Acclimation of phenology relieves leaf longevity constraints in deciduous forests.

Marqués, Laura; Hufkens, Koen; Bigler, Christof; Crowther, Thomas W; Zohner, Constantin M; Stocker, Benjamin D (2023). Acclimation of phenology relieves leaf longevity constraints in deciduous forests. Nature ecology & evolution, 7(2), pp. 198-204. Springer Nature 10.1038/s41559-022-01946-1

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Leaf phenology is key for regulating total growing-season mass and energy fluxes. Long-term temporal trends towards earlier leaf unfolding are observed across Northern Hemisphere forests. Phenological dates also vary between years, whereby end-of-season (EOS) dates correlate positively with start-of-season (SOS) dates and negatively with growing-season total net CO2 assimilation (Anet). These associations have been interpreted as the effect of a constrained leaf longevity or of premature carbon (C) sink saturation-with far-reaching consequences for long-term phenology projections under climate change and rising CO2. Here, we use multidecadal ground and remote-sensing observations to show that the relationships between Anet and EOS are opposite at the interannual and the decadal time scales. A decadal trend towards later EOS persists in parallel with a trend towards increasing Anet-in spite of the negative Anet-EOS relationship at the interannual scale. This finding is robust against the use of diverse observations and models. Results indicate that acclimation of phenology has enabled plants to transcend a constrained leaf longevity or premature C sink saturation over the course of several decades, leading to a more effective use of available light and a sustained extension of the vegetation CO2 uptake season over time.

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