Contrasting responses of early- and late-season plant phenophases to altered precipitation

We collected publications that focused on how the timing and duration of plant phenophases respond to altered precipitation in terrestrial ecosystems by searching the Web of Science and China’s National Knowledge Infrastructure. Here, we focused on how changes in precipitation amounts affected plant phenophases, including increased precipitation, decreased precipitation and both. The following search terms were used to find papers published before June 2022: (drought OR dry OR decreased precipitation OR water reduction OR increased precipitation OR water addition OR wet OR altered precipitation OR water treatment*) AND (bud* OR leaf-out OR leaf flushing OR leaf unfold* OR onset OR flowering OR anthesis OR fruiting OR ripen* OR seed OR maturity OR senescence OR leaf colour OR leaf colour OR brown OR yellow OR growing season OR reproducti* OR phenolog*) AND (experiment* OR control* OR treatment*). We then browsed these papers and selected studies meeting the following criteria: (a) At least one plant phenophase was considered; (b) initial environmental conditions including soil, vegetation, microclimate in controls were the same as in treatment plots; (c) number of days phenophases shifted were provided at the species level or could be calculated by comparing controls with treatments; (d) the methods used to alter precipitation in experiments were described; and (e) sample size was reported.