Phenology

Phenology is the explore of periodic events in biological life cycles as well as how these are influenced by seasonal in addition to interannual variations in climate, as alive as habitat factors such(a) as elevation.

Examples include the date of emergence of leaves and flowers, the number one flight of butterflies, the number one appearance of migratory birds, the date of leaf colouring and fall in deciduous trees, the dates of egg-laying of birds and amphibia, or the timing of the developmental cycles of temperate-zone honey bee colonies. In the scientific literature on ecology, the term is used more loosely to indicate the time frame for any seasonal biological phenomena, including the dates of last layout e.g., the seasonal phenology of a shape may be from April through September.

Because many such(a) phenomena are very sensitive to small variations in climate, especially to temperature, phenological records can be a useful proxy for temperature in historical climatology, particularly in the discussing of climate change and global warming. For example, viticultural records of grape harvests in Europe proceed to been used to reorient a record of summer growing season temperatures going back more than 500 years. In addition to providing a longer historical baseline than instrumental measurements, phenological observations afford high temporal resolution of ongoing redesign related to global warming.

Phenological mismatch

Most species, including both plants and animals, interact with one another within ecosystems and habitats, so-called as biological interactions. These interactions whether it be plant-plant, animal-animal, predator-prey or plant-animal interactions can be vital to the success and survival of populations and therefore species.

Many style experience changes in life cycle development, migration or in some other process/behavior at different times in the season than previous patterns depict due to warming temperatures. Phenological mismatches, where interacting species modify the timing of regularly repeated phases in their life cycles at different rates, creates a mismatch in interaction timing and therefore negatively harming the interaction. Mismatches can arise in many different biological interactions, including between species in one trophic level intratrophic interactions ie. plant-plant, between different trophic levels intertrophic interactions ie. plant-animal or through creating competition intraguild interactions. For example, whether a plant species blooms its flowers earlier than previous years, but the pollinators that feed on and pollinate this flower does notor grow earlier as well, then a phenological mismatch has occurred. This results in the plant population declining as there are no pollinators to aid in their reproductive success. Another example includes the interaction between plant species, where the presence of one specie aids in the pollination of another through attraction of pollinators. However, if these plant species develop at mismatched times, this interaction will be negatively affected and therefore the plant species that relies on the other will be harmed.

Phenological mismatches means the loss of many biological interactions and therefore ecosystem functions are also at risk of being negatively effects or lost all together. Phenological mismatches his will case species and ecosystems food webs, reproduction success, resource availability, population and community dynamics in future generations, and therefore evolutionary process and overall biodiversity.