Soil respiration (Rs) plays an important role in the carbon budget of terrestrial ecosystems. Quantifying the spatial and temporal variations in Rs in China at the regional scale helps improve our understanding of the variations in terrestrial carbon budgets that occur in response to global climate and environmental changes and potential future control measures. In this study, we used a regional-scale geostatistical model that incorporates gridded meteorological and pedologic data to evaluate the spatial Rs variations in China from 2000 to 2013. We analysed the relationship between Rs and environmental factors, and suggest management strategies that may help to keep the terrestrial carbon balance. The simulated results demonstrate that the mean annual Rs value over these 14 years was 422 g/m2/year, and the corresponding total amount was 4.01 Pg C/year. The Rs estimation displayed a clear spatial pattern and a slightly increasing trend. Further analysis also indicated that high Rs values may occur in areas that show a greater degree of synchronicity in the timing of their optimal temperature and moisture conditions. Moreover, cultivated vegetation exhibits higher Rs values than native vegetation. Finally, we suggest that specific conservation efforts should be focused on ecologically sensitive areas where the Rs values increase significantly.

Land-use change, particularly urban expansion, can greatly affect the carbon balance, both from the aspects of terrestrial ecosystems and anthropogenic carbon emissions. Coastal China is a typical region of rapid urban expansion, and obvious spatial heterogeneity exists from the north to south. However, the different urban change characteristics and the effect on carbon balance remain undetermined. By unifying the spatial-temporal resolution of carbon source and sink data, we effectively compared the carbon budgets of three coastal urban agglomerations in China. The results show that all of the three urban agglomerations have undergone an obvious urban expansion process, with the built-up area increasing from 1.03 × 104 km2 in 2000 to 3.06 × 104 km2 in 2013. For Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH), the built-up area gradually expanded. The built-up area in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) gradually changed before 2007 but rapidly grew thereafter. The built-up expansion of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) passed through three growing stages and showed the largest mean patch size. Carbon emission spatial patterns in the three urban agglomerations are consistent with their economic development, from which the net ecosystem production (NEP) spatial patterns are very different. Compared to carbon emissions, NEP has a carbon sink effect and can absorb some carbon emissions, but the amounts were all much lower than the carbon emissions in the three urban agglomerations. The carbon sink effect in the Yangtze River Delta is the most obvious, with the Pearl River Delta following, and the lowest effect is in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei. Finally, a scientific basis for policy-making is provided for viable CO2 emission mitigation policies.

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