High-resolution, long-term, continuous leaf temperature measurements in an Indian tropical forest

Increasing temperatures in the tropics will reduce performance of trees and agroforestry species and may lead to lasting damage and leaf death. One criterion to determine future forest resilience is to evaluate damage caused by temperature on Photosystem-II (PSII), a particularly sensitive component of photosynthesis. The temperature at which 50% of PSII function is lost (T50) is a widely used measure of irreversible damage to leaves. To assess vulnerability to high temperatures, studies have measured T50 or leaf temperatures, but rarely both. Further, because extant leaf temperature records are short, duration of exposure above thresholds like T50 has not been considered. Finally, these studies do not directly assess the effect of threshold exceedance on leaves. To understand how often, and how long, leaf temperatures exceed critical thresholds, we measured leaf temperatures of forest and agroforestry species in a tropical forest in the Western Ghats of India where air temperatures are..., , , # High-resolution, long-term, continuous leaf temperature measurements, temperature thresholds and Fv/Fm measurements

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tb2rbp0ch](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tb2rbp0ch)

## Description of the data and file structure

#### High-resolution, long-term, continuous leaf temperatures, thermal thresholds and Fv/Fm measurements

The dataset accompanies the manuscript titled \"**Leaf temperatures in an Indian tropical forest exceed physiological limits but durations of exposures are currently not sufficient to cause lasting damage**\"

Data were collected in Sirsi, Karnataka during the summer season of 2023. Detailed methods and experimental design is provided in the manuscript. 

### Files and variables

#### File: Long\_term\_forestry\_leaf\_temperatures.xlsx

**Description:** These are the leaf and air temperatures measured on multiple leaves of four forest species continuously during the summer of 2023 using thermistors attached on leaves. There's a separate sh...