Wildflower phenological escape differs by continent and spring temperature

Benjamin R Lee; Tara K Miller; Christoph Rosche; Yong Yang; J Mason Heberling; Sara E Kuebbing; Richard B Primack

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34936-9

Wildflower phenological escape differs by continent and spring temperature

Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 22;13(1):7157. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34936-9.

Authors

Benjamin R Lee^{1

2

3

4}, Tara K Miller⁵, Christoph Rosche^{6

7}, Yong Yang⁸, J Mason Heberling^{9

10}, Sara E Kuebbing^{10

11}, Richard B Primack⁵

Affiliations

¹ Section of Botany, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. [email protected].
² Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. [email protected].
³ Holden Forests and Gardens, Kirtland, OH, USA. [email protected].
⁴ Biology Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA. [email protected].
⁵ Biology Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
⁷ German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany.
⁸ Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Rd., Nanjing, 210037, China.
⁹ Section of Botany, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹¹ Yale Applied Science Synthesis Program, The Forest School at the School of the Environment, Yale University, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT, USA.

Abstract

Temperate understory plant species are at risk from climate change and anthropogenic threats that include increased deer herbivory, habitat loss, pollinator declines and mismatch, and nutrient pollution. Recent work suggests that spring ephemeral wildflowers may be at additional risk due to phenological mismatch with deciduous canopy trees. The study of this dynamic, commonly referred to as "phenological escape", and its sensitivity to spring temperature is limited to eastern North America. Here, we use herbarium specimens to show that phenological sensitivity to spring temperature is remarkably conserved for understory wildflowers across North America, Europe, and Asia, but that canopy trees in North America are significantly more sensitive to spring temperature compared to in Asia and Europe. We predict that advancing tree phenology will lead to decreasing spring light windows in North America while spring light windows will be maintained or even increase in Asia and Europe in response to projected climate warming.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Climate Change
Deer*
Seasons
Temperature
Trees