More Like this

1. Experimental warming differentially affects vegetative and reproductive phenology of tundra plants

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23841-2  

   Collins, Courtney G.; Elmendorf, Sarah C.; Hollister, Robert D.; Henry, Greg H.; Clark, Karin; Bjorkman, Anne D.; Myers-Smith, Isla H.; Prevéy, Janet S.; Ashton, Isabel W.; Assmann, Jakob J.; et al (December 2021, Nature Communications)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Rapid climate warming is altering Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystem structure and function, including shifts in plant phenology. While the advancement of green up and flowering are well-documented, it remains unclear whether all phenophases, particularly those later in the season, will shift in unison or respond divergently to warming. Here, we present the largest synthesis to our knowledge of experimental warming effects on tundra plant phenology from the International Tundra Experiment. We examine the effect of warming on a suite of season-wide plant phenophases. Results challenge the expectation that all phenophases will advance in unison to warming. Instead, we find that experimental warming caused: (1) larger phenological shifts in reproductive versus vegetative phenophases and (2) advanced reproductive phenophases and green up but delayed leaf senescence which translated to a lengthening of the growing season by approximately 3%. Patterns were consistent across sites, plant species and over time. The advancement of reproductive seasons and lengthening of growing seasons may have significant consequences for trophic interactions and ecosystem function across the tundra. 

   more » « less
2. Species-specific flowering phenology responses to experimental warming and drought alter herbaceous plant species overlap in a temperate–boreal forest community

   https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaa156  

   Rice, Karen E; Montgomery, Rebecca A; Stefanski, Artur; Rich, Roy L; Reich, Peter B (August 2020, Annals of Botany)

   Abstract Background and Aims Warmer temperatures and altered precipitation patterns are expected to continue to occur as the climate changes. How these changes will impact the flowering phenology of herbaceous perennials in northern forests is poorly understood but could have consequences for forest functioning and species interactions. Here, we examine the flowering phenology responses of five herbaceous perennials to experimental warming and reduced summer rainfall over 3 years. Methods This study is part of the B4WarmED experiment located at two sites in northern Minnesota, USA. Three levels of warming (ambient, +1.6 °C and +3.1 °C) were crossed with two rainfall manipulations (ambient and 27 % reduced growing season rainfall). Key Results We observed species-specific responses to the experimental treatments. Warming alone advanced flowering for four species. Most notably, the two autumn blooming species showed the strongest advance of flowering to warming. Reduced rainfall alone advanced flowering for one autumn blooming species and delayed flowering for the other, with no significant impact on the three early blooming species. Only one species, Solidago spp., showed an interactive response to warming and rainfall manipulation by advancing in +1.6 °C warming (regardless of rainfall manipulation) but not advancing in the warmest, driest treatment. Species-specific responses led to changes in temporal overlap between species. Most notably, the two autumn blooming species diverged significantly in their flowering timing. In ambient conditions, these two species flowered within the same week. In the warmest, driest treatment, flowering occurred over a month apart. Conclusions Herbaceous species may differ in how they respond to future climate conditions. Changes to phenology may lead to fewer resources for insects or a mismatch between plants and pollinators. 

   more » « less
3. Climate, urbanization, and species traits interactively drive flowering duration

   https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15461  

   Li, Daijiang; Barve, Narayani; Brenskelle, Laura; Earl, Kamala; Barve, Vijay; Belitz, Michael W.; Doby, Joshua; Hantak, Maggie M.; Oswald, Jessica A.; Stucky, Brian J.; et al (December 2020, Global Change Biology)

