The study looked at how changes in land use and climate affect the amount of carbon stored in plants in the Sanjiang Plain. They used data from 2001 to 2015 to analyze different types of land cover and how much carbon was stored in plants during the growing season. The findings show that while cultivated land increased, forest land and grassland decreased. However, the carbon stored in plants actually increased overall, mainly due to an increase in forest carbon density. The researchers also found that changes in temperature and precipitation can affect how much carbon plants store, with higher temperatures reducing carbon storage and more precipitation increasing it.