## 5 Conclusions  
The IBIS model has been validated in a variety of different ecosystems, regions, and temperature zones worldwide. We used RU-IBIS to determine the appropriateness of applying this model to arid regions in the LP. The results showed that:1. The O-IBIS model generally underestimates the soil water content in all stations. After adding the soil erosion process scheme and adjusting the dynamic roughness, the ability of the IBIS model to simulate soil water content was greatly improved, though still with underestimated bias (RE = \(-\)0.013 m\({}^{3}\)/m\({}^{3}\)). These results indicate that soil erosion plays an important role in controlling soil hydrothermal regimes in arid regions. We should pay attention to the reliability of the Z\({}_{\rm 0m}\) value in the future simulation of the barren region with IBIS.
2. The underestimation of NPP and LAI was reduced by 68.7% and 88.5%, respectively, through the adjustment of the SLA. The modified model (RU-IBIS) accurately reproduces the vegetation growth conditions in the cropland region and does a poor job of constraining the conditions in the desert. The results show that the complexities of applying to heterogeneous sites remain, and it needs further improvement in a wider range area.
3. Sensitivity tests showed that the soil hydrothermal conditions and ET were sensitive to changes in the Z\({}_{\rm 0m}\) values. SLA largely affects the simulated NPP and NEE at all stations. An increase in the SLA produces corresponding increases in the NPP and NEE values.
4. We infer that the temperature, radiation, and soil water content dictate the inter-annual variability of the carbon emission (absorption) strength in this simulation. Moreover, any soil water content lost during soil erosion may exacerbate water deficits and thus reduce NPP. However, it is unknown whether the arid region erosion will result in a net increase or decrease in the total carbon emissions in this region.  
The RU-IBIS model improves the accuracy of the soil and vegetation modules. By incorporating the soil erosion process into IBIS, we hope to extend our single-site simulation to the whole arid region of the LP and explore the feedback of arid regions on global climate change in the future.  
Conceptualization, J.Z.; and W.M.; methodology, W.M.; software, C.Z.; validation, J.Z.; and W.M.; formal analysis, W.W.; investigation, W.W.; resources, H.L.; data curation, J.Z.; writing--original draft preparation, W.M.; writing--review and editing, [PERSON]; visualization, [PERSON]; supervision, W.M.; project administration, W.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by [China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (CPSF)] grant number [2023M731257].  
Not applicable.  
Data Availability Statement: Data is contained within the article. The data presented in this study are available in this article [Improving the Model Performance of the Ecosystem Carbon Cycle by Integrating Soil Erosion-Related Processes].  
The dataset was provided by the National Ecosystem Science Data Center, National Science and Technology Infrastructure of China ([[http://www.nesdc.org.cn](http://www.nesdc.org.cn)]([http://www.nesdc.org.cn](http://www.nesdc.org.cn)), accessed on 1 March 2023).  
[PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON] are employees of Yellow River Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd. The paper was funded by Yellow River Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd. The company had no roles in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis, orinterpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the articles. The paper reflects the views of the scientists and not the company.