PHENOLOGY OF TROPICAL FORESTS : PATTERNS, CAUSES, AND CONSEQUENCES

Leaf phenology of tropical forests is distinct from other biomes. Unlike the marked temperature-related periodicity of temperate forests, development tends to be continuous in aseasonal lowland tropical rain forests and becomes more episodic in response to increasing annual drought in tropical dry forests. Hence, in tropical rain forests, foliar development (production, senescence, and longevity) is largely under internal rather than environmental control. In contrast, tropical forests with marked annual dry seasons display associated seasonality of leaf production and shedding. This developmental seasonality can be explained by overlaying the influence of seasonality on trees' internally regulated development and appears to be controlled by acclimative physiological processes and not by sensitivity to photo-, thermo-periodic, or direct environmental cues. Consequences of tropical phenology stem from both the variety of leaf and species ecophysiological types common to a given moisture regime and their re...

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