Peking University researchers discover crucial differences in how plants and animals adjust their life cycles to climate change, which could disrupt ecosystems and food chains.
A team of researchers led by Piao Shilong, a professor at Peking University’s Institute of Carbon Neutrality, and Zhang Yao, an assistant professor at Peking University’s Institute of Carbon Neutrality, has uncovered significant differences in how plants and animals are adjusting their life-cycle events in response to climate change.
The global-scale research, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, offers critical insights into the asynchronous phenological changes between flora and fauna, shedding light on potentially destabilizing effects on ecosystems.
Why It Matters
Climate change has significantly altered the timing of recurring biological events for both plants and animals. These changes, if unsynchronized, can disrupt essential trophic interactions, such as those within food chains, and ultimately threaten the stability and functionality of ecosystems.
Despite numerous documented phenological observations, most studies have been limited geographically. This comprehensive analysis synthesizes phenological observations worldwide, providing a broader understanding of climate change’s impact on phenological synchrony across diverse landscapes.
Key Findings
The research team meticulously compiled a global phenological dataset, including 451,956 plant phenological time series (encompassing 1,629 species or genera across 248 events) and 43,857 animal phenological time series (covering 949 species or genera across 432 events).
Temporal Shifts in Plants:
- The study found that later plant phenophases tend to advance more significantly over time. For instance, spring and summer phenophases showed predominant advancements with shortened intervals between consecutive events.
- Nearly 30% of these phenological shifts in plants are influenced by prior events, creating a cumulative and amplified response to warming as the season progresses.
Animal Phenological Changes:
- In contrast, animals displayed less pronounced phenological changes at the start of the active season compared to plants.
- Phenological shifts in animals varied, with Aves, Mammalia and Amphibia showing delayed occurrences, while Insecta exhibited slight advancements.
Temporal Dependency in Plants:
- A strong temporal linkage was observed between neighboring plant phenophases during spring and summer, indicating a clear trend towards shortened intervals. This phenomenon is potentially due to increased plant productivity driven by warming and carbon dioxide fertilization, which shortens the time required for foliage, flower and fruit production.
Significance and Ecosystem Impact
This study underscores the intrinsic connections between phenological events in plants and the contrasting mechanisms in animals, emphasizing the increasing asynchrony caused by climate change. The overall advancement of late-season phenophases in plants is more pronounced than in animals, pointing to different influences from external and internal drivers of phenology for each kingdom.
The findings provide a new perspective for understanding trophic-level mismatches and predicting ecosystem stability under ongoing global warming.