Scientists have projected that the onset of spring plant growth will shift by a median of three weeks earlier over the next century, as a result of rising global temperatures.
The results, published today, in the journal Environmental Research Letters, have long term implications for the growing season of plants and the relationship between plants and the animals that depend upon them.
The researchers, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US, applied the extended Spring Indices to predict the dates of leaf and flower emergence based on day length. These general models capture the phenology of many plant species.
Ref: Spring plant phenology and false springs in the conterminous US during the 21st century. Environmental Research Letters (2015) | DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/10/10/104008