Modelling forest-atmosphere exchanges of carbon and water using an improved hydro-biogeochemical model in subtropical and temperate monsoon climates

Wei Zhang, Xunhua Zheng, Siqi Li, Shenghui Han, Chunyan Liu, Zhisheng Yao, Rui Wang, Kai Wang, Xiao Chen, Guirui Yu, Zhi Chen, Jiabing Wu, Huimin Wang, Junhua Yan and Yong Li

Ecological Modelling, 2025, vol. 507, issue C

Abstract: Forest-atmosphere carbon exchanges are crucial yet challenging to quantify accurately due to scaling uncertainties in site observations. Process-based models that mechanistically represent coupled carbon, nitrogen, and water cycling processes are theoretically capable of reducing uncertainties in forest carbon flux quantification, thereby improving predictions of multiple ecosystem variables relevant to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Thus, we enhanced the CNMM-DNDC model by developing a forest-specific growth module incorporating key processes (photosynthesis, allocation, respiration, mortality, litter decomposition) based on Biome-BGC formulations. Compared with the original model, evaluation against 8-year (2003–2010) eddy covariance data from three Asian forests showed significant improvements in the updated model. At daily and annual scales, normalized root mean square error decreased by 46% and 54% for gross primary productivity (GPP), and 65% and 37% for ecosystem respiration (ER), respectively, though net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange (NEE) improvements were less pronounced due to error offsetting. Sensitivity analysis identified specific leaf area, fraction of leaf nitrogen in Rubisco and annual leaf and fine root turnover fraction as most influential eco-physiological parameters, with solar radiation, humidity and air temperature as dominant meteorological drivers. The model’s ability to capture daily and inter-annual carbon flux variations demonstrates its potential for regional-to-global greenhouse gas assessments, while highlighting the need for component-specific validation to avoid error masking in net flux calculations.

Keywords: Forest ecosystem; Carbon fluxes; Process-based model; Sensitivity analysis; CNMM-DNDC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380025001590
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:507:y:2025:i:c:s0304380025001590

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2025.111174

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Modelling is currently edited by Brian D. Fath

More articles in Ecological Modelling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().