Featured
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Letter |
Ecosystem warming extends vegetation activity but heightens vulnerability to cold temperatures
Experimental whole-ecosystem warming treatments of a Picea–Sphagnum peat bog reveal the likely phenological consequences of future temperature increases that exceed those of historical climate regimes.
- Andrew D. Richardson
- , Koen Hufkens
- & Paul J. Hanson
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Article |
Phenological sensitivity to climate across taxa and trophic levels
An ambitious study has used more than 10,000 datasets to examine how the phenological characteristics—such as the timing of reproduction—of various taxa alter in response to climate change, and suggests that differing levels of climate sensitivity could lead to the desynchronization of seasonal events over time.
- Stephen J. Thackeray
- , Peter A. Henrys
- & Sarah Wanless
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Letter |
Declining global warming effects on the phenology of spring leaf unfolding
Spring leaf unfolding has been occurring earlier in the year because of rising temperatures; however, long-term evidence in the field from 7 European tree species studied in 1,245 sites shows that this early unfolding effect is being reduced in recent years, possibly because the reducing chilling and/or insolation render trees less responsive to warming.
- Yongshuo H. Fu
- , Hongfang Zhao
- & Ivan A. Janssens
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Letter |
Drought impact on forest carbon dynamics and fluxes in Amazonia
Severe drought in a tropical forest ecosystem suppresses photosynthetic carbon uptake and plant maintenance respiration, but growth is maintained, suggesting that, overall, less carbon is available for tree tissue maintenance and defence, which may cause the subsequent observed increase in tree mortality.
- Christopher E. Doughty
- , D. B. Metcalfe
- & Y. Malhi
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Letter |
Elevated CO2 further lengthens growing season under warming conditions
A grassland warming and CO2 enrichment experiment shows that temperature increase brings forward the growing season of early leafing species, but does not affect or delays senescence in late species, the latter enhanced by elevated CO2.
- Melissa Reyes-Fox
- , Heidi Steltzer
- & Jack A. Morgan
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News & Views Forum |
Flowering in the greenhouse
Predicting plant responses to increasing temperatures is integral to assessing the global impact of climate change. But the authors of a comparative study assert that warming experiments may not accurately reflect observational data. Climate and ecosystem scientists discuss how impact prediction should proceed. See Letter p.494
- This Rutishauser
- , Reto Stöckli
- & Lara Kueppers
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Letter |
Extended leaf phenology and the autumn niche in deciduous forest invasions
A 3-year study of 73 deciduous understory species from the Eastern USA shows that non-native species retain leaf function 4 weeks longer into autumn than natives, which may be shifting seasonal patterns of forest carbon and nutrient dynamics.
- Jason D. Fridley
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Research Highlights |
Ecology: Hotter climate, altered breeding
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Letter |
Coupled dynamics of body mass and population growth in response to environmental change
Climate change can affect the phenology, population dynamics and morphology of species, but it is difficult to study all these factors and their interactions at once. Using long-term data for individual yellow-bellied marmots, these authors show that climate change has increased the length of the marmot growing season, leading to a gradual increase in individual size. It has simultaneously increased the fitness of large individuals, leading to a rapid increase in population size.
- Arpat Ozgul
- , Dylan Z. Childs
- & Tim Coulson
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News & Views |
Fatter marmots on the rise
Demonstrations of coupled phenotypic and demographic responses to climate change are rare. But they are much needed in formulating predictions of the effects of climate change on natural populations.
- Marcel E. Visser
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Research Highlights |
Oceanography: Early bloomers
Warm springs alter timing but not total growth of temperate deciduous trees