Research paperA comparative analysis of the spatio-temporal variation in the phenologies of two herbaceous species and associated climatic driving factors on the Tibetan Plateau
Introduction
Plant phenology is the study of the timing of recurring biological events of plant developmental stages caused by biotic and abiotic factors, including the occurrence of leafing, flowering and fruiting (Lieth, 1974, Morisette et al., 2009). Plant phenology is sensitive to changes in climate and the natural environment (Cong et al., 2012, Morisette et al., 2009). Moreover, it plays a crucial role in regulating the exchange of the fluxes of water, CO2 and energy between the biosphere and atmosphere (Keenan et al., 2012, Richardson et al., 2012, Richardson et al., 2013). Shifts in phenology can reflect the adjustments and responses of the biosphere to climate change (Penuelas and Filella, 2001). Therefore, plant phenology has received extensive attention in the field of global change in recent years (Menzel, 2002).
Global warming has altered plant phenology in recent decades (Menzel et al., 2006, Parmesan and Yohe, 2003, Root et al., 2003). Many studies have reported advanced spring phenology and delayed autumn phenology worldwide, which has resulted in an extended growing season (Jeong et al., 2011, Menzel, 2000, Piao et al., 2006, Zhu et al., 2012). However, the phenological shifts vary in response to climate change at different locations, even for the same species (Primack et al., 2009, Schwartz and Hanes, 2010), and different species within the same community may also show distinct responses (Cleland et al., 2006, Crimmins et al., 2010, Diez et al., 2012, Fitter and Fitter, 2002, Miller-Rushing and Primack, 2008). Moreover, different changes in phenology among species could lead to alterations in inter-species relationships (Stenseth and Mysterud, 2002, Visser and Both, 2005), potentially altering the community structure and function (Richardson et al., 2013). For example, Fitter and Fitter (2002) found that due to the different responses in flowering of 6 pairs of species that can form natural hybrids in the vicinity of a single locality in south-central England, 4 pairs of species were more likely to flower synchronously than they were formerly, increasing the probability of hybridization, and 2 were less likely to, reducing the probability of hybridization.
Plant phenology is much more sensitive to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) due to its harsh physical environment; this region is commonly known as Earth’s “third pole”. The unique geographical and environmental backgrounds make the TP an ideal region to explore the potential changes in plant communities under climate change by studying inter-species differences in phenological responses. Through experimental warming in a typical alpine meadow on the TP during 2014–2015, Zhu et al. (2016) found that warming caused the convergence of the flowering events of early- and late-flowering species and increased the overlap period of flowering among species, which could alter the competitive relationships among species. However, existing studies about inter-species differences in phenological responses to climate change on the TP to date have mainly focused on a single site with a few years’ records, and a comparative analysis of the spatio-temporal variation in phenology based on multi-site and multi-year phenological records is therefore lacking.
Thanks to the phenology network established by the China Meteorological Administration, a large number of continuous and long-term, ground-observed phenology records across the TP can be available. At present, 26 phenological stations are distributed on the TP, with 22 herbaceous plants and 10 woody plants observed (Zheng et al., 2016). However, only two perennial herbs, herba plantaginis (Plantago asiatica, Plantaginaceae family) and dandelion (Taraxacum mongolicum, Compositae family), were widely observed among all stations. Focusing on the two species, this study aims to reveal the inter-species differences in phenological responses to climate change and the associated climatic driving factors on the TP.
Section snippets
Phenological dataset
The phenological data for P. asiatica and T. mongolicum on the TP were collected from the nation-wide phenological observation network established by the China Meteorological Administration. The starting year for the phenological records of the two species differed among stations and species. For example, the phenology of P. asiatica began to be recorded in 1983 at Huangyuan and Zoige stations, while that of T. mongolicum only started to be recorded in 2002 at Shiqu station. On the other hand,
Occurring time of phenophases
The mean FLD and LCD of P. asiatica occurred at DOY 103 and 284, respectively, resulting in a mean LOG of 181 days (Fig. 2). Meanwhile, the mean FLD, LCD and LOG of T. mongolicum were very close to the mean value of corresponding phenological metrics of P. asiatica. However, the median and the mean value of FFD were 10.50 and 11.15 days earlier for T. mongolicum than P. asiatica, respectively. In addition, the phenological metrics varied more for T. mongolicum than P. asiatica as shown by a
Inter-species differences in the effect of geographical factors on the spatial distributions of phenology
Similar spatial distributions of phenology were observed between T. mongolicum and P. asiatica, although the magnitudes of the spatial variation with geographical factors were different. All phenological metrics for both species showed a strong dependence on geographical factors. Specifically, increasing latitude, longitude and altitude will lead to later spring phenology (FLD and FFD), earlier autumn phenology (LCD) and shorter growing season (LOG). Therefore, the spatial distributions of
Conclusions
Based on ground-observed phenology data on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) during 2000–2012, this study conducted a comparative analysis of the spatio-temporal variation in phenology and associated climatic driving factors for two herbaceous plants (Plantago asiatica and Taraxacum mongolicum). Strong dependence on geographical factors was observed for spring and autumn phenological metrics of both species. Change in altitude contributed the most to the spatial variation in phenology for both species.
Acknowledgements
We thank the editor and reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41371389) and the State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (No. 2017-FX-01(1)).
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These authors contributed equally to this work.