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High autumn temperatures increase the depth of bud dormancy in the subtropical Torreya grandis and Carya illinoinensis and delay leaf senescence in the deciduous Carya

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Autumn phenology and physiology in the subtropical tree species Torreya grandis and in a subtropical provenance of Carya illinoinensis are affected by air temperature rather than photoperiod.

Abstract

Though leaf phenology is a key tree trait affecting several ecological processes in forested ecosystems, its environmental and genetic regulation in subtropical trees is poorly understood. A few recent studies have addressed the spring phenology of subtropical trees, but the regulation of autumn leaf senescence in these trees remains unexplored. Here we carried out an experimental study of the effects of air temperature and photoperiod on autumn phenology and physiology of seedlings of two tree species growing in subtropical southeastern China: the native torreya (Torreya grandis) and a subtropical provenance of the non-native pecan (Carya illinoinensis). Our first-time results, still limited, suggest a major role of air temperature in the degradation of leaf chlorophyll and leaf senescence in the deciduous pecan: low air temperature accelerated and high air temperature delayed these processes. As expected, no leaf senescence and only minor degradation of leaf chlorophyll was observed in the evergreen torreya. In both species, the depth of bud dormancy was increased by high temperatures during dormancy induction. Our results suggest that in torreya, the depth of both endo- and ecodormancy is increased by high temperatures. As predicted by our experimental results from autumn only, an apparent legacy effect of autumn leaf senescence on bud burst in the next spring was found in an analysis of observational phenology data on adult pecan trees growing in southern USA: late leaf senescence in the autumn was followed by a late bud burst the next spring, and vice versa.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Pekka Hirvonen (www.toisinsanoen.eu) for revising the language of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (31800579), the National Forestry and Grassland Technological Innovation Program for Young TopNotch Talents [2020132604], the Key Research Program of Zhejiang Province (2018C02004) and the Overseas Expertise Introduction Project for Discipline Innovation (111 Project D18008).

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Author notes

  1. Jianhong Lin

    Present address: CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique et Evolution, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France

  2. Fucheng Wang and Rui Zhang have contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China

    Fucheng Wang, Rui Zhang, Jianhong Lin, Jinbin Zheng, Heikki Hänninen & Jiasheng Wu

  2. SFGA Research Center for Torreya Grandis, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China

    Rui Zhang, Heikki Hänninen & Jiasheng Wu

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  1. Fucheng Wang
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Correspondence to Heikki Hänninen or Jiasheng Wu.

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Wang, F., Zhang, R., Lin, J. et al. High autumn temperatures increase the depth of bud dormancy in the subtropical Torreya grandis and Carya illinoinensis and delay leaf senescence in the deciduous Carya. Trees 36, 1053–1065 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-022-02272-6

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