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Frequency of inversions affects senescence phenology of Acer pseudoplatanus and Fagus sylvatica

  • Phenology – Milwaukee 2012
  • Published:
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Abstract

In mountainous regions, inversion situations with cold-air pools in the valleys occur frequently, especially in fall and winter. With the accumulation of inversion days, trees in lower elevations experience lower temperature sums than those in middle elevations. In a two-year observational study, deciduous trees, such as Acer pseudoplatanus and Fagus sylvatica, on altitudinal transects responded in their fall leaf senescence phenology. Phenological phases were advanced and senescence duration was shortened by the cold temperatures in the valley. This effect was more distinct for late phases than for early phases since they experienced more inversion days. The higher the inversion frequency, the stronger the signal was. Acer pseudoplatanus proved to be more sensitive to cold temperatures compared to Fagus sylvatica. We conclude that cold-air pools have a considerable impact on the vegetation period of deciduous trees. Considering this effect, trees in the mid hillside slopes gain advantages compared to lower elevations. Our findings will help to improve knowledge about ecological drivers and responses in mountainous forest ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

Our gratitude is directed to the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Public Health for funding the project “Auswirkungen des Klimawandels in den Alpen—Erfassung mittels Höhengradienten” (KLIMAGRAD; Climate Change Impact Monitoring at Altitudinal Gradients) within the “Klimaprogramm Bayern 2020”. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement n° [282250]. The authors furthermore acknowledge the support by the Bavarian State Forest Enterprise and the German Meteorological Service (DWD) for the provision of additional data.

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  1. Technische Universität München, Chair of Ecoclimatology, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Christina Schuster & Annette Menzel

  2. Helmholtz Zentrum München German Research Center for Environmental Health, Cooperation Group “Comprehensive Molecular Analytics” (CMA), Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    Manfred Kirchner & Gert Jakobi

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  1. Christina Schuster
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Schuster, C., Kirchner, M., Jakobi, G. et al. Frequency of inversions affects senescence phenology of Acer pseudoplatanus and Fagus sylvatica . Int J Biometeorol 58, 485–498 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0709-0

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