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Light use efficiency of a warm-temperate mixed plantation in north China

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Abstract

Light use efficiency (LUE) is one of the important parameters on calculating terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP) and net primary productivity (NPP). Based on 5-year (2006–2010) carbon flux and climatic variable data of a mixed plantation in north China, the seasonal and interannual variation of LUE was investigated and the biophysical controls were examined. Our results show that LUE had a distinct seasonal course, and peaked in the vigorous growing season with a value of 0.92–1.27 g C MJ−1. During the period of 2006–2010, annual mean LUE ranged between 0.54 and 0.62 g C MJ−1, and it was linearly correlated with annual GPP. In the growing season, LUE was significantly linked with the water availability variables (including monthly mean vapor pressure deficit (VPD), precipitation, evaporative fraction (EF), and the ratio of precipitation to evapotranspiration (P/ET)) and canopy conductance (g c). However, EF was a better estimator of LUE compared with other biophysical variables. LUE decreased with an increase of the clearness index (CI), indicating that LUE was higher under cloudy sky conditions than that under sunny sky conditions in the mixed plantation.

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Acknowledgements

This study was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570617, 31100322) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. YX2011-19).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiaojuan Tong

  2. Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of State Forestry Administration, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China

    Jinsong Zhang, Ping Meng & Ning Zheng

  3. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Jun Li

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  1. Xiaojuan Tong
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Correspondence to Xiaojuan Tong.

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Tong, X., Zhang, J., Meng, P. et al. Light use efficiency of a warm-temperate mixed plantation in north China. Int J Biometeorol 61, 1607–1615 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-017-1339-8

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