Abstract:The phenological patterns of plants tend to fluctuate, with variations occurring in the timing and amount of leaf-out, flowering, and fruiting from year to year or event to event. However, the phenological patterns in tropical regions are still largely unknown. The phenology of 126 plant species located in the campus of Hainan University in Haikou, Hainan Island were observed and recorded over three years, including leaf-out, flowering, and fruiting time. The main climate factors affecting plant phenology in tropical areas were analyzed by multiple regression analysis of phenology and environmental variables. The results showed that plant phenological patterns in the tropics were distinctly seasonal, leaf-out, flowering, and fruiting phenology occurred in April—June, April—August, and May—November, respectively. The climatic factors affecting the phenological pattern of leaf spreading and flowering were the average sunshine duration per month, and the number of fruit bearing species per month was correlated with air temperature, especially the number of fruit ripening species per month was significantly correlated with the monthly minimum air temperature. There were differences in the phenological periods among different functional groups. The leaf-out of shrubs was earlier than that of herbs and trees, leaf-out of wind-borne plants was earlier than that of insect-borne plants, and the leaf-out and fruit ripening time of fleshy-fruited plants were earlier than those of non-fleshy fruited plants. Bloom of trees was earlier than that of herbs and shrubs, which non-fleshy-fruited plants was earlier than fleshy-fruited plants, and fruit mature of wind-borne plants was earlier than that of insect-borne plants. These would be of great significance for predicting tropical phenological events in the future.

Abstract:Leaf discoloration peak period (LDP) was an important phenological index at the end of plant growth season. In order to explore the influence of climatic factors on LDP of plants in Macao, China, the LDP annual changes of five wild plants and their responses to various climatic factors were studied based on the phenological and meteorological data of three phenological monitoring sites in Macao from 2012 to 2018. The results showed that the LDP varied among species, which Sapium idscolor, Toxicodendron succedaneum and Homalium cochinchinenense were in December, Sterculia lanceolata and Ilex asprella were in May and January, respectively. The LDP varied among monitoring sites, which I. asprella in Big Taipa Hill was significantly earlier than that in Ka Ho Hill, while that of Sterculia lanceolata in Guia Hill was obviously earlier than that in Big Taipa Hill. The LDP was positively correlated with the temperature in spring and summer, while negatively correlated with that in autumn and winter. The LDP was positively correlated with precipitation in winter and spring, while negatively correlated with that in summer and fall. The relative humidity was also significantly correlated with the LDP of these five species. Temperature was the most important climatic factor on the LDP of these five species.

Abstract:To understand the characteristics of plant community near to Hac Sa Reservior in Macau, the species composition, spatial structure, diversity and plant phenology of the community were studied by field investigation. The results showed that there were 88 species vascular plants, belonging to 47 families and 80 genera in 1200 m2 plot. There were no donimant species in tree and shrub layers, the dominant species in herb layer was Lophatherum gracile and interlayer species were rich. The horizontal distribution of species was even. The physiognomy of the community was evergreen throughout the year. The phenology phases of most species had overlapping phenomenon. The duration of leaf spreading phase was long. The flowering focused from May to June and fruit ripening stage from October to November. Therefore, based on community and phenological characteristics of indigenous plants, some ornamental plants were selected for promoting landscape and ecological values as well as ecological restoration in Macau and neighboring areas.