Proc. R. Soc. B. 10.1098/rspb.2010.0291 (2010)

Credit: © ISTOCKPHOTO / ANYKA

British plants have responded to rising temperatures in the past quarter-century by flowering early, finds a new study. Although numerous studies have reported changes in the timing of spring events in response to climate change, the new report documents changes across plant communities throughout the whole of the United Kingdom.

A team of scientists led by Tatsuya Amano of the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences in Japan analysed almost 400,000 records of first flowering dates for 405 species across the UK. The records, which extend back to 1760, come from a variety of sources, including a national network of amateur botanists organized by the UK Woodland Trust. The researchers found that for every 1 °C increase in temperature, flowering occurred — on average — five days earlier. In the past 25 years, flowers bloomed 2.2 to 12.7 days earlier than in any other consecutive 25-year period since 1760.

Gauging the impact of climate change on biodiversity is a key challenge for policymakers; the authors say that indices of community-level responses to temperature rise could prove especially useful. They note that the approach could be extended to further taxa and nations if data were available.