Research Articles

The decreasing spring frost risks during the flowering period for woody plants in temperate area of eastern China over past 50 years

Expand
  • 1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China;
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Dai Junhu (1968-), specialized in plant geography and biometeorology. E-mail: daijh@igsnrr.ac.cn

Received date: 2012-11-30

  Revised date: 2013-04-08

  Online published: 2013-08-15

Supported by

Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41030101;National Basic Research Program of China, No.2012CB955304;National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41171043;"Strategic Priority Research Program-Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Relevant Issues" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.XDA05090301

Abstract

The temperate monsoon area of China is an important agricultural region but late spring frosts have frequently caused significant damage to plants there. Based on phenological data derived from the Chinese Phenological Observation Network (CPON), corresponding meteorological data from 12 study sites and phenological modeling, changes in flowering times of multiple woody plants and the frequency of frost occurrence were analyzed. Through these analyses, frost risk during the flowering period at each site was estimated. Results of these estimates suggested that first flowering dates (FFD) in the study area advanced significantly from 1963 to 2009 at an average rate of -1.52 days/decade in Northeast China (P<0.01) and -2.22 days/decade (P<0.01) in North China. Over the same period, the number of frost days in spring decreased and the last frost days advanced across the study area. Considering both flowering phenology and occurrence of frost, the frost risk index, which measures the percentage of species exposed to frost during the flowering period in spring, exhibited a decreasing trend of -0.37% per decade (insignificant) in Northeast China and -1.80% per decade (P<0.01) in North China, implying that frost risk has reduced over the past half century. These conclusions provide important inform

Cite this article

DAI Junhu, WANG Huanjiong, GE Quansheng . The decreasing spring frost risks during the flowering period for woody plants in temperate area of eastern China over past 50 years[J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2013 , 23(4) : 641 -652 . DOI: 10.1007/s11442-013-1034-6

