During the night, plant water loss can occur either through the roots, as hydraulic redistribution (HR), or through the leaves via the stoma, as nocturnal transpiration (E_n), which was methodologically difficult to separate from stem refilling (R_e). While HR and E_n have been reported across a range of species, ecosystem, and climate zone, there is little understanding on the interactions between E_n and/or R_e and HR. As water movement at night occurs via gradients of water potential, it is expected that during periods of high atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD), water loss via E_n will override water loss via HR. To test this hypothesis, sap flow in stems and roots of Populus euphratica Oliv. trees, growing in a riparian zone in a hyperarid climate, was measured once in a year. Nocturnal stem sap flow was separated into E_n and R_e using the “forecasted refilling” method. Substantial nocturnal sap flow (38% of 24‐hr flux on average) was observed and positively correlated with VPD; however, the strength of the correlation was lower (R² = .55) than diurnal sap flow (E_d) (R² = .72), suggesting that nocturnal stem sap flow was attributed to both water loss through the canopy and replenishment of water in stem tissues. Partitioning of nocturnal sap flow shows that R_e constituted approximately 80%, and E_n ~20%, of nocturnal sap flow. The amount of root sap flow attributed to redistribution was negatively related to E_d (R² = .69) and the amount of acropetally sap flow in stems, R_e (R² = .41) and E_n (R² = .14). It was suggested that the magnitude of HR is more strongly depressed by R_e that was recharge to the water loss via E_d than by E_n. It was consistent with whole‐tree water balance theory, that the nighttime upward sap flow to xylem, stem refilling and transpiration, may depress hydraulic redistribution of roots.

Evapotranspiration plays an inevitable role in various fields of hydrology and agriculture. Reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) is mostly applied in irrigation planning and monitoring. An accurate estimation of ET₀ contributes to decision and policymaking processes governing water resource management, efficiency, and productivity. Direct measurements of ET₀, however, are difficult to achieve, often requiring empirical methods. The Penman–Monteith FAO56 (PM-FAO56) method, for example, is still considered to be the best way of estimating ET₀ in most regions of the globe. However, it requires a large number of meteorological variables, often restricting its applicability in regions with poor or missing meteorological observations. Furthermore, the objectivity of some elements of the empirical equations often used can be highly variable from region to region. The result is a need to find an alternative, objective method that can more accurately estimate ET₀ in regions of interest. This study was conducted in the Hexi corridor, Northwest China. In it we aimed to evaluate the applicability of 32 simple empirical ET₀ models designed under different climatic conditions with different data inputs requirements. The models evaluated in this study are classified into three types of methods based on temperature, solar radiation, and mass transfer. The performance of 32 simple equations compared to the PM-FAO56 model is evaluated based on model evaluation techniques including root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), percentage bias (PBIAS), and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE). The results show that the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Mahringer (MAHR) models perform well and are ranked as the best alternative methods to estimate daily and monthly ET₀ in the Hexi corridor. The WMO and MAHR performed well with monthly mean RMSE = 0.46 mm and 0.56 mm, PBIAS = 12.1% and −11.0%, and NSE = 0.93 and 0.93, before calibration, respectively. After calibration, both models showed significant improvements with approximately equal PBIAS of −2.5%, NSE = 0.99, and RMSE of 0.24 m. Calibration also significantly reduced the PBIAS of the Romanenko (ROM) method by 82.12% and increased the NSE by 16.7%.

Hyper-arid regions are expected to undergo climatic change, but only a few research works have so far been conducted on the dynamics of carbon dioxide (CO₂) fluxes and their consequent responses to various bioclimatic factors, which is mainly attributable to a limited set of flux observations. In this study, the CO₂ fluxes exchanged between the forest and the atmosphere have been measured continuously by the eddy covariance approach from June 2013 to December 2016 in a riparian forest, which is a primary body of natural oases located within the lower reaches of inland rivers in China. The present results revealed that the climatic conditions characterized by relatively high mean air temperatures (T_a) with fluctuating annual precipitation (P) during the prescribed study periods were comparable to the historical mean value. The annual net ecosystem productivity (NEP) ranged from approximately 278 g C m⁻² year⁻¹ to 427 g C m⁻² year⁻¹, with a mean value of 334 g C m⁻² year⁻¹. The mean annual ecosystem respiration (Re) and the gross primary productivity (GPP) were found to be 558 and 892 g C m⁻² year⁻¹, respectively. The results also ascertained that the high inter-annual variations in NEP were attributable to Re rather than to GPP, and this result was driven primarily by T_a and the groundwater depth under similar eco-physiological processes. In addition, the CO₂ fluxes were also strongly correlated with the soil temperature and photosynthetically active radiation for the present study site. In conclusion, the desert riparian forest is a considerably significant carbon sink, particularly in the hyper-arid regions.