Larger temperature response of autumn leaf senescence than spring leaf‐out phenology |
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Authors: | Yongshuo H Fu Shilong Piao Nicolas Delpierre Fanghua Hao Heikki Hänninen Yongjie Liu Wenchao Sun Ivan A Janssens Matteo Campioli |
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Institution: | 1. College of water sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China;2. Department of Biology, Centre of Excellence PLECO (Plant and Vegetation Ecology), University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium;3. Sino‐French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China;4. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Center for Excellence in Tibetan Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;5. Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris‐Sud, CNRS, Agro Paris Tech, Université Paris, Saclay, Orsay, France;6. State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A & F University, Hangzhou, China |
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Abstract: | Climate warming is substantially shifting the leaf phenological events of plants, and thereby impacting on their individual fitness and also on the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Previous studies have largely focused on the climate impact on spring phenology, and to date the processes underlying leaf senescence and their associated environmental drivers remain poorly understood. In this study, experiments with temperature gradients imposed during the summer and autumn were conducted on saplings of European beech to explore the temperature responses of leaf senescence. An additional warming experiment during winter enabled us to assess the differences in temperature responses of spring leaf‐out and autumn leaf senescence. We found that warming significantly delayed the dates of leaf senescence both during summer and autumn warming, with similar temperature sensitivities (6–8 days delay per °C warming), suggesting that, in the absence of water and nutrient limitation, temperature may be a dominant factor controlling the leaf senescence in European beech. Interestingly, we found a significantly larger temperature response of autumn leaf senescence than of spring leaf‐out. This suggests a possible larger contribution of delays in autumn senescence, than of the advancement in spring leaf‐out, to extending the growing season under future warmer conditions. |
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Keywords: | climate change leaf phenology leaf senescence leaf‐out summer and autumn warming temperature sensitivity |
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