Urbanization delays plant leaf senescence and extends growing season
length in cold, but not in warm, areas
- Daijiang Li,
- Brian Stucky,
- Benjamin Baiser,
- Robert Guralnick
Daijiang Li
Louisiana State University System
Corresponding Author:dli30@lsu.edu
Author ProfileAbstract
Urbanization is quickly becoming one of the most important drivers of
global environmental change as human population and economic development
rapidly increase. However, the effects of urbanization on plant
phenology, especially leaf senescence and the length of growing season
across large spatial scales, are still understudied. Previous work
suggested that urbanization advances leaf-out in cold regions but delays
it in warm regions. We thus hypothesize that the effects of urbanization
on leaf senescence, and consequently the length of growing season, are
also dependent on climate context. Both in situ observations and remote
sensing-based phenological datasets strongly supported our hypothesis.
Specifically, we found that urbanization delayed leaf senescence and
extended growing season length in cold regions. However, urbanization
advanced leaf senescence and shortened growing season length in warm
regions, implying the positive effects of urbanization on growing season
length in cold regions may be weaker in a warmer future.