Striking shifts in the timing of bryophyte spore dispersal: What 35 years of airborne DNA revealed about climate change

Fia Bengtsson, Lund University and Norwegian Institute of Nature Research, discusses her article: Rapid shifts in bryophyte phenology revealed by airborne eDNA Most of us walk past mosses and liverworts without really noticing them. But these small plants, known as bryophytes, are vital to ecosystems, including in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. They retain water, regulate…

Scaling Up Phenology: What Millions of Volunteer Observations Can Tell Us About the Effects of Climate Change on Plants

Amanda Gallinat, Colby College, USA, and Theresa Crimmins, USA National Phenology Network, discuss their article: Combined volunteer and ecological network observations show broad-scale temperature-sensitivity patterns for deciduous plant flowering and leaf-out times across the Eastern USA Around the globe, the timing of seasonal activity in plants and animals – termed phenology – is shifting substantially…

The critical role of plant phenology in the biomass production of alpine plants under climate change

Miaojun Ma, Gansu Gannan Grassland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, discusses his article: Asynchronous phenological responses to warming affect biomass production contrastingly in flowering functional groups Background Plant phenology and productivity changes represent two of the most critical climate-induced changes…

When plants gain (or lose) ground in the French Alps

Romain Goury, University of Grenoble Alpes in France, discusses his article: Recent vegetation shifts in the French Alps with winners outnumbering losers, in both English and French. When we walk through the mountains, it is often easy to notice plants that have not been there before. But spotting those that are quietly disappearing is a…

Shrub Expansion in the Arctic: Quantifying and Explaining the Transformation of Tundra Landscapes

Anna Derkacheva, Gerald “JJ” Frost, Howie Epstein, and Ksenia Ermokhina, of HSE University in Russia, Alaska Biological Research, Inc., the University of Virginia, and the Russian Academy of Sciences (respectively), discuss their article: Landscape patterns of shrubification in the Siberian low arctic: A machine learning perspective The Arctic tundra is experiencing some of the strongest…

Seedlings in a hotter, drier, CO₂-rich world: How do they cope?

María Natalia Umaña and Inés Ibañez, University of Michigan, discuss their article: How do drought and elevated temperatures influence CO2 fertilization effects on tree seedling performance? A global meta-analysis Climate change is not happening one thing at a time. In forests across the globe, seedlings are already experiencing a mix of higher atmospheric CO₂, rising…