Autumn and spring are closely linked

Franziska Bucher and Christine Römermann investigate ageing processes in plants. (Picture: Anne Günther (Universität Jena))

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Biologists study autumn phenology of herbaceous plants

Based on a media release by Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena

The fact that plants are beginning to flower earlier and earlier as a result of climate change was reported some time ago by scientists in Jena, among others. But how do the climatic changes actually affect the other end of the growing season? To find answers to this question, biologists Dr Solveig Franziska Bucher of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Prof Christine Roemermann of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) have intensively studied the so-called leaf senescence, i.e. the ageing process of plants, which can be observed, for example, through autumnal colouring or the shedding of leaves. They discovered that leaf senescence begins earlier at lower temperatures than at higher temperatures. The start of this process can differ from species to species, but the colder the environment, the faster it occurs. The study was published in the Journal of Ecology.

Original publication:
(Researchers with iDiv affiliation bold)

S. F. Bucher and C. Römermann (2021): The timing of leaf senescence relates to flowering phenology and functional traits in 17 herbaceous species along elevational gradients, Journal of Ecology, DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.13577

The full text is only available in German.