Roles of urban vegetation on balance of carbon and oxygen in Guangzhou, China

"The plant biomass and net primary production (NPP) of urban vegetation in Guangzhou were estimated by dimension analysis, tree trunk volume, and harvest methods as well as relationship between biomass and NPP and so on. The biomass and NPP were respectively 2875150t and 1058122 t/a. They were respectively 392495t and 64948 t/a in the built-up area and 2482655t and 993147 t/a in the unbuilt-up area. It would make plant biomass, especially NPP decline obviously, if the unbuilt-up area were changed to the built-up area. The carbon content of plant was 1328649 for the total and 13.78 t/hm2 for the mean, and amounts of carbon fixed and oxygen made by urban vegetation were respectively 4.80 t/(hm2·a) and 12.79 t/(hm2·a) for the mean and 462624 t/a and 1232430 t/a for the total, which were equal to 1.45 times and 1.04 times of those by human breathing. However, they were only equal to 7.61% and 4.97% of amount of carbon released and oxygen consumption in urban Guangzhou. The biomass and NPP of urban vegetation in Guangzhou only corresponded to 7.8% and 47.3% of those of southern subtropical evergreen broad-leaf forest in Dinghu Mountain. Therefore, the roles of Guangzhou urban vegetation in balance of carbon and oxygen would be increased greatly if it could be conserved and improved in some way."