Phenological patterns of flowering across biogeographical regions of Europe

• Published in: International Journal of Biometeorology
• Main Authors: Templ, Barbara, Templ, Matthias, Filzmoser, Peter, Lehoczky, Annamária, Bakšienė, Eugenija, Fleck, Stefan, Gregow, Hilppa, Hodzic, Sabina, Kalvane, Gunta, Kubin, Eero, Palm, Vello, Romanovskaja, Danuta, Vucˇetic´, Višnja, žust, Ana, Czúcz, Bálint
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Beginning of flowering; Biogeographical regions; Climate change; Europe; Robust regression; Shifting trend; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://lammc.lvb.lt/LAMMC:ELABAPDB24170315&prefLang=en_US

Not just local (e.g. temperature) but large scale (e.g. North Atlantic Oscillation) climate factors, as well as altitude and latitude play significant role in the timing of flowering across biogeographical regions of Europe. Our analysis gave evidences that species show a delay in the timing of flowering with an increase in latitude (between the geographical coordinates of 40.9 and 67.9), and an advance with changing climate. The woody species (black locust and small-leaved lime) showed stronger advancements in their timing of flowering than the herbaceous species (dandelion, lily of the valley). In later decades (1991–2010), more pronounced phenological change was detected than during the earlier years (1970–1990), which indicates the increased influence of human induced higher spring temperatures in the late twentieth century.