Code to support 'Climate change drives diverging leaf longevity responses in pantropical moist forests'

Leaf longevity (LL) is a fundamental plant trait that largely explains ecosystem functional dynamics in global pantropical moist forests. However, the signs, magnitudes, and mechanisms of the spatiotemporal variations in LL with ongoing climate change are still lacking. Using both ground measurements and gridded leaf age-dependent leaf area index data, we mapped the continental-scale variability of annual mean LL across pantropical moist forests over 2001-2023. We found biome-dependent diverging leaf longevity responses under climate change. In Amazon and tropical Asia with average LL> ~1.8 yrs, LL decreased due to rising temperature and intensified atmospheric dryness. In contrast, an increasing trend was observed in Congo and subtropical Asia where forests had LL < ~1.8 yrs. These diverging responses caused a convergence of short and long LL shifting into ~1.8 yrs in pantropical moist forests, with maximization of plant functional traits, photosynthesis, and species evenness, which were expected to better resist climate variability. Our study provides emerging evidence for large-scale structural and functional adaptions across pantropical moist forests and is helpful for predicting climate-driven risks to ecosystem stability.