Modelling plant phenology and la

Modelling plant phenology and large scale phenological observations

A QUEST & CLASSIC workshop 28.– 29.11.2005

Organization

Jörg Kaduk (University of Leicester, UK) & QUEST

Programme committee

Dr. Robert Baxter, CLASSIC, University of Durham, UK

Dr. Annette Menzel, Technical University of Munich, Germany

Prof. I. Colin Prentice, QUEST leader, University of Bristol, UK

Prof. Shaun Quegan, Director CTCD, University of Sheffield

Dr. Mathew Williams, University of Edinburgh, UK

Objective

The objective of the workshop is to support the development of plant phenological models to be employed in large-scale land surface and climate models. The workshop will focus on the exploration of robust models for the timing of leaf budburst and leaf fall in northern hemispheric temperate and boreal biomes. It will bring together existing modelling expertise based on experimental approaches, direct phenological observations and remote sensing. In addition, existing and new modelling approaches based on experience in forestry, crop modelling and genetics will be discussed.

Rationale

The biosphere is one important factor in determining climatic patterns such as the atmospheric boundary layer development and large scale circulation. Presence or absence of leaves has large influences on local to regional climate and climate models have been improved by including a seasonal cycle of leaf reflectance derived from remote sensing data.

The phenological development also plays a crucial role in the carbon cycle. For example canopy development represents a significant investment of carbon by plants as newly formed leaves and fine roots represent a significant fraction of annual productivity and plant resources. A few repeated losses of the canopy will lead to tree death.

The seasonal development of plants therefore crucially determines atmosphere-biosphere interactions controlling energy, water and carbon fluxes on local to regional and monthly to decadal scales.

In order to predict the future development of the climate system the inclusion of phenology models seems thus crucial. These models need to be climate driven and should have a basis in plant ecophysiology. Current state-of-the-art climate models do not include any phenology model that incorporates current ecophysiological knowledge.

The UK has a very good network of phenological observations but the use of the data for modelling has been a little limited. The UK phenology community is not very well defined and with most modelling research being done outside the UK. However, the UK has with HadCM a leading global climate model. A stronger UK phenology modelling community will allow to enhance and to capitalize on a leading climate model and

Aims

The aims of the workshop are therefore to:

discuss phenological models for leaf out and leaf fall in northern hemispheric temporal and boreal biomes for large-scale land surface and climate models.
focus on climate driven models which are based on plant ecophysiology
outline the coupling to modelling the terrestrial carbon cycle
initiate discussion on modelling other plant compartments, e.g. fine roots
explore approaches from forestry and agriculture and well as new approaches/knowledge (genetics,...?)
consider first steps to modelling in the (sub)tropics

Programme

Temperate phenology
Heikki Hänninen, University of Helsinki Koen Kramer, Alterra	A framework for modelling the annual cycle of trees in the cool and temperate regions
Dr. Robert Baxter, Dr. Jonathan Bennie, CLASSIC, University of Durham	Leaf phenology in tundra
Tim Randle, Forest Research	Bud-burst modelling and phenology in the Forestry research
Jörg Kaduk, Sietse Los, CLASSIC, Universities of Leicester and Swansea	Phenological models for the leaf out date in temperate and boreal Biomes determined from NDVI

Implementations in Land surface models
Thuy Le Toan, CESBIO	Spring phenology in boreal regions using remote sensing
Prof. Shaun Quegan, Director CTCD, University of Sheffield	Calibrating SDGVM phenology with EO data: effects on Siberian C flux estimates
Christian Reick, MPI for Biogeochemistry, Jena	The Logistic Growth Phenology Model for global climate simulations
Nicolas Viovy, LSCE	Phenology in ORCHIDEE
Heikki Hänninen, University of Helsinki	Using physiological data for developing and testing the phenological models.
Koen Kramer, Alterra	A genetic-ecological study on beech (Fagus sylvatica L.): a leap of faith to assess a species' adaptive potential to environmental change
Dr. Annette Menzel, Technical University of Munich	Variations of the phenological temperature response in temperate regions

Observations and controls
Nicole Estrella, Technical University of Munich	The jigsaw of meteorological triggers for leaf colouring
Sietse Los, CLASSIC, University of Swansea	Correlations between NDVI and climate
Heiko Baltzer Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monkswood	Phenological characterisation of the landscapes for incorporation of in land surface parameter models for climate modelling.
Annette Menzel & Nicole Estrella	Ground observations of phenology
Claire Jarvis, University of Leicester	Plant phenologies - a spatial modeling perspective
Isabelle Chuine/Nicolas Viovy	Phenology as a determinant of temperate tree distributions.

Interactions
Ian Woodward, CTCD, University of Sheffield	Signalling in leaf development
Mathew Williams, CTCD, University of Edinburgh	Interactions of plant productivity and phenology in Arctic ecosystems
Thuy Le Toan	Use of Remote Sensing to infer Ecological Processes for Carbon Flux Estimates
Bente Foreid, IIASA	Belowground allocation - new challenges for modeling?