of the study.

The study showed the ABGB of China was estimated to be 31.1Pg (1Pg=10¹⁵g) in 2010. The forest ecosystem contains the largest total biomass, which represents about 70% of the whole terrestrial ecosystem. Desert had the least biomass. The high biomass values occurred in the Great Canyon region of Yalungzangbo River, southeast of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and the Hengduan Mountains; the Xing’an mountains in the autonomous region of Mongolia and the northeast regions; the Changbai mountains in the northeast regions; and the plain and hilly regions in east and southeast China. The low biomass values were primarily distributed in north and northwest regions, where it is mostly desert with few plants. Tibet, with a wealth of natural resources and sparse population, has the largest biomass per capita with 807t in 2010. Shanghai and Tianjin, with high population densities and minimal space, had only less than 0.5t biomass per individual.

Actually, the quality of biomass resources is much larger than the value of simulation. Soil biomass is not included in this study, which is an important indicator to add. As a consequence from their findings, the researchers recommend to base future estimation for the total quality of the whole terrestrial ecosystem and the time and space scale change analysis.

The paper has been published in Sustainability.