ZOHNER LAB

Publications

Last updated: 1 Jan 2026

2025

79. Han et al. 2025. Fungal diversity as a key driver of soil multifunctionality along a European latitudinal gradient. Geoderma. 464.
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78. Runge et al. 2025. Climate vulnerability of Earth’s terrestrial biomes. Scientific Reports. 15.

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77. Reek et al. 2025. Forest edges are globally warmer than interiors and exceed optimal temperatures for vegetation productivity. Commun Earth Environ. 6.
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76. Zou et al. 2025. Fragmentation Increased in over Half of Global Forests from 2000 to 2020. Science. 389, 6765.

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75. Yang et al. 2025. A globally consistent negative effect of edge on aboveground forest biomass. Nat Ecol Evol. 9, 2036-2045.
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74. Yang et al. 2025. Leaf economic strategies drive global variation in phosphorus stimulation of terrestrial plant production. Nature Communications. 16.
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73. Bai et al. 2025. Contrasting responses of flowering phenology in C3 and C4 plants shape grassland community structure under global change. Ecology. 106.
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72. Wu et al. 2025. Stabilizing mechanisms enable dioecious trees to maintain synchrony in spring budburst under climate warming. New Phytologist. 247, 1655–1665.
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71. Zhang et al. 2025. Mapping global distributions, environmental controls, and uncertainties of apparent topsoil and subsoil organic carbon turnover times. Earth Syst Sci Data. 17, 2605–2623.
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70. Ji et al. 2025. Growth Onset Rather Than Photosynthesis Strongly Regulates Autumn Senescence Termination Besides Climate Change. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 34.
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69. Qu et al. 2025. Delayed leaf green-up is associated with fine particulate air pollution in China. Nature Communications. 16.


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68. Liu et al. 2025. Diminished contribution of spring phenology to early-season carbon uptake in a changing climate. Commun Earth Environ. 6.

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67. Liu et al. 2025. Increased early-season productivity drives earlier peak of vegetation photosynthesis across the Northern Hemisphere. Commun Earth Environ. 6.
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66. Liu et al. 2025. Recent centennial drought on the Tibetan Plateau is outstanding within the past 3500 years. Nature Communications. 16.

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65. Wu et al. 2025. Tree species composition governs urban phenological responses to warming. Nature Communications. 16.

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64. Zhang et al. 2025. Declining precipitation frequency may drive earlier leaf senescence by intensifying drought stress and enhancing drought acclimation. Nature Communications. 16.
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63. Pang et al. 2025. Convergent evidence for the temperature-dependent emergence of silicification in terrestrial plants. Nature Communications. 16.

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2024

62. Luo et al. 2024. Internal physiological drivers of leaf development in trees: Understanding the relationship between non-structural carbohydrates and leaf phenology. Functional Ecology.
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61. Lai et al. 2024. Earlier peak photosynthesis timing potentially escalates global wildfires. National Science Review. 11, nwae292.

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60. Ni et al. 2024. Effects of winter soil warming on crop biomass carbon loss from organic matter degradation. Nature Communications. 15, 8847.

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59. Mo et al.  2024. The global distribution and drivers of wood density and their impact on forest carbon stocks. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 8, 2195–2212.Download
58. He et al. 2024. Asymmetric temperature effect on leaf senescence and its control on ecosystem productivity. PNAS Nexus. 3, pgae477.Download
57. Crowther et al. 2024. Scientists’ call to action: Microbes, planetary health, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Cell. 187, 5195-5216.Download
56. Shen et al. 2024. Biodiversity buffers the response of spring leaf unfolding to climate warming. Nature Climate Change. 14, 863–868.
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55. Yun et al. 2024. Changes in above- versus belowground biomass distribution in permafrost regions in response to climate warming. PNAS. 121, e2314036121.
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54. Zou et al. (2024). Positive feedbacks and alternative stable states in forest leaf types. Nature Communications. 15:4658.

