Little directional change in the timing of Arctic spring phenology over the past 25 years

TY - JOUR

T1 - Little directional change in the timing of Arctic spring phenology over the past 25 years

AU - Schmidt, Niels Martin

AU - Kankaanpää, Tuomas

AU - Tiusanen, Mikko

AU - Reneerkens, Jeroen

AU - Versluijs, Tom S.L.

AU - Hansen, Lars Holst

AU - Hansen, Jannik

AU - Gerlich, Hannah Sørine

AU - Høye, Toke T.

AU - Cirtwill, Alyssa R.

AU - Zhemchuzhnikov, Mikhail K.

AU - Peña-Aguilera, Pablo

AU - Roslin, Tomas

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - With the global change in climate, the Arctic has been pinpointed as the region experiencing the fastest rates of change. As a result, Arctic biological responses—such as shifts in phenology—are expected to outpace those at lower latitudes. 15 years ago, a decade-long dataset from Zackenberg in High Arctic Greenland revealed rapid rates of phenological change. 1 To explore how the timing of spring phenology has developed since, we revisit the Zackenberg time series on flowering plants, arthropods, and birds. Drawing on the full 25-year period of 1996–2020, we find little directional change in the timing of events despite ongoing climatic change. We attribute this finding to a shift in the temporal patterns of climate conditions, from previous directional change to current high inter-annual variability. Additionally, some taxa appear to have reached the limits of their phenological responses, resulting in a leveling off in their phenological responses in warm years. Our findings demonstrate the importance of long-term monitoring of taxa from across trophic levels within the community, allowing for detecting shifts in sensitivities and responses and thus for updated inference in the light of added information.

AB - With the global change in climate, the Arctic has been pinpointed as the region experiencing the fastest rates of change. As a result, Arctic biological responses—such as shifts in phenology—are expected to outpace those at lower latitudes. 15 years ago, a decade-long dataset from Zackenberg in High Arctic Greenland revealed rapid rates of phenological change. 1 To explore how the timing of spring phenology has developed since, we revisit the Zackenberg time series on flowering plants, arthropods, and birds. Drawing on the full 25-year period of 1996–2020, we find little directional change in the timing of events despite ongoing climatic change. We attribute this finding to a shift in the temporal patterns of climate conditions, from previous directional change to current high inter-annual variability. Additionally, some taxa appear to have reached the limits of their phenological responses, resulting in a leveling off in their phenological responses in warm years. Our findings demonstrate the importance of long-term monitoring of taxa from across trophic levels within the community, allowing for detecting shifts in sensitivities and responses and thus for updated inference in the light of added information.

KW - arthropods

KW - birds

KW - climate

KW - emergence

KW - flowering

KW - plants

KW - reproduction

KW - snow

KW - Climate

KW - Temperature

KW - Animals

KW - Climate Change

KW - Arctic Regions

KW - Flowers/physiology

KW - Seasons

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85167480068&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.038

DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.038

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37499666

SN - 0960-9822

VL - 33

SP - 3244-3249.e3

JO - Current Biology

JF - Current Biology

IS - 15

ER -