Carbon sequestration potential change after marshlands conversion to croplands in the Northeast China between 1982 and 2010

By the land use change analysis and modeling inputs including the plant biomass and soil organic carbon density for carbon sequestration, and the greenhouse gases emissions fluxes, we estimated the total emissions and carbon sequestration of the marshlands in the Sanjiang Plain of the northeast China before conversion and after their conversion to paddy fields (marshlands-paddy) or to uplands (marshlands-uplands). Between 1982 and 2010, it showed that the converted marshlands area occupied 54.8%. And it indicated that the marshlands before conversion had greater contribution to the global warming mitigation than the marshlands conversion to croplands. This study further demonstrated that the marshlands conversion to croplands in the Sanjiang Plain would lead to 64.80 × 106 t CO2eq/yr of net sequestration loss and may cause the future climate warming.