Leafing patterns and leaf exchange strategies of a cerrado woody community

The deciduousness of tropical trees and communities depend on ecosystems characteristics such as plant species diversity, and strength of the dry season. Based on seven-years of phenological observations we provide the first long-term description of leafing patterns of a woody cerrado community, aiming to investigate: (1) the leaf exchange strategies considering the inter-annual variation on the degree of deciduousness of
individuals and species and quantify the community deciduousness; (2) the relationship between inter-annual patterns of leaf fall and leaf flush
according to the species` leaf exchange strategies and climate; (3) the onset of cerrado growing season and its relation to climate seasonality. To
detect seasonality and leafing onset we applied circular statistics and to understand the relationships between environmental predictors and leaf
exchange strategies, we used generalized additive models. From 106 species observed, we classified 69 as deciduous (26 species), sem...