Figure 1.

Seasonal changes in climate during the study period and long-term average phenology of the trees studied. The upper plots show daily mean radiation and daily precipitation data measured at 48 m, above the forest canopy. Thin vertical lines indicate the limits of dry and wet seasons—typically, the dry season ends earlier than in 2011. In the five tree plots: thick lines indicate leaf status, ‘Fl’ time of flowering and ‘Fr’ fruiting. Leaves of A. excelsum are exchanged within days, whereas B. alicastrum is never leafless. Ceiba pentandra may lose its leaves for about three months, which happens only every 4 to 5 years. Pseudobombax septenatum and C. platanifolia are drought-deciduous trees. Climate data are from a walk-up tower of the Physical Monitoring Program of STRI. Phenology data are from the Panama species database provided by the STRI website and Condit et al. (2011).