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Global warming is increasing the discrepancy between green (actual) and thermal (potential) seasons of temperate trees

Fu, Yongshuo H. ; Geng, Xiaojun ; Chen, Shouzhi ; Wu, Hao ; Hao, Fanghua ; Zhang, Xuan ; Wu, Zhaofei ; Zhang, Jing LU ; Tang, Jing LU orcid and Vitasse, Yann , et al. (2023) In Global Change Biology 29(5). p.1377-1389
Abstract

Over the past decades, global warming has led to a lengthening of the time window during which temperatures remain favorable for carbon assimilation and tree growth, resulting in a lengthening of the green season. The extent to which forest green seasons have tracked the lengthening of this favorable period under climate warming, however, has not been quantified to date. Here, we used remote sensing data and long-term ground observations of leaf-out and coloration for six dominant species of European trees at 1773 sites, for a total of 6060 species–site combinations, during 1980–2016 and found that actual green season extensions (GS: 3.1 ± 0.1 day decade−1) lag four times behind extensions of the potential thermal season (TS:... (More)

Over the past decades, global warming has led to a lengthening of the time window during which temperatures remain favorable for carbon assimilation and tree growth, resulting in a lengthening of the green season. The extent to which forest green seasons have tracked the lengthening of this favorable period under climate warming, however, has not been quantified to date. Here, we used remote sensing data and long-term ground observations of leaf-out and coloration for six dominant species of European trees at 1773 sites, for a total of 6060 species–site combinations, during 1980–2016 and found that actual green season extensions (GS: 3.1 ± 0.1 day decade−1) lag four times behind extensions of the potential thermal season (TS: 12.6 ± 0.1 day decade−1). Similar but less pronounced differences were obtained using satellite-derived vegetation phenology observations, that is, a lengthening of 4.4 ± 0.13 and 7.5 ± 0.13 day decade−1 for GS and TS, respectively. This difference was mainly driven by the larger advance in the onset of the thermal season compared to the actual advance of leaf-out dates (spring mismatch: 7.2 ± 0.1 day decade−1), but to a less extent caused by a phenological mismatch between GS and TS in autumn (2.4 ± 0.1 day decade−1). Our results showed that forest trees do not linearly track the new thermal window extension, indicating more complex interactions between winter and spring temperatures and photoperiod and a justification of demonstrating that using more sophisticated models that include the influence of chilling and photoperiod is needed to accurately predict spring phenological changes under warmer climate. They urge caution if such mechanisms are omitted to predict, for example, how vegetative health and growth, species distribution and crop yields will change in the future.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
autumnal foliar senescence, climatic warming, green season, spring leaf-out, thermal season
in
Global Change Biology
volume
29
issue
5
pages
1377 - 1389
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85144168716
  • pmid:36459482
ISSN
1354-1013
DOI
10.1111/gcb.16545
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7f21e43d-b164-4f44-a664-cc39e983c540
date added to LUP
2023-01-24 13:19:52
date last changed
2024-04-18 05:18:20
@article{7f21e43d-b164-4f44-a664-cc39e983c540,
  abstract     = {{<p>Over the past decades, global warming has led to a lengthening of the time window during which temperatures remain favorable for carbon assimilation and tree growth, resulting in a lengthening of the green season. The extent to which forest green seasons have tracked the lengthening of this favorable period under climate warming, however, has not been quantified to date. Here, we used remote sensing data and long-term ground observations of leaf-out and coloration for six dominant species of European trees at 1773 sites, for a total of 6060 species–site combinations, during 1980–2016 and found that actual green season extensions (GS: 3.1 ± 0.1 day decade<sup>−1</sup>) lag four times behind extensions of the potential thermal season (TS: 12.6 ± 0.1 day decade<sup>−1</sup>). Similar but less pronounced differences were obtained using satellite-derived vegetation phenology observations, that is, a lengthening of 4.4 ± 0.13 and 7.5 ± 0.13 day decade<sup>−1</sup> for GS and TS, respectively. This difference was mainly driven by the larger advance in the onset of the thermal season compared to the actual advance of leaf-out dates (spring mismatch: 7.2 ± 0.1 day decade<sup>−1</sup>), but to a less extent caused by a phenological mismatch between GS and TS in autumn (2.4 ± 0.1 day decade<sup>−1</sup>). Our results showed that forest trees do not linearly track the new thermal window extension, indicating more complex interactions between winter and spring temperatures and photoperiod and a justification of demonstrating that using more sophisticated models that include the influence of chilling and photoperiod is needed to accurately predict spring phenological changes under warmer climate. They urge caution if such mechanisms are omitted to predict, for example, how vegetative health and growth, species distribution and crop yields will change in the future.</p>}},
  author       = {{Fu, Yongshuo H. and Geng, Xiaojun and Chen, Shouzhi and Wu, Hao and Hao, Fanghua and Zhang, Xuan and Wu, Zhaofei and Zhang, Jing and Tang, Jing and Vitasse, Yann and Zohner, Constantin M. and Janssens, Ivan and Stenseth, Nils Chr and Peñuelas, Josep}},
  issn         = {{1354-1013}},
  keywords     = {{autumnal foliar senescence; climatic warming; green season; spring leaf-out; thermal season}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{1377--1389}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Global Change Biology}},
  title        = {{Global warming is increasing the discrepancy between green (actual) and thermal (potential) seasons of temperate trees}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16545}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/gcb.16545}},
  volume       = {{29}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}