Phenology has achieved a prominent position in current scenarios of global change research given its role in monitoring and predicting the timing of recurrent life cycle events. However, the implications of phenology to environmental conservation and management remain poorly explored. Here, we present the first explicit appraisal of how phenology -a multidisciplinary science encompassing biometeorology, ecology, and evolutionary biology -can make a key contribution to contemporary conservation biology. We focus on shifts in plant phenology induced by global change, their impacts on species diversity and plantanimal interactions in the tropics, and how conservation efforts could be enhanced in relation to plant resource organization. We identify the effects of phenological changes and mismatches in the maintenance and conservation of mutualistic interactions, and examine how phenological research can contribute to evaluate, manage and mitigate the consequences of land-use change and other natural and anthropogenic disturbances, such as fire, exotic and invasive species. We also identify cutting-edge tools that can improve the spatial and temporal coverage of phenological monitoring, from satellites to drones and digital cameras. We highlight the role of historical information in recovering long-term phenological time series, and track climate-related shifts in tropical systems. Finally, we propose a set of measures to boost the contribution of phenology to conservation science. We advocate the inclusion of phenology into predictive models integrating evolutionary history to identify species groups that are either resilient or sensitive to future climatechange scenarios, and understand how phenological mismatches can affect community dynamics, ecosystem services, and conservation over time. We hereby submit the revised draft of our 'Perspectives' manuscript entitled "Linking plant phenology to conservation biology" to which we now incorporate the rather minor changes suggested by the reviewers. While responding to those very positive comments, we also indicate how we have incorporated the reviewers' remarks.
UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL PAULISTAWe thank you and the reviewers again for all the suggestions that have improved our The MS is well written, integrates interesting different aspects of plant phenology and provide a guide to include phenology in prospective long-term studies and management plans. Therefore the study is of general interest for a wide audience, particularly for Biological Conservation readers.Next, I suggest some changes to improve the current version of the MS 1. Authors comment the effect of climate and land use change on Section 4. For example, they argue that edge effect "increase of flowering and fruiting activity" (Line #389) or fragmentation affect reproductive success. Yet, these are functional responses of plant populations to different types of disturbances/changes, but they do not necessary entail changes in phenology. Please, review the MS and make sure that you only include ...