References

Augspurger C K, 2009. Spring 2007 warmth and frost: Phenology, damage and refoliation in a temperate deciduous forest. Functional Ecology, 23(6): 1031-1039.
Bennie J, Kubin E, Wiltshire A et al., 2010. Predicting spatial and temporal patterns of bud-burst and spring frost risk in north-west Europe: The implications of local adaptation to climate. Global Change Biology, 16(5): 1503-1514.
Cannell M, Smith R I, 1986. Climatic warming, spring budburst and forest damage on trees. Journal of Applied Ecology, 23(1): 177-191.
Cannell M G R, Smith R I, 1983. Thermal time, chill days and prediction of budburst in Picea sitchensis. Journal of Applied Ecology, 20(1): 951-963.
Chuine I, 2010. Why does phenology drive species distribution? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 365(1555): 3149-3160.
Cleland E E, Chuine I, Menzel A et al., 2007. Shifting plant phenology in response to global change. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 22(7): 357-365.
Devaux C, Lande R, 2010. Selection on variance in flowering time within and among individuals. Evolution, 64(5): 1311-1320.
Ding Y H, Ren G Y, Shi G Y et al., 2006. National assessment report of climate change (I): Climate change in China and its future trend. Advances in Climate Change Research, 2(1): 3-8. (in Chinese)
Eccel E, Rea R, Caffarra A et al., 2009. Risk of spring frost to apple production under future climate scenarios: The role of phenological acclimation. International Journal of Biometeorology, 53(3): 273-286.
Farajzadeh M, Rahimi M, Kamali G A et al., 2010. Modelling apple tree bud burst time and frost risk in Iran. Meteorological Applications, 17(1): 45-52.
Fen Y X, He W X, 1996. The Research on Frost. Beijing: China Meteorological Press, 1-183. (in Chinese)
Fen Y X, He W X, Sun Z F et al., 1995. Climatological study on frost damage of winter wheat in China. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 25(3): 335-340. (in Chinese)
Fitter A H, Fitter R, 2002. Rapid changes in flowering time in British plants. Science, 296(5573): 1689-1691.
Ge Q, Dai J, Zheng J et al., 2011. Advances in first bloom dates and increased occurrences of yearly second blooms in eastern China since the 1960s: Further phenological evidence of climate warming. Ecological Research,26(4): 713-723.
Hänninen H, 1991. Does climatic warming increase the risk of frost damage in northern trees? Plant, Cell & Environment, 14(5): 449-454.
Hänninen H, 2006. Climate warming and the risk of frost damage to boreal forest trees: Identification of critical ecophysiological traits. Tree Physiology, 26(7): 889-898.
Hunter A F, Lechowicz M J, 1992. Predicting the timing of budburst in temperate trees. Journal of Applied Ecology, 29(3): 597-604.
Jönsson A M, Linderson M L, Stjernquist I et al., 2004. Climate change and the effect of temperature backlashes causing frost damage in Picea abies. Global and Planetary Change, 44(1): 195-207.
Kramer K, 1994. A modelling analysis of the effects of climatic warming on the probability of spring frost damage tree species in The Netherlands and Germany. Plant, Cell & Environment, 17(4): 367-377.
Leinonen I, 1996. A simulation model for the annual frost hardiness and freeze damage of Scots pine. Annals of Botany, 78(6): 687-693.
Li X, Chen L J, Zhang P Q, 2008. Characteristics of interdecadal variations in first-frost date in northern China during 1954-2005. Advances in Climate Change Research, 4(1): 21-25. (in Chinese)
Linkosalo T, Carter T R, Häkkinen R et al., 2000. Predicting spring phenology and frost damage risk of Betula spp. under climatic warming: A comparison of two models. Tree Physiology, 20(17): 1175-1182.
Linkosalo T, Häkkinen R, Hänninen H, 2006. Models of the spring phenology of boreal and temperate trees: Is there something missing? Tree Physiology, 26(9): 1165-1172.
Linkosalo T, Lappalainen H K, Hari P, 2008. A comparison of phenological models of leaf bud burst and flowering of boreal trees using independent observations. Tree Physiology, 28(12): 1873-1882.
Loustau D, Bosc A, Colin A et al., 2005. Modeling climate change effects on the potential production of French plains forests at the sub-regional level. Tree Physiology, 25 (7): 813-823.
Ma Z, 2003. The climatic variability and influence of first frost dates in northern China. Acta Geographica Sinica, 58(S1): 31-37. (in Chinese)
Menzel A, Sparks T H, Estrella N et al., 2006. European phenological response to climate change matches the warming pattern. Global Change Biology, 12(10): 1969-1976.
Murray M B, Cannell M, Smith R I, 1989. Date of budburst of fifteen tree species in Britain following climatic warming. Journal of Applied Ecology, 26(2): 693-700.
Parmesan C, Yohe G, 2003. A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems. Nature, 421(6918): 37-42.
Root T L, Price J T, Hall K R et al., 2003. Fingerprints of global warming on wild animals and plants. Nature, 421(6918): 57-60.
Snyder R L, 2005. Frost protection: fundamentals, practice and economics, Vol. 1. Rome: Environment and Natural Resources Service (SDRN) Publications, 1-111.
Walther G R, 2003. Plants in a warmer world. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 6(3):169-185.
Wan M W, Liu X Z, 1979. China's National Phenological Observational Criterion. Beijing: Science Press, 1-136.(in Chinese)
Wang X, Ren G, Zhao C et al., 2008. Characteristics of first/last frost date events and frost-free period in Dalian area during recent 46 years. Journal of Applied Meteorological Science, 19(6): 673-678. (in Chinese)
Ye D X, Zhang Y, 2008. Characteristics of frost changes from 1961 to 2007 over China. Journal of Applied Meteorological Science, 19(6): 661-665. (in Chinese)
Zwiers F, Hegerl G, 2008. Climate change: Attributing cause and effect. Nature, 453(7193): 296-297.

Outlines

/