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Understanding urban plant phenology for sustainable cities and planet

Nature Climate Change volume 12, pages 302–304 (2022)Cite this article

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The broad impacts of urbanization on plant phenology can include advanced spring leaf-out and flowering, delayed autumn senescence and extended growing-season length1,2 (Fig. 1b). These shifts can have benefits, such as increased cropping seasons for urban agriculture3 or improved vegetation-based cooling in urban areas4. However, faster growth of urban trees due to extended growing-season length may lead to shortened lifetimes compared to trees in rural areas5. The advancement of spring leaf-out can also increase plant vulnerability to spring frost damage6 and cause phenological mismatches, resulting in loss of pollination services and biological control of plant pests7. Moreover, phenology changes in cities have important cultural and economic implications by shifting significant events (for example, cherry blossom and maple foliage)8 and can impact human health (for example, through changes in allergenic pollen release)9. Overall, phenological changes in urban areas already have a variety of ecological, climate, health and economic consequences (Fig. 1c), with the probable existence of more impacts that are currently unclear. This urges the need for science and management communities to develop policies and plans to ensure sustainable urban ecosystems.

The higher temperature (and CO2) in urban environments has led to their use as ‘natural laboratories’ to study phenological responses to changing climate, with the commonly used approach of space–time substitution2,10, advancing the prediction of carbon and water cycles (Fig. 1d). For example, based on phenology sensitivities to CO2 and temperature found in urban–rural gradients, prolonged photosynthetic seasons were projected under four Representative Concentration Pathway climate scenarios10. The benefits of these urban laboratories can extend to the inclusion of complex interactions that may not be considered, or easily incorporated, in natural environments. For example, findings related to the way that urban heat and nighttime lights jointly influence plant phenology may have implications for plants that redistribute to higher latitudes with altered daylength under climate warming11.

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Fig. 1: Understanding plant phenology in global cities: implications, challenges and opportunities.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Emerging Faculty Leaders Award from Iowa State University.

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  1. Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Yuyu Zhou

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Zhou, Y. Understanding urban plant phenology for sustainable cities and planet. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 302–304 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01331-7

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