ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Interdisciplinary Climate Studies
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1657389
This article is part of the Research TopicDynamics of Land Use and Carbon Emissions in the Context of Carbon Neutrality and Carbon Peaking, Volume IIView all 3 articles
Meteorological Drivers of Carbon Flux Variations on Xinglong Mountain in the Transition Zone Between the Qinghai-Tibet and Loess Plateaus
Provisionally accepted
- 1甘肃省林业科学研究院, 兰州市, China
- 2Beijing Weiruitai Technology Co., Ltd, 中国北京, China
- 3Shanxi Huayirui Technology Co., Ltd, 中国西安, China
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The transition zone between the Qinghai-Tibet and Loess Plateaus is an important ecological functional area and carbon (C) reservoir in China. However, longterm monitoring data in this area is lacking, the carbon sink mechanisms remain unclear. Using six years (2018-2023) of eddy covariance data from Xinglong Mountain, this study analyzed the response mechanisms of forest carbon fluxes to meteorological factors by using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results showed that meteorological factors, monthly average daily maximum radiation (Rg), monthly precipitation (PP), monthly average daily maximum vapor pressure deficit (VPD), monthly effective accumulated temperature (Tac), monthly average atmospheric temperature (Tair) and monthly average soil temperature (Tsoil), exhibited significant seasonal variations, peaking June-August. Net ecosystem productivity (NEP), gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Reco) exhibited significant seasonal variations, peaking May-August. The forest ecosystem exhibited stable carbon sequestration (NEP: 299.64 to 448.62 g C m -2 a -1 ) from 2018 to 2023. SEM revealed that Rg and Tair were significant direct drivers of NEP; Reco was influenced directly by Tsoil and indirectly by Rg; GPP was mainly affected directly and indirectly by Rg, as well as directly by PP and VPD. Overall, the forest ecosystem carbon fluxes in the Xinglong Mountain were primarily subject to direct and significant positive influences from Rg, PP, Tair, Tsoil and VPD. This study provides mechanistic insights into the response of forest carbon cycling to climate change in semi-arid regions, which is highly significant for evaluating the ecological barrier function of the transition zone between the Qinghai-Tibet and Loess Plateaus.
Keywords: carbon flux, Meteorological factor, eddy covariance, Semi-arid region, Structural Equation Modeling
Received: 02 Jul 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Zong, Liu, Zhao, Zhong and Ma. 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: Quanlin Ma, 甘肃省林业科学研究院, 兰州市, China
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