Radiation use and understory aboveground net primary production in a temperate dryland

Abstract We investigated the spatial and temporal variability of herbaceous radiation use efficiency () and herbaceous aboveground net primary production () of big sagebrush ecosystems in Wyoming's Upper Green River Basin. Using a combination of field data, Sentinel‐2 satellite imagery, and global radiation datasets, we inverted the Monteith model to estimate across 80 field plots. We examined the influence of environmental factors such as temperature, precipitation, soil texture, and grazing intensity on and . Our findings revealed significant variability in , with a mean of 0.56 g/Mj, and , averaging 32 g/m 2 /year. was significantly influenced by growing season evapotranspiration, while was primarily driven by annual precipitation and soil clay content. Additionally, we explored the regional and interannual variation in over 1075 sites using 5‐day averages over 5 years. peaked in late June to early July, closely following the peak of photosynthetically active radiation (), while maximum temperatures peaked later in summer. Precipitation emerged as a major factor explaining 54% of the spatial variability in across the study region.