Estimating biomass carbon emission induced by land cover and land use change from 2001 to 2019 in Arkansas, US

Land cover and land use change (LCLUC) is a significant contributor to the changes in biomass carbon emissions. Arkansas has experienced rapid population growth in the last two decades and an increase in housing units by 64,205 from 2010–2019. 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 shows that there were fluctuating changes among all land cover land use types, while the significant transition occurred mainly between forest and grassland. A total of ~ 1.3 million tC biomass carbon was lost during 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. Our study further demonstrated that expansion in urban areas because of population growth in Arkansas affected 0.21% of forest land and 0.58% of farmland, and 543,401 tC of carbon biomass was lost in the process. 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.