Detecting the onset of autumn leaf senescence in deciduous forest trees of the temperate zone

Information on the onset of leaf senescence in temperate deciduous trees and comparisons on its assessment methods are limited, hampering our understanding of autumn dynamics. We compare five field proxies, five remote sensing proxies and two data analysis approaches to assess leaf senescence onset at one main beech stand, two stands of oak and birch, and three ancillary stands of the same species in Belgium during 2017 and 2018. Across species and sites, onset of leaf senescence was not significantly different for the field proxies based on Chl leaf content and canopy coloration, except for an advanced canopy coloration during the extremely dry and warm 2018. Two remote sensing indices provided results fully consistent with the field data. A significant lag emerged between leaf senescence onset and leaf fall, and when a threshold of 50% change in the seasonal variable under study (e.g. Chl content) was used to derive the leaf senescence onset. Our results provide unprecedented information on the quality and applicability of different proxies to assess leaf senescence onset in temperate deciduous trees. In addition, a sound base is offered to select the most suited methods for the different disciplines that need this type of data.