Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/27323
Appears in Collections:Biological and Environmental Sciences Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Current issues in tropical phenology: a synthesis
Author(s): Abernethy, Katharine
Bush, Emma R
Forget, Pierre‐Michel
Mendoza, Irene
Morellato, Leonor Patricia C
Contact Email: k.a.abernethy@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: climate change
ecosystem change
tropical phenology
Issue Date: 31-May-2018
Date Deposited: 4-Jun-2018
Citation: Abernethy K, Bush ER, Forget P, Mendoza I & Morellato LPC (2018) Current issues in tropical phenology: a synthesis. Biotropica, 50 (3), pp. 477-482. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12558
Abstract: Abstract We retrace the development of tropical phenology research, compare temperate phenology study to that in the tropics and highlight the advances currently being made in this flourishing discipline. The synthesis draws attention to how fundamentally different tropical phenology data can be to temperate data. Tropical plants lack a phase of winter dormancy and may grow and reproduce continually. Seasonal patterns in environmental parameters, such as rainfall, irradiance or temperature, do not necessarily coincide temporally, as they do in temperate climes. We review recent research on the drivers of phenophase cycles in individual trees, species and communities and highlight how significant innovations in biometric tools and approaches are being driven by the need to deal with circular data, the complexity of defining tropical seasons and the myriad growth and reproductive strategies used by tropical plants. We discuss how important the use of leaf phenology (or remotely‐sensed proxies of leaf phenophases) has become in tracking biome responses to climate change at the continental level and how important the phenophase of forests can be in determining local weather conditions. We also highlight how powerful analyses of plant responses are hampered at many tropical sites by a lack of contextual data on local environmental conditions. We conclude by arguing that there is a clear global benefit in increasing long term tropical phenology data collection and improving empirical collection of local climate measures, contemporary to the phenology data. Directing more resources to research in this sector will be widely beneficial.
DOI Link: 10.1111/btp.12558
Rights: This item has been embargoed for a period. During the embargo please use the Request a Copy feature at the foot of the Repository record to request a copy directly from the author. You can only request a copy if you wish to use this work for your own research or private study. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Abernethy K, Bush ER, Forget P, Mendoza I & Morellato LPC Current issues in tropical phenology: a synthesis, Biotropica, 50, pp. 477-482, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12558. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

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