Publication Date:
2015-09-30
Description:
Earlier spring leaf unfolding is a frequently observed response of plants to climate warming. Many deciduous tree species require chilling for dormancy release, and warming-related reductions in chilling may counteract the advance of leaf unfolding in response to warming. Empirical evidence for this, however, is limited to saplings or twigs in climate-controlled chambers. Using long-term in situ observations of leaf unfolding for seven dominant European tree species at 1,245 sites, here we show that the apparent response of leaf unfolding to climate warming (ST, expressed in days advance of leaf unfolding per degrees C warming) has significantly decreased from 1980 to 2013 in all monitored tree species. Averaged across all species and sites, ST decreased by 40% from 4.0 +/- 1.8 days degrees C(-1) during 1980-1994 to 2.3 +/- 1.6 days degrees C(-1) during 1999-2013. The declining ST was also simulated by chilling-based phenology models, albeit with a weaker decline (24-30%) than observed in situ. The reduction in ST is likely to be partly attributable to reduced chilling. Nonetheless, other mechanisms may also have a role, such as 'photoperiod limitation' mechanisms that may become ultimately limiting when leaf unfolding dates occur too early in the season. Our results provide empirical evidence for a declining ST, but also suggest that the predicted strong winter warming in the future may further reduce ST and therefore result in a slowdown in the advance of tree spring phenology.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Fu, Yongshuo H -- Zhao, Hongfang -- Piao, Shilong -- Peaucelle, Marc -- Peng, Shushi -- Zhou, Guiyun -- Ciais, Philippe -- Huang, Mengtian -- Menzel, Annette -- Penuelas, Josep -- Song, Yang -- Vitasse, Yann -- Zeng, Zhenzhong -- Janssens, Ivan A -- England -- Nature. 2015 Oct 1;526(7571):104-7. doi: 10.1038/nature15402. Epub 2015 Sep 23.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. ; Centre of Excellence PLECO (Plant and Vegetation Ecology), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium. ; Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. ; Center for Excellence in Tibetan Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. ; Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CEA CNRS UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette 91190, France. ; School of Resources and Environment, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China. ; Ecoclimatology, Technische Universitat Munchen, Freising 85354, Germany. ; Technische Universitat Munchen, Institute for Advanced Study, Lichtenbergstrasse 2a, 85748 Garching, Germany. ; CREAF, Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona 08193, Catalonia, Spain. ; CSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona 08193, Catalonia, Spain. ; Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA. ; University of Neuchatel, Institute of Geography, Neuchatel 2000, Switzerland. ; WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Neuchatel 2000, Switzerland. ; WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Group Mountain Ecosystems, Davos 7260, Switzerland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26416746" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Cold Temperature
;
Europe
;
*Global Warming
;
Models, Biological
;
Photoperiod
;
Plant Leaves/*growth & development
;
*Seasons
;
Time Factors
;
Trees/*growth & development
Print ISSN:
0028-0836
Electronic ISSN:
1476-4687
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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