ETH Study Comes to Conclusion: Climate Change Extends Fall Colors in Forests

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Due to climate change, the forests are colorful longer in autumn. According to a new study by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), leaf coloration starts earlier and ends later.

“The changes in the plant schedule could have far-reaching implications for the carbon cycle and biodiversity,” said study co-author Constantin Zohner of ETH Zurich when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency on Thursday. For example, shorter growth phases of trees lead to an overall lower CO2 absorption. In addition, insects, for example, have to adapt to the changed schedule of the plants.

Temperatures prolong the fall colors

An accurate understanding of these so-called phenological shifts is therefore important, Zohner said. The leaf color of the trees is influenced by several factors. From the temperature, the length of the day and the vegetation activity at the beginning of the season. Zohner’s team calculated exactly how these factors affect northern forests. The results were published on Thursday in the renowned journal Science.

The summer solstice is important, the study found. “When the days get shorter again, the plants know that winter is coming,” explains Zohner. The warmer it gets in the fall, the longer this process takes. Higher temperatures after the longest day of the year therefore delay the end of so-called senescence, or leaf discoloration.

On the other hand, high temperatures before the summer solstice lead to earlier leaf budding. Because the time for certain processes in the growth phase of the plants is predetermined, the leaves also change color earlier. With climate change, which tends to lead to higher temperatures before and after the summer solstice, aging is thus extended.

In the study, the scientists showed that higher spring temperatures advance the onset of leaf coloration by about two days per degree of warming, while higher temperatures after the summer solstice delay the progression of senescence by about 2.5 days per degree of warming. (SDA)

Source: Blick