Effects of climate warming on phenological characteristics of urban forest in Shenyang City, China

Change in plant phenology is one of the most sensitive ecological responses to climate warming. Little information is known about the effects of climate warming on phenology of urban tree species in the northern forest of China. In this study, we investigated the phenological characteristics of the main tree species in the urban forest of Shengyang City in China and the correlation between phenology and atmospheric temperature from the discontinuous data during past 42 years over three time periods (from 1962 to 1965, 1977 to 1978, and 2000 to 2005). The results showed that the annual average temperature in Shenyang City showed an increasing trend and increased by 0.96A degrees C from 1962 to 2005 due to climate warming. The germination phenology of the urban trees was negatively correlated with the temperature in winter and early spring. The leafing phenology was mainly influenced by the temperature in spring before leafing. Influenced by climate warming, the germination, leafing, and flowering phenologies of this urban forest in 2005 were 14, 13, and 10 days earlier than those in 1962, respectively. We inferred that further warming in winter might prolong the growing season of urban trees in the northern forest of China.