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Responses of canopy duration to temperature changes in four temperate tree species: relative contributions of spring and autumn leaf phenology

  • Global change ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

While changes in spring phenological events due to global warming have been widely documented, changes in autumn phenology, and therefore in growing season length, are less studied and poorly understood. However, it may be helpful to assess the potential lengthening of the growing season under climate warming in order to determine its further impact on forest productivity and C balance. The present study aimed to: (1) characterise the sensitivity of leaf phenological events to temperature, and (2) quantify the relative contributions of leaf unfolding and senescence to the extension of canopy duration with increasing temperature, in four deciduous tree species (Acer pseudoplatanus, Fagus sylvatica, Fraxinus excelsior and Quercus petraea). For 3 consecutive years, we monitored the spring and autumn phenology of 41 populations at elevations ranging from 100 to 1,600 m. Overall, we found significant altitudinal trends in leaf phenology and species-specific differences in temperature sensitivity. With increasing temperature, we recorded an advance in flushing from 1.9 ± 0.3 to 6.6 ± 0.4 days °C−1 (mean ± SD) and a 0 to 5.6 ± 0.6 days °C−1 delay in leaf senescence. Together both changes resulted in a 6.9 ± 1.0 to 13.0 ± 0.7 days °C−1 lengthening of canopy duration depending on species. For three of the four studied species, advances in flushing were the main factor responsible for lengthening canopy duration with increasing temperature, leading to a potentially larger gain in solar radiation than delays in leaf senescence. In contrast, for beech, we found a higher sensitivity to temperature in leaf senescence than in flushing, resulting in an equivalent contribution in solar radiation gain. These results suggest that climate warming will alter the C uptake period and forest productivity by lengthening canopy duration. Moreover, the between-species differences in phenological responses to temperature evidenced here could affect biotic interactions under climate warming.

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Acknowlegments

We thank Jean-Marc Louvet and the INRA experimental unit of Cestas-Pierroton for their assistance in the field. We also are grateful to Christine Schaad for revising the English language of this paper. The research leading to these results has been conducted as part of the BACCARA project which received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the grant agreement no 226299 and the Aquitaine/Midi-Pyrénées project entitled “Evolution de la Biodiversité des forêts sous l’effet des changements globaux”. Yann Vitasse was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the French Ministry of Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Bordeaux, UMR 1202 BIOGECO, Av. des Facultés, 33405, Talence, France

    Yann Vitasse, Annabel Josée Porté, Richard Michalet & Sylvain Delzon

  2. INRA, UMR 1202 BIOGECO, 69 route d’Arcachon, 33612, Cestas, France

    Antoine Kremer

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  1. Yann Vitasse
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  2. Annabel Josée Porté
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  3. Antoine Kremer
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  5. Sylvain Delzon
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Correspondence to Sylvain Delzon.

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Communicated by Alan Knapp.

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Vitasse, Y., Porté, A.J., Kremer, A. et al. Responses of canopy duration to temperature changes in four temperate tree species: relative contributions of spring and autumn leaf phenology. Oecologia 161, 187–198 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1363-4

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