Phenological mismatches between above- and belowground plant responses to climate warming

Climate warming is changing the aboveground phenology of plants around the world. However, the effects of warming on the belowground phenology of plants remain relatively under-investigated, even though roots play a vital role in carbon cycling. Here we synthesize 88 published studies to show a phen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature climate change 2022-01, Vol.12 (1), p.97-102
Main Authors: Liu, Huiying, Wang, Hao, Li, Nan, Shao, Junjiong, Zhou, Xuhui, van Groenigen, Kees Jan, Thakur, Madhav P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/2165/2457
631/158/2445
Analysis
Carbon cycle
