Flowering phenology shifts in response to biodiversity loss

Wolf, Amelia A.; Zavaleta, Erika S.; Selmants, Paul C.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1608357114

Cited by 110 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Diversity level appears to have no significant effect on either leaf‐out or flowering dates in models where abiotic and biotic effects were considered together. The positive correlation between increasing soil TN and later leaf‐out date is consistent with previous studies (Wolf et al., ). This may be because the TN favors root growth over shoot growth (Nord & Lynch, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…In addition, previous work has found that warming experiments could underestimate plant phenological responses to climate change (Wolkovich et al., ). Our findings indicate that shifts in community diversity and plant composition may account for some of this difference because warming experiments that occur over short time scales are unlikely to capture the full effects of community shifts (Wolf et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Although nitrogen availability is one of the cues most often associated with human‐caused phenological changes, phenology may also respond to other abiotic variables (e.g., solar radiation, other nutrient concentrations) that we did not measure. For example, soil surface temperature and water availability were found to correlate with the PFD of most species in the BEF grasslands in California (Wolf et al., ) and in other soil‐warming experiments (Lupi, Morin, Deslauriers, Rossi, & Houle, ). Our findings indicate that abiotic variables may be more important than biotic variables (species diversity) in determining LD in subtropical forests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…However, in the overall design of this study, the plots featuring the climate sensors comprised only one replicate of tree species composition, and thus did not allow the separation of species richness effects from species composition. A second limitation of this study is that we only had one year of phenology data, but the regression trend of phenology date is expected to be robust across different diversity plots, even with one year of phenology data (Wolf et al., ). Previous studies have revealed considerable interspecific variation in spring phenology, but consistent order in the timing of leaf out and flowering in various years and among sites (Bennie, Kubin, Wiltshire, Huntley, & Baxter, ; Lechowicz, ; Panchen et al., ; Wesolowski & Rowinski, ), which suggests that our results should be robust over several years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diverging shifts in spring phenology in response to biodiversity loss in a subtropical forest

Yang

Chen

et al. 2019

J Vegetation Science

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Questions Despite our increased understanding of how climate change influences plant phenology, it remains poorly understood whether diversity loss could alter phenology as well. Here we investigated the following: (a) do changes in plant diversity affect leaf‐out and flowering dates for woody species; (b) which group of variables are more important in influencing leaf‐out and flowering dates, abiotic variables (soil variables) or biotic variables (plant diversity)? Study site A subtropical forest in the Biodiversity–Ecosystem Functioning Experiment of China, located in Jiangxi Province, China. Methods Species were planted in various combinations to create plots with varying tree richness: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or 24 species. We monitored leaf‐out and flowering dates of eight randomly selected species in 17 plots in 2018. A linear model was used to test whether species diversity was a predictor of leaf‐out/flowering times for each species. We then fit linear mixed‐effects models to assess the combined influence of species diversity, soil Total Carbon and Total Nitrogen on the overall community. Results In the low‐diversity plots, we found two species leafing out earlier, one leafing out later and four showing no significant difference. Leaf‐out date advanced an average of 0.3 days per species lost. Of all the biotic and abiotic predictor variables, Total Nitrogen was the only one significantly correlated with leaf‐out date. No significant correlation was found between species diversity and flowering date for any of the species. Conclusions Our study provides the first empirical evidence concerning the effects of biodiversity loss on plant spring phenology for woody species. Our findings illustrate that fluctuation in plant diversity could alter the timing of leaf‐out and that abiotic variables may be more important than biotic variables in determining leaf‐out dates in subtropical forest. Overall, declining diversity may exacerbate the phenological changes attributed to rising global temperatures.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diverging shifts in spring phenology in response to biodiversity loss in a subtropical forest

Yang

Chen

et al. 2019

J Vegetation Science

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“…; Körner and Basler ), biodiversity loss (Wolf et al. ), extreme weather events (Rich et al. ; Jentsch et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The colors of heath flowering – quantifying spatial patterns of phenology in Calluna life‐cycle phases using high‐resolution drone imagery

Neumann

Behling

Schindhelm

et al. 2019

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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Recent developments in high‐resolution ecosystem mapping using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) open up promising perspectives for the monitoring of fine‐scale vegetation patterns and ecological functioning. In this study, we examine the potential of UAV imagery to track the structural composition and related phenological traits of the dwarf shrub Calluna vulgaris on a former military training area. On a European Natura 2000 heathland site, habitat management is shown to be evaluated on the basis of flowering dynamics and reproductive recovery as a proxy of functional changes that are generated after fire destruction. In particular, we utilize true color camera information and digital surface models to determine the spatiotemporal evolution of Calluna life‐cycle phases and flowering phenology 2 years after controlled burning. A stepwise methodological framework is presented that extracts Calluna pixels, spatially separates juvenile and mature life‐cycle phases, differentiates between generative and vegetative shoot extension and finally quantifies proportions of flowers, fruits and vegetative growth in two consecutive peak flowering periods. We show that Calluna life‐cycle phases can be spatially differentiated in pioneer, building and mature phases in UAV imagery. In the juvenile phase, regeneration from germination is low (<10%) and sprouting from the stem base dominates recovery patterns after fire management. The study further reveals that the distribution of flowering and fruiting during peak flowering time is spatially heterogeneous with high variations between years. In the fire unaffected mature phase, proportions of flowers and fruits are reduced indicating a decrease in reproductive capacity of unmanaged Calluna stands. A phenological phase shift is detected from flowering to fruiting that is related to an increase of Calluna growth height. The study shows that the functional patterns of growth and reproduction can be mapped for heathland ecosystems using simple true color drone cameras.

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Spring understory herbs flower later in intensively managed forests

Willems

Ammer

Block

et al. 2021

Ecological Applications

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Many organisms respond to anthropogenic environmental change through shifts in their phenology. In plants, flowering is largely driven by temperature, and therefore affected by climate change. However, on smaller scales climatic conditions are also influenced by other factors, including habitat structure. A group of plants with a particularly distinct phenology are the understorey herbs in temperate European forests. In these forests, management alters tree species composition (often replacing deciduous with coniferous species) and homogenizes stand structure, and as a consequence changes light conditions and microclimate. Forest management should thus also affect the phenology of understorey herbs. To test this, we recorded the flowering phenology of 16 early-flowering herbs on 100 forest plots varying in management intensity, from near-natural to intensely managed forests, in Central and Southern Germany. We found that in forest stands with a high management intensity, such as Norway spruce plantations, the plants flowered on average about two weeks later than in unmanaged forests. This was largely because management also affected microclimate (e.g. spring temperatures of 5.9 °C in managed coniferous, 6.7 in managed deciduous and 7.0 °C in unmanaged deciduous plots), which in turn affected phenology, with plants flowering later on colder and moister forest stands (+4.5 days per -1°C and 2.7 days per 10 % humidity increase). Among forest characteristics, the percentage of conifers had the greatest influence on microclimate, but also the age, overall crown projection area, structural complexity and spatial distribution of the forest stands. Our study demonstrates that forest management alters plant phenology, with potential far-reaching consequences for the ecology and evolution of understorey communities. More generally, our study suggests that besides climate change other drivers of environmental change, too, can influence the phenology of organisms.

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Flowering phenology shifts in response to biodiversity loss

Cited by 110 publications

References 41 publications

Diverging shifts in spring phenology in response to biodiversity loss in a subtropical forest

Diverging shifts in spring phenology in response to biodiversity loss in a subtropical forest

The colors of heath flowering – quantifying spatial patterns of phenology in Calluna life‐cycle phases using high‐resolution drone imagery

Spring understory herbs flower later in intensively managed forests

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