Warming shortens flowering seasons of tundra plant communities

Janet S. Prevéy, Christian Rixen, Nadja Ruger, Toke T. Hoye, Anne Bjorkman, Isla Myers-Smith, Sarah C. Elmendorf, Isabel W. Ashton, Nicoletta Cannone, Chelsea Chisholm, Elisabeth J. Cooper, Bo Elberling, Anna Maria Fosaa, Greg H. R. Henry, Robert D. Hollister, Ingibjorg Svala Jonsdottir, Kari Klanderud, Christopher W. Kopp, Esther Levesque, Marguerite MauritzUlf Molau, Susan Natali, Steve Oberbauer, Zoe A. Panchen, Eric Post, Sabine B. Rumpf, Niels Martin Schmidt, Edward Schuur, Philipp R. Semenchuk, Jane G. Smith, Katharine N. Suding, Orjan Totland, Tiffany Troxler, Susanna Venn, Carl-Henrik Wahren, Jeffrey M. Welker, Sonja Wipf

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Advancing phenology is one of the most visible effects of climate change on plant communities, and has been especially pronounced in temperature-limited tundra ecosystems. However, phenological responses have been shown to differ greatly between species, with some species shifting phenology more than others. We analysed a database of 42,689 tundra plant phenological observations to show that warmer temperatures are leading to a contraction of community-level flowering seasons in tundra ecosystems due to a greater advancement in the flowering times of late-flowering species than early-flowering species. Shorter flowering seasons with a changing climate have the potential to alter trophic interactions in tundra ecosystems. Interestingly, these findings differ from those of warmer ecosystems, where early-flowering species have been found to be more sensitive to temperature change, suggesting that community-level phenological responses to warming can vary greatly between biomes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)45–52
JournalNature Ecology & Evolution
Volume3
Early online date10 Dec 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2019

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