Relevance of carbon sink to ecological sensitivity in terraced agroforestry ecosystems under tourism interference

• The ecological sensitivity under tourism affects the carbon sink capacity. • High carbon stock values were concentrated in overwhelmingly sensitive areas. • The moderately sensitive areas gradually became highly and overwhelmingly sensitive. • Climate was overtaking vegetation as major drivers of carbon sink capacity. Anthropogenic disturbances caused by tourism threaten the health of terraced agroforestry ecosystems. The carbon sink capacity of such systems is closely linked to ecological stability, driven by the interaction of biotic and abiotic factors. However, knowledge of the interrelationship between carbon sequestration functions and ecological sensitivity is limited. In this study, hierarchical analysis and entropy weighting methods were used to construct an ecological sensitivity index and explore the impacts of regional ecological sensitivity and the interactions among various factors (climate, topography, vegetation, landscape, and human activities) on the carbon stock in a typical tourist terrace. The results revealed the following: (1) The ecological sensitivity index of the terraced ecosystem showed a rate of change of 6.32 % from 2000 to 2020, with highly sensitive areas dominating and being distributed mainly in the center of the tourist area. (2) The carbon stock of the Longji Terraces exhibited a downward trend, with a total loss of 5.629 × 10 4 t in the past 20 years. (3) The correlation between carbon stock and ecological sensitivity has increased over the past two decades, and there was a significant spatial aggregation that was most significant in areas of high–high agglomeration. (4) Climate was overtaking vegetation as major drivers of carbon sink capacity. The results help in understanding the impact of tourism development of terraced fields on farming behavior and landscape resource utilization and are valuable for improving the supply capacity of mixed agroforestry ecosystem services.