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Daily timings of sap production in sugar maple in Quebec, Canada

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Abstract

Global warming is affecting plant phenology, with potential consequences on the dynamics of growth reactivation of sugar maple and the timings of maple syrup production. In this study, we assess the temperatures inducing the daily reactivation or cessation of sap production. We selected 19 sugarbushes across Quebec, Canada, using a tapping method associated with the tubing system, we recorded the daily timings of onset and ending of sap production during winter and spring 2018, and we associated the hourly temperatures at each site. Sap production occurred from mid-February to the end of April, starting on average between 10 and 11 AM, and ending from 6 to 8 PM. We observed a seasonal pattern in the onset and ending of sap production during spring, with the onset showing a greater change than the ending. Onset and ending of sap production occurred mostly under temperatures ranging between –2 and 2 °C. The production of sap in maple is closely related to circadian freeze–thaw cycles and occurs under nighttime and daytime temperatures fluctuating below and above 0 °C. The daily lengthening of the duration of sap production mirrors the changes in the timings of freeze and thaw events and can be explained by the physical properties of the water and the physiological processes occurring during growth reactivation. The ongoing warming will result in earlier and warmer springs, which may anticipate the cycles of freeze and thaw and advance sap production in sugar maple.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank F. Gionest for technical support; L.C. Doria, D.S. Podadera, J. Gao, and A. Deslauriers for providing comments on the manuscript; and A. Garside for checking the English text.

Funding

This work was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (research programs Alliance and Discovery grants), the Observatoire régional de recherche en forêt boréale, the Syndicat des producteurs des bois du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, the Producteurs et productrices acéricoles du Québec, the Centre ACER, and the Fondation de l’Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire sur les écosystèmes terrestres boréaux (EcoTer), Département des Sciences Fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 555 boulevard de l’Université, Chicoutimi, QC, G7H 2B1, Canada

    Sara Yumi Sassamoto Kurokawa & Sergio Rossi

  2. Ministère de L’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de L’Alimentation, Direction Régionale de L’Estrie, Lac-Mégantic, QC, G6B 1H6, Canada

    Gabriel Weiss

  3. Ministère de L’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de L’Alimentation, Direction Régionale du Centre-du-Québec, Québec, QC, Canada

    David Lapointe

  4. Department of Natural Sciences, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), 58 Main Street, Ripon, QC, J0V 1W0, Canada

    Sylvain Delagrange

Authors
  1. Sara Yumi Sassamoto Kurokawa
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  2. Gabriel Weiss
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  3. David Lapointe
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  4. Sylvain Delagrange
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Correspondence to Sara Yumi Sassamoto Kurokawa.

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Kurokawa, S.Y.S., Weiss, G., Lapointe, D. et al. Daily timings of sap production in sugar maple in Quebec, Canada. Int J Biometeorol 67, 211–218 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-022-02399-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-022-02399-8

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