   Abstract A wave of green leaves and multi‐colored flowers advances from low to high latitudes each spring. However, little is known about how flowering offset (i.e., ending of flowering) and duration of populations of the same species vary along environmental gradients. Understanding these patterns is critical for predicting the effects of future climate and land‐use change on plants, pollinators, and herbivores. Here, we investigated potential climatic and landscape drivers of flowering onset, offset, and duration of 52 plant species with varying key traits. We generated phenology estimates using >270,000 community‐science photographs and a novel presence‐only phenometric estimation method. We found longer flowering durations in warmer areas, which is more obvious for summer‐blooming species compared to spring‐bloomers driven by their strongly differing offset dynamics. We also found that higher human population density and higher annual precipitation are associated with delayed flowering offset and extended flowering duration. Finally, offset of woody perennials was more sensitive than herbaceous species to both climate and urbanization drivers. Empirical forecast models suggested that flowering durations will be longer in 2030 and 2050 under representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5, especially for summer‐blooming species. Our study provides critical insight into drivers of key flowering phenophases and confirms that Hopkins’ Bioclimatic Law also applies to flowering durations for summer‐blooming species and herbaceous spring‐blooming species. 

   more » « less
4. Warmer springs increase potential for temporal reproductive isolation among habitat patches in subalpine flowering plants

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14175  

   Rivest, Sébastien; Inouye, Brian D.; Forrest, Jessica R. K. (August 2023, Journal of Ecology)

   Abstract Flowering phenology can vary considerably even at fine spatial scales, potentially leading to temporal reproductive isolation among habitat patches. Climate change could alter flowering synchrony, and hence temporal isolation, if plants in different microhabitats vary in their phenological response to climate change. Despite the importance of temporal isolation in determining patterns of gene flow, and hence population genetic structure and local adaptation, little is known about how changes in climate affect temporal isolation within populations.Here, we use flowering phenology and floral abundance data of 50 subalpine plant species over 44 years to test whether temporal isolation between habitat patches is affected by spring temperature. For each species and year, we analysed temporal separation in peak flowering and flowering overlap between habitat patches separated by 5–950 m.Across our study species, warmer springs were associated with more temporal differentiation in flowering peaks among habitat patches, and less flowering overlap, increasing potential for temporal isolation within populations.Synthesis. By reducing opportunities for mating among plants in nearby habitat patches, our results suggest that warmer springs may reduce opportunities for gene flow within populations, and, consequently, the capacity of plant populations to adapt to environmental changes. 

   more » « less
5. Phenological and fitness responses to climate warming depend upon genotype and competitive neighbourhood in Arabidopsis thaliana

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13262  

   Taylor, Mark A.; Cooper, Martha D.; Schmitt, Johanna; Manzaneda, ed., Antonio J. (January 2019, Functional Ecology)

   Abstract Increasing temperatures during climate change are known to alter the phenology across diverse plant taxa, but the evolutionary outcomes of these shifts are poorly understood. Moreover, plant temperature‐sensing pathways are known to interact with competition‐sensing pathways, yet there remains little experimental evidence for how genotypes varying in temperature responsiveness react to warming in realistic competitive settings.We compared flowering time and fitness responses to warming and competition for two near‐isogenic lines (NILs) ofArabidopsis thalianatransgressively segregating temperature‐sensitive and temperature‐insensitive alleles for major‐effect flowering time genes. We grew focal plants of each genotype in intraspecific and interspecific competition in four treatments contrasting daily temperature profiles in summer and fall under contemporary and warmed conditions. We measured phenology and fitness of focal plants to quantify plastic responses to season, temperature and competition and the dependence of these responses on flowering time genotype.The temperature‐insensitive NIL was constitutively early flowering and less fit, except in a future‐summer climate in which its fitness was higher than the later flowering, temperature‐sensitive NIL in low competition. The late‐flowering NIL showed accelerated flowering in response to intragenotypic competition and to increased temperature in the summer but delayed flowering in the fall. However, its fitness fell with rising temperatures in both seasons, and in the fall its marginal fitness gain from decreasing competition was diminished in the future.Functional alleles at temperature‐responsive genes were necessary for plastic responses to season, warming and competition. However, the plastic genotype was not the most fit in every experimental condition, becoming less fit than the temperature‐canalized genotype in the warm summer treatment.Climate change is often predicted to have deleterious effects on plant populations, and our results show how increased temperatures can act through genotype‐dependent phenology to decrease fitness. Furthermore, plasticity is not necessarily adaptive in rapidly changing environments since a nonplastic genotype proved fitter than a plastic genotype in a warming climate treatment. Aplain language summaryis available for this article. 

   more » « less