Wood growth is key to understanding the feedback of forest ecosystems to the ongoing climate warming. An increase in spatial synchrony (i.e., coincident changes in distant populations) of spring phenology is one of the most prominent climate responses of forest trees. However, whether temperature variability contributes to an increase in the spatial synchrony of spring phenology and its underlying mechanisms remains largely unknown. Here, we analyzed an extensive dataset of xylem phenology observations of 20 conifer species from 75 sites over the Northern Hemisphere. Along the gradient of increase in temperature variability in the 75 sites, we observed a convergence in the onset of cell enlargement roughly toward the 5th of June, with a convergence in the onset of cell wall thickening toward the summer solstice. The increase in rainfall since the 5th of June is favorable for cell division and expansion, and as the most hours of sunlight are received around the summer solstice, it allows the optimization of carbon assimilation for cell wall thickening. Hence, the convergences can be considered as the result of matching xylem phenological activities to favorable conditions in regions with high temperature variability. Yet, forest trees relying on such consistent seasonal cues for xylem growth could constrain their ability to respond to climate warming, with consequences for the potential growing season length and, ultimately, forest productivity and survival in the future.

AGRARIA Department Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria Reggio Calabria 89124 Italy

Centre for Functional Ecology Department of Life Sciences University of Coimbra Calçada Martim de Freitas Coimbra 3000 456 Portugal

CNR Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri IRET Via Madonna del Piano 10 I50019 Sesto Fiorentino Italy

Department of Agricultural Sciences University of Naples Federico 2 80055 Portici Napoli Italy

Department of Botany Leopold Franzens University of Innsbruck Sternwartestrasse 15 6020 Innsbruck Austria

Department of Ecology School of Life Sciences State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol Sun Yat sen University Guangzhou 510275 China

Department of Geography and Regional Planning Environmental Science Institute University of Zaragoza Zaragoza 50009 Spain

Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology Charles University Prague 12843 Czech Republic

Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology Charles University Prague 12843 Czech Republic; Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening Department of Forest Ecology 252 43 Průhonice Czech Republic

Department of Wood Science and Wood Technology Mendel University in Brno Zemědělská 3 Brno 61300 Czech Republic

Dipartimento di Agricoltura Ambiente e Alimenti Università degli Studi del Molise Campobasso 86100 Italy

Forest Research Institute Université du Quebec en Abitibi Témiscamingue Rouyn Noranda QC J9X5E4 Canada

Institute of Economics and Trade Siberian Federal University Krasnoyarsk 660075 Russia

Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología Avda Montañana 1005 Zaragoza 50192 Spain

Izmir Katip Çelebi University Faculty of Forestry Balatçık Mahallesi Havaalanı Şosesi No 33 2 Balatçık Çiğli Izmir 35620 Turkey

Key Lab of Guangdong for Utilization of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System Guangdong Open Laboratory of Geospatial Information Technology and Application Guangzhou Institute of Geography Guangzhou 510070 China

Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100101 China

Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences 723 Xingke Road Tianhe District Guangzhou 510650 China

Laboratoire sur les écosystèmes terrestres boréaux Département des Sciences Fondamentales Université du Québec à Chicoutimi Chicoutimi QC G7H 2B1 Canada

MOE Key Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis and Protection College of Life Sciences Zhejiang University Hangzhou 310058 China

Natural Resources Institute Finland Latokartanonkaari 9 00790 Helsinki Finland

School of Geograph and Oceanograph Sciences Nanjing University Nanjing 210093 China

Slovenian Forestry Institute Večna Pot 2 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia

Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL Zürcherstrasse 111 8903 Birmensdorf Switzerland

Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL Zürcherstrasse 111 8903 Birmensdorf Switzerland; Department of Sciences University of Alberta Augustana Campus Camrose AB T4V 2R3 Canada

Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL Zürcherstrasse 111 8903 Birmensdorf Switzerland; Physiological Plant Ecology Department of Environmental Sciences University of Basel Schönbeinstrasse 6 4056 Basel Switzerland

Université de Lorraine AgroParisTech INRAE Silva 54000 Nancy France

University of Ljubljana Biotechnical Faculty Department of Wood Science and Technology Jamnikarjeva 101 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia

Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 25;34(6):R237-R239. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.051. PubMed

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