Leaf Phenology of Trees in the Pasoh Forest Reserve

Published Date

pp 111-121

Title 

Leaf Phenology of Trees in the Pasoh Forest Reserve

• Author 

• Noriyuki Osada
• , Hiroshi Takeda
• , Akio Furukawa
• , Toshinori Okuda
• , Muhamad Awang

Abstract

We studied the phenology of leaf emergence in 94 trees and the leaf dynamics of 17 selected trees in the Pasoh Forest Reserve (Pasoh FR), Malaysia. We tested the following hypotheses: (i) the phenology of leaf emergence differs among trees of different heights because of differences in the relative importance of meteorological factors, and (ii) the timings of leaf emergence and leaf fall are synchronized within crowns. Six-month cycles in the phenology of leaf emergence were detected for the trees of various heights, and phenology was synchronized among different height trees. The phenology of leaf emergence was correlated with long-term mean rainfall seasonality, but not with rainfall occurring in the preceding 1-month period. This suggests that, irrespective of height differences, these trees responded to proximate cues that anticipated the seasonality of water availability. Moreover, leaf emergence occurred synchronously with leaf fall in most trees. This indicates that seasonal change in leaf number is small for most trees, and that standing leaf biomass does not change seasonally in this site. This is contrary to tropical dry forests, where standing leaf biomass is smaller in dry seasons than in rainy seasons.

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