Primary and secondary effects of climate variability on net ecosystem carbon exchange in an evergreen Eucalyptus forest

•We analyse >10 years of fluxes and how they relate to climate and stand structural drivers.•We use wavelet coherence to investigate all time scales (days to multiple years).•Incoming shortwave radiation, spring minimum temperatures and NDVI explain most variance of annual net ecosystem exchange of carbon.•The role of precipitation strongly depends on the time scale under consideration.•Reduction of NEE due to cloud overrides effects of increased assimilation due to diffuse radiation on daily and larger time scales.