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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 22, 2025

Simulating Temperature in a Soil Incubation Experiment

Simulating Temperature in a Soil Incubation Experiment

Published on: October 28, 2022

Integrating experiments to predict interactive cue effects on spring phenology with warming.

E M Wolkovich^1,2,3, C J Chamberlain^2,3, D M Buonaiuto^2,3

¹Forest & Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada.

The New Phytologist

|May 23, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Climate change impacts plant phenology, but recent shifts are muted. Interactions between spring phenological cues, studied through laboratory experiments, are key to understanding these complex plant responses.

Keywords:

budburst chilling climate change forcing leafout nonlinear responses photoperiod spring warming

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Plant Biology
Climate Change Science

Background:

Plant phenology, the timing of seasonal life events, has advanced globally due to climate change.
Recent decades show muted phenological shifts, diverging from simple warming predictions.
Interactions between spring phenological cues are hypothesized to explain these trends in natural environments.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of phenological cue interactions in plant responses to climate change.
To evaluate the integration of laboratory experimental insights with long-term observational data.
To identify opportunities for improving phenological forecasting models.

Main Methods:

Synthesized seven decades of laboratory experiments on plant phenology.
Quantified the study of phenological cue-space and compared experimental treatments with climate change-driven shifts.
Reviewed biases in observational studies and limited integration with laboratory findings.

Main Results:

Most laboratory studies focus on a single phenological cue, limiting predictive accuracy.
Well-studied forest species present opportunities for advancing phenological forecasting.
Significant gaps exist in understanding how multiple cues interact under climate change.

Conclusions:

Accurate linking of observed phenological shifts to underlying cues is hindered by study biases and poor integration.
Greater integration of controlled-environment studies with long-term data is crucial.
Future research should focus on physiologically-informed laboratory experiments to transform phenology understanding and prediction.