Relationships Between Woody Plant Phenology and Climate Factors

Plant phenology refers to the periodic changes in plants during their growth and reproduction stages, serving as a sensitive indicator of how climate change affects ecosystems. Global changes have led to shifts in plant phenology, and these phenological changes affect population survival, species distribution, and species coexistence, as well as key ecosystem processes such as carbon cycling and water balance. Additionally, they can alter interactions between different trophic levels. Therefore, phenological research has become an essential approach for investigating the impacts of global change on ecosystems.

Previous studies suggest that the climatic factors affecting plant phenology mainly include temperature (winter chilling and spring temperature), precipitation, photoperiod, and irradiance. However, there are some limitations to many of these phenological studies. On the one hand, many of these climate factors are known to interact, i.e., chilling and photoperiod can, together, determine spring phenology through their complex impacts on dormancy release. Additionally, insufficient chilling may be offset by additional forcing. However, although such complexities have been identified in some species, they remain poorly understood for most species, including dominant species and rare species. On the other hand, most current phenological studies focus on temperate species and on spring phenology (such as leaf-out and flowering); research on tropical and subtropical woody species and on autumn phenology are very limited. In addition, the ability to explain and predict phenology across space, time, and taxa has largely relied on annual average and seasonal climatic variables, ignoring the potential role of extreme weather events in regulating phenology; furthermore,  extreme weather events may be key drivers of multitrophic phenological mismatches. 
This Special Issue of Plants aims to address outstanding research questions and challenges in the relationships between woody plants’ phenology and climate factors. Reviews, perspectives, and original research contributions are all welcome. Studies focusing on phenological change in response to multiple abiotic drivers, or under extreme climate change, are particularly encouraged. You can use data from field observations, experiments, herbarium specimen, local flora, etc.

Prof. Dr. Yanjun Du
Guest Editor

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• plant phenology
• climate change
• mechanistic understanding
• ecological modeling
• woody species
• experiment