Acclimation of phenology relieves leaf longevity constraints in deciduous forests

Leaf phenology is key for regulating total growing-season mass and energy fluxes. Long-term temporal trends towards earlier leaf unfolding are observed across Northern Hemisphere forests. Phenological dates also vary between years, whereby end-of-season (EOS) dates correlate positively with start-of-season (SOS) dates and negatively with growing-season total net CO₂ assimilation (A_net). These associations have been interpreted as the effect of a constrained leaf longevity or of premature carbon (C) sink saturation-with far-reaching consequences for long-term phenology projections under climate change and rising CO₂. Here, we use multidecadal ground and remote-sensing observations to show that the relationships between A_net and EOS are opposite at the interannual and the decadal time scales. A decadal trend towards later EOS persists in parallel with a trend towards increasing A_net-in spite of the negative A_net-EOS relationship at the interannual scale. This finding is robust against the use of diverse observations and models. Results indicate that acclimation of phenology has enabled plants to transcend a constrained leaf longevity or premature C sink saturation over the course of several decades, leading to a more effective use of available light and a sustained extension of the vegetation CO₂ uptake season over time.