What is plant phenology?
Plant phenology is the study of periodic plant life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and inter-annual variations: leaf burst, flowering, fruiting, autumn foliage colour change. These events are linked to certain climatic parameters.
Why observe phenological events?
Phenology is essential to our understanding of how forest ecosystems work, in particular as relates to tree growth. It is also an effective tool to help monitor how plants adapt to changes in the climate.
The Renecofor carries out phenological observations :
- To trace differences in seasonal rhythms (leaf burst, autumn colour change, growing season length) according to species, climate and region.
- To trace inter-annual variations in occurrence dates for the different phenological stages (leaf burst, autumn colour change)
- To elaborate mathematical models which connect climatic data and plant phenology and will enable us to simulate the influence of climate change on tree behaviour.
Pourquoi les feuilles changent de couleur puis tombent à l'automne ?
A closer look at some events in a plant’s life cycle
Les prises de mesures et observations réalisées sur chaque site Renecofor
Manuel Nicolas, on forest monitoring and climate imbalance
The 25th anniversary Colloquium on Forest Ecosystem Monitoring