Accurate prediction of forest carbon sequestration potential requires a comprehensive understanding of tree growth relationships. However, the studies for estimating carbon sequestration potential concerning tree growth relationships at fine spatial-scales have been limited. In this paper, we assessed the current carbon stock and predicted sequestration potential of Lushan City, where a region has rich vegetation types in southern China, by introducing parameters of diameter at breast height (DBH) and tree height in the method of coupling biomass expansion factor (BEF) and tree growth equation. The partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to explore the role of combined condition factors (e.g., site, stand, climate) on carbon sequestration potential. The results showed that (1) in 2019, the total carbon stock of trees in Lushan City was 9.22 × 10⁵ t, and the overall spatial distribution exhibited a decreasing tendency from northwest to south-central, and the carbon density increased with elevation; (2) By 2070, the carbon density of forest in Lushan City will reach a relatively stable state, and the carbon stock will continue to rise to 2.15 × 10⁶ t, which is 2.33 times of the current level, indicating that Lushan forest will continue to serve as a carbon sink for the next fifty years; (3) Excluding the effect of tree growth, regional forest carbon sequestration potential was significantly influenced on site characteristics, which achieved the highest Variable Importance in Projection (VIP) value (2.19) for slope direction. Our study provided a better understanding of the relationships between forest growth and carbon sequestration potential at fine spatial-scales. The results regarding the condition factors and how their combination characteristics affect the potential for carbon sequestration could provide crucial insights for Chinese carbon policy and global carbon neutrality goals.

In the trend of global warming and urbanization, frequent extreme weather influences the life of citizens seriously. Shanghai, as a typical mega-city in China that has been successful in urbanization, suffers seriously from the urban heat island (UHI) effect. The research concentrates on the spatial and temporal pattern of surface UHI and land use. Then, the relation between them are further discussed. The results show that for the last 15 years, the UHI effect of Shanghai has been increasing continuously in both intensity and area. The UHI extends from the city center toward the suburban area. Along with the year, the ratio in area of Agricultural Land (AL), Wetland (WL), and Bare Land (BL) has decreased. On the contrary, Construction Land (CL) and Green Land (GL) have increased. The average land surface temperature (LST) rankings for each research year from high to low were all CL, BL, GL, AL, and WL. CL contributed the most to the UHI effect, while WL and GL contributed the most to mitigate the UHI. The conclusion provides practical advice aimed to mitigate the UHI effect for urban planning authorities.

Many forests have suffered serious economic losses and ecological consequences of pine wilt disease (PWD) outbreaks. Climate change and human activities could accelerate the distribution of PWD, causing the exponential expansion of damaged forest areas in China. However, few studies have analyzed the spatiotemporal dynamics and the factors driving the distribution of PWD-damaged forests using continuous records of long-term damage, focusing on short-term environmental factors that influence multiple PWD outbreaks. We used a maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model that incorporated annual meteorological and human activity factors, as well as temporal dependence (the PWD distribution in the previous year), to determine the contributions of environmental factors to the annual distribution of PWD-damaged forests in the period 1982–2020. Overall, the MaxEnt showed good performance in modeling the PWD-damaged forest distributions between 1982 and 2020. Our results indicate that (i) the temporal lag dependence term for the presence/absence of PWD was the best predictor of the distribution of PWD-damaged forests; and (ii) Bio14 (precipitation in the driest month) was the most important meteorological factor for affecting the PWD-damaged forests. These results are essential to understanding the factors governing the distribution of PWD-damaged forests, which is important for forest management and pest control worldwide.

Transboundary environmental problems caused by urban expansion and economic growth cannot be solved by individual cities. Successful intercity environmental cooperation relies on the clear identification and definition of the rights and obligations of each city. An Ecosystem services (ES) approach not only budgets the ES supply and demand of a city, but also defines the spatial relationships between Services Provisioning Areas (SPA) and Services Benefiting Areas (SBA). However, to date, quantitative studies integrating ES budgets and spatial relations have been scarce. This study integrates ecosystem services supply–demand budgeting with flow direction analysis to identify intercity environmental cooperation in the highly urbanized Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region of China for water-related ecosystem services (flood protection, erosion regulation and water purification). The results demonstrated that there were significant spatial mismatches in the supply and demand of three water-related ES among 16 core cities in the YRD region: five to six cities in the southern part of the region had significant service surpluses, while ten to 11 cities in the north–central part had significant service deficits. We then went on to offer definitions for Ecosystem Services Surplus City, Ecosystem Services Deficit City and Ecosystem Services Balance City, as well as Service Provisioning City, Service Benefiting City and Service Connecting City in which to categorize cities in the YRD Region. Furthermore, we identified two intercity cooperation types and two non-cooperation types. This framework can be used to promote ecological integration in highly urbanized regions to advance sustainable development.