Abstract: Climate warming advances the spring phenology of species in temperate regions. There are only a few phenological events recorded and studied in subtropical and tropical regions, and the driving factors of climate are still unclear, which seriously hinders the accurate prediction of the impacts of climate change on plant phenology in these unique ecoregions in the future. To determine the differences of the response of plant phenology to temperature changes in subtropical region in spring, we designed a climate chamber experiment and a field experiment to test the effects of two spring warming treatments (T1: 20 ℃ during the day and 15 ℃ at night; T2: 25 ℃ during the day and 20 ℃ at night. The length of day and night is 12 hours) on the timing of budburst and leaf-out and seedling height growth of 10 subtropical woody species (four deciduous species and six evergreen species). The results showed that spring warming significantly advanced the budburst and leaf out of deciduous trees. The timing of budburst ranged from -0.006 to -1.8 d·℃^-1, while the timing of leaf-out ranged from -0.7 to -1.6 d·℃^-1. The seedling growth of three deciduous trees was markedly promoted by spring warming. Compared with evergreen species, the effects of temperature change on spring phenology and growth are more important to deciduous tree species. These results are of great significance for the conservation and management of tropical and subtropical plant populations under climate change.

Key words: budburst, leaf-out, Gutianshan, climate change.