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53. Chang et al. 2024. Effects of climate, socioeconomic development, and greening governance on enhanced greenness under urban densification. RCR. 206, 107624.
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52. Malyshev et al. 2024. The clockwork of spring: bud dormancy timing as a driver of spring leaf-out in temperate deciduous trees. Agr. For. Met. 349, 109957.

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51. Smith et al. 2024. Ten simple rules for using large language models in science, version 1.0. PLOS One. e1011767. 


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2023

50. Mo et al. 2023. Integrated global assessment of the natural forest carbon potential. Nature. 624, 92–101.
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49. Ma et al. 2023. The global biogeography of tree leaf form and habit. Nature Plants. 9, 1795–1809.
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Media coverage: The Guardian, TIME

Media coverage: Phys.org, FAZ

48. Wu et al. 2023. Poleward shifts in the maximum of spring phenological responsiveness of Ginkgo biloba to temperature in China. New Phytologist. 240, 1421–1432.
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47. Delavaux et al. 2023. Native diversity buffers against severity of non-native tree invasions. Nature. 621, 773–781.


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46. Zohner et al. 2023. Effect of climate warming on the timing of autumn leaf senescence reverses after the summer solstice. Science. 381, eadf5098.

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45. Chen et al. 2023. Maps with 1 km resolution reveal increases in above- and belowground forest biomass carbon pools in China over the past 20 years. Earth Syst. Sci. Data. 15, 897–910.
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44. Marqués et al. 2023. Acclimation of phenology relieves leaf longevity constraints in deciduous forests. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 7, 198–204.

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43. Fu et al. 2023. Global warming is increasing the discrepancy between green (actual) and thermal (potential) seasons of temperate trees. Global Change Biology. 29, 1377–1389.
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2022

42. Chen et al. 2022. Inferring plant–plant interactions using remote sensing. Journal of Ecology. 110, 2268–2287.

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41. Maschler et al. 2022. Links across ecological scales: Plant biomass responses to elevated CO2. Global Change Biology. 28, 6115–6134.
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40. Zhang et al. 2022. Direct and indirect impacts of urbanization on vegetation growth across the world’s cities. Science Advances. 8, eabo0095.
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39. Maschler et al. 2022. Carbon source reduction postpones autumn leaf senescence in a widespread deciduous tree. Frontiers in Plant Science. 13:868860.
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38. Wu et al. 2022. Spatial difference of interactive effect between temperature and daylength on Ginkgo budburst. Frontiers in Plant Science. 13:887226.
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37. Maynard et al. 2022. Global relationships in tree functional traits. Nature Communications. 13:3185.

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36. Vitasse et al. 2022. The great acceleration of plant phenological shifts. Nature Climate Change. 12, 300–304.

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35. Renner & Zohner 2022. Is nitrogen limitation another factor explaining anthocyanin-red autumn leaves? Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 35, 183–188.
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2021

34. Wu et al. 2021. Atmospheric brightening counteracts warming-induced delays in autumn phenology of temperate trees in Europe. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 30, 2477–2487.
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33. Vitasse et al. 2021. Impact of microclimatic conditions and resource availability on spring and autumn phenology of temperate tree seedlings. New Phytologist. 232, 537-550.
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32. Ma et al. 2021. The global distribution and environmental drivers of aboveground versus belowground plant biomass. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 5, 1110-1122.

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31. Baumgarten et al. 2021. Chilled to be forced: the best dose to wake up buds from winter dormancy. New Phytologist. 230, 1366-1377.

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30. Zohner et al. 2021. How changes in spring and autumn phenology translate into growth—experimental evidence of asymmetric effects. Journal of Ecology. 109, 2717–2728.
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29. Zani et al. 2021. Response to comment on “Increased growing-season productivity drives earlier autumn leaf senescence in temperate trees”. Science. 371.

