ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Atmosphere and Climate
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1581983
This article is part of the Research TopicDrylands under the Influence of Climate Change and Human ActivitiesView all 17 articles
Modelling and Evaluation of Net Ecosystem Productivity (NEP) and Its Driving Factors in Inner Mongolia
Provisionally accepted
- 1Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
- 2Yinshanbeilu Grassland Ecohydrology National Observation and Research Station, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
- 3Institute of Pastoral Hydraulic Research, Ministry of Water Resources, Hohhot, China
- 4Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland
- 5College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
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Net ecosystem productivity (NEP) is a critical indicator for characterizing the carbon cycle dynamics within terrestrial ecosystems. This study employs six different combinations of methods for calculating Net Primary Productivity (NPP) and heterotrophic soil respiration (𝑅 ℎ ) to estimate monthly NEP values in Inner Mongolia from 2001 to 2021. The carbon flux observation data obtained through the eddy covariance method are used to validate and evaluate these combinations, and the best NEP estimation model combination is selected, and the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of NEP along with its primary driving factors are analyzed. Results show that: (1) The NEP estimates derived from MODIS NPP combined with the Global Soil Respiration Model (GSMSR) and Bond-Lamberty's 𝑅 𝑠 -𝑅 ℎ relationship model exhibit a strong correlation with validated data; (2) The NEP in Inner Mongolia shows a significant increasing trend, with an annual average value of 168.73 gC• m -2 •a -1 , or 177.57 gC• m -2 •a -1 when excluding barren. Forests, croplands, and grasslands are identified as the primary carbon sinks during the growing season, with average NEP values of 84.81, 46.41, and 32.95 gC• m -2 • mth -1 , respectively; (3) Precipitation is the dominant meteorological factor driving the spatiotemporal variations of NEP across the region, contributing 72.29% to NEP during the growing season. Additionally, over 80% of areas influenced by human activities exhibit a positive impact on NEP; (4) The interannual and growing season increases in NEP are primarily attributed to climate change and anthropogenic activities, which account for 57% and 66.3% of NEP variations, respectively. These effects are particularly pronounced in the eastern forested regions and
Keywords: net ecosystem productivity, CASA model, MODIS NPP, Driving factors, Inner Mongolia
Received: 23 Feb 2025; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cui, Zhao, Li, Wu, Kolerski and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Shengjie Cui, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
Shuixia Zhao, Yinshanbeilu Grassland Ecohydrology National Observation and Research Station, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Chao Li, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
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