Siberian plants shift phenology due to climate change

By Tara K. Miller

 
Siberia has undergone dramatic climatic changes due to global warming in recent decades. We used the Russian ‘Chronicles of Nature’ network to analyze the long-term (1976–2018) phenological shifts in leaf out, flowering, fruiting and leaf senescence of 67 common Siberian plant species. We found that plant phenology is changing dramatically in this remote and under-studied region.
 

Figure 1: Location of the study site by Lake Baikal, Siberia

 
Siberian boreal forest plants advanced their early season (leaf out and flowering) and mid-season (fruiting) phenology by 2.2, 0.7 and 1.6 days per decade, and delayed leaf senescence by 1.6 days per decade during this period.
 
Individual species shifted their phenology at different rates, and these results could be used to identify plants particularly at risk of decline due to their low adaptive capacity or a loss of synchronization with important ecological partners, such as pollinators or seed dispersers.
 

Figure 4: Species-specific phenological shifts of 67 Siberian plants from 1976 to 2018.
Dots indicate mean values, and horizontal lines are 95% confidence intervals.
(a) first leaf out, (b) first flower, (c) first fruit, and (d) leaf senescence.

 
 
This article appeared as: Rosbakh et al. 2021. Siberian plants shift their phenology in response to climate change. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15744