Spatial pattern of light use efficiency of subtropical evergreen coniferous in China

Light-use efficiency (LUE) is used commonly with remotely sensed and meteorological data to monitor terrestrial ecosystem primary production (NPP). Studying the variation in space of LUE is helpful to obtain a deep understanding of the carbon cycles. Spatial pattern of LUE in subtropics evergreen coniferous based on NPP were studied at local level. The results showed that the average of LUE was 0.71 g-MJ^-1. LUE tracked closely with NPP and NPP gradually decreased from southeast to northwest in subtropics evergreen coniferous. In a linear regression, longitude, latitude, and precipitation accounted for approximately 50.5 % of the variability in LUE. LUE showed single-peaked curve followed with the increase of precipitation. The highest LUE was reached when the precipitation is about 1200 ~ 1400 mm. Spatial patterns of the LUE were discussed based on the observation data, which provides very crucial data for further correction, improvement and evaluation of LUE model.