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28. Renner et al. 2021. Flowering times from 1844 and climate data from the World’s oldest meteorological station deepen the record of phenological change. American Journal of Botany. 108, 711–717.
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2020

27. Zani et al. 2020. Increased growing-season productivity drives earlier autumn leaf senescence in temperate trees. Science. 370, 1066-1071.
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26. Zohner et al. 2020. Late spring-frost risk between 1959 and 2017 decreased in North America, but increased in Europe and Asia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 117, 12192–12200.
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25. Zohner et al. 2020. Interactive climate factors restrict future increases in spring tree productivity. Global Change Biology. 26, 4042–4055.
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24. Zohner et al. 2020. Leaf-out in northern ecotypes of wide-ranging trees requires less spring warming, enhancing the risk of spring frost damage at cold range limits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 29, 1065–1072.
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23. Renner & Zohner 2020. Further analysis of 1532 deciduous woody species from North America, Europe, and Asia supports continental scale differences in red autumn coloration. New Phytologist. 228, 814–815.

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22. Zohner et al. 2020. Rising air humidity during spring does not trigger leaf-out in temperate woody plants. New Phytologist. 225, 16–20.


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2019

21. Zohner 2019. Phenology and the city. Nature Ecology and Evolution.
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20. Zohner et al. 2019. Increased autumn productivity permits temperate trees to compensate for spring frost damage. New Phytologist. 221, 789–795.

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19. Zohner & Renner 2019. Ongoing seasonally-uneven climate warming leads to earlier autumn growth cessation in deciduous trees. Oecologia. 189, 549–561.

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18. Zohner et al. 2019. Examining the support-supply and bud-packing hypotheses for the increase in toothed leaf margins in northern deciduous floras. American Journal of Botany. 106, 1–8.
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17. Hofmann et al. 2019. Narrow habitat breadth and late-summer emergence increase extinction vulnerability in Central European bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 286, 20190316.
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16. Renner & Zohner 2019. The occurrence of red and yellow autumn leaves explained by regional differences in insolation and temperature. New Phytologist. 224, 1464–1471.
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15. Bastin et al. 2019. The global tree restoration potential. Science. 365, 76–79.



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14. Bastin et al. 2019. Understanding climate change from a global analysis of city analogues. PLOS One. 14(7), e0217592.

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13. Fu et al. 2019. Daylength helps temperate deciduous trees to leaf-out at the optimal time. Global Change Biology. 25, 2410–2418.
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12. Fu et al. 2019. Shortened temperature-relevant period for spring leaf-out in temperate trees. Global Change Biology. 25, 4282-4290.
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2018

11. Zohner & Renner 2018. Global warming reduces leaf-out and flowering synchrony among individuals. eLife. 7, e40214.


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10. Renner & Zohner 2018. Climate change and phenological mismatch in trophic interactions among plants, insects, and vertebrates. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 49, 165–182.
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9. Denk et al. 2018. Plant fossils reveal the major biomes occupied by the late Miocene Old-World Pikermian fauna. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 2, 1864–1870.
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8. Yost et al. 2018. Digitization workflows for scoring phenology from herbarium specimens of seed plants. Applications in Plant Sciences 6, e1022.
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2017

5. Desnoues E et al. 2017. The relative roles of local climate adaptation and phylogeny in determining leaf-out timing of temperate tree species. Forest Ecosystems. 4, 26.

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6. Zohner et al.  2017. Spring predictability explains different leaf-out strategies in the woody floras of North America, Europe, and East Asia. Ecology Letters 20, 452–460.

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7. Zohner & Renner 2017. Innately shorter vegetation periods in North American species explain native–non-native phenological assymetries. Nature Ecology and Evolution 1, 1655-1660.
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Media coverage: Science Daily, Phys.Org, BioPortfolio. Story behind the paper here

2016

3. Muffler et al.  2016. Distribution ranges and spring phenology explain late frost sensitivity of 170 woody plants from the Northern hemisphere. Global Ecology and Biogeography 25, 1061–1071.
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4. Zohner et al. 2016. Day length unlikely to constrain climate-driven shifts in leaf-out times of northern woody plants. Nature Climate Change 6, 1120–1123.
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Media coverage: Phys.Org

2014-2015

Media coverage: Science Daily, Phys.Org