Detecting the onset of autumn leaf senescence in deciduous forest trees of the temperate zone.

ABSTRACT: Information on the onset of leaf senescence in temperate deciduous trees and comparisons on its assessment methods are limited, hampering our understanding of autumn dynamics. We compare five field proxies, five remote sensing proxies and two data analysis approaches to assess leaf senescence onset at one main beech stand, two stands of oak and birch, and three ancillary stands of the same species in Belgium during 2017 and 2018. Across species and sites, onset of leaf senescence was not significantly different for the field proxies based on Chl leaf content and canopy coloration, except for an advanced canopy coloration during the extremely dry and warm 2018. Two remote sensing indices provided results fully consistent with the field data. A significant lag emerged between leaf senescence

SUBMITTER: Marien B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6713559 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature