Advances and challenges of carbon storage estimation in tea plantation

Tea plantation ecosystem play an important role in carbon sinks through plant photosynthesis, biomass accumulation, and soil organic matter storage. The carbon storage assessment of tea plantation ecosystem is an essential task for high‑carbon sink tea plantation establishment, carbon trade, and regional sustainable development. However, the uniqueness of ecological information and spatial distribution in the tea plantation ecosystems leads to great challenges in carbon storage measurement and modeling in large scale, including (1) The acquisition of above and under-ground biomass of tea garden for carbon storage assessment are difficult. (2) The scarcity of long-term field observation data. (3) The portability of carbon storage assessment model is affected by the strong spatial and temporal heterogeneity of tea garden distribution. We reviewed the literatures of carbon storage investigation of the tea plantation ecosystem, summarized the principle, advantages, limitations, and application of carbon storage measurement methods, and discussed the estimation results of carbon storage for tea plantation in different studies. The perspectives are proposed to overcome existing challenges, including (1) Utilizing remote sensing techniques to obtain spatial distributions and growth parameters related to carbon storage assessment of tea plantations. (2) Combining the “Space-Sky-Ground” observation system to acquire long-term observation data. (3) Developing high applicability and precision carbon storage estimation model, especially tea plants biomass estimation models. (4) To reduce the uncertainty in tea plantation ecosystem carbon stock estimation, it is necessary to build model-data-fusion technology frame by integrate observation data into carbon storage estimation models. This review summarized the progress and proposed perspectives of carbon storage assessment for the tea plantation ecosystem, which can provide references for further carbon sink investigation of tea plantation ecosystem.