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For species to stay temporally tuned to their environment, they use cues such as the accumulation of degree-days. The relationships between the timing of a phenological event in a population and its environmental cue can be described by a population-level reaction norm. Variation in reaction norms along environmental gradients may either intensify the environmental effects on timing (cogradient variation) or attenuate the effects (countergradient variation). To resolve spatial and seasonal variation in species’ response, we use a unique dataset of 91 taxa and 178 phenological events observed across a network of 472 monitoring sites, spread across the nations of the former Soviet Union. We show that compared to local rates of advancement of phenological events with the advancement of temperature-related cues (i.e., variation within site over years), spatial variation in reaction norms tend to accentuate responses in spring (cogradient variation) and attenuate them in autumn (countergradient variation). As a result, among-population variation in the timing of events is greater in spring and less in autumn than if all populations followed the same reaction norm regardless of location. Despite such signs of local adaptation, overall phenotypic plasticity was not sufficient for phenological events to keep exact pace with their cues—the earlier the year, the more did the timing of the phenological event lag behind the timing of the cue. Overall, these patterns suggest that differences in the spatial versus temporal reaction norms will affect species’ response to climate change in opposite ways in spring and autumn.

We present an extensive, large-scale, long-term and multitaxon database on phenological and climatic variation, involving 506,186 observation dates acquired in 471 localities in Russian Federation, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. the data cover the period 1890-2018, with 96% of the data being from 1960 onwards. The database is rich in plants, birds and climatic events, but also includes insects, amphibians, reptiles and fungi. the database includes multiple events per species, such as the onset days of leaf unfolding and leaf fall for plants, and the days for first spring and last autumn occurrences for birds. The data were acquired using standardized methods by permanent staff of national parks and nature reserves (87% of the data) and members of a phenological observation network (13% of the data). The database is valuable for exploring how species respond in their phenology to climate change. Large-scale analyses of spatial variation in phenological response can help to better predict the consequences of species and community responses to climate change. #A full list of authors and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper. Data DeSCRiptOR OpeNScientific Data | (2020) 7:47 | https://doi.

We report on the effects of high light irradiance (480 µmol quanta/(m(2)·s)) and salinity (160 and 200 g/liter NaCl) on culture growth as well as on cell lipid pigment and fatty acid (FA) composition in three novel strains of halophile microalga from the genus Dunaliella. Based on the ITS1-5.8S rRNA-ITS2 sequence and on the capability of accumulation of secondary (uncoupled from the photosynthetic apparatus) β-carotene, the strains Dunaliella sp. BS1 and BS2 were identified as D. salina and Dunaliella sp. R5 as D. viridis. Under conditions optimal for growth, chlorophylls and primary carotenoids (mainly lutein) dominated the pigment profile of all investigated strains. The main FA were represented by unsaturated C18 FA typical of thylakoid membrane structural lipids. In all studied cells, stressors caused a decline in chlorophylls and an increase in unsaturated C16 and C18 FA associated with reserve lipids. The carotenogenic species D. salina demonstrated 10-fold increase in carotenoids accompanied by a decline in lutein and a drastic increase in β-carotene (up to 75% of total carotenoids). In D. viridis, only 1.5-fold increase in carotenoid content took place, the ratio of major carotenoids remaining essentially unchanged. The role of the carotenogenic response in mechanisms of protection against photooxidative damage is discussed in view of halophile microalgae stress tolerance and application of the new Dunaliella strains for biotechnological production of β-carotene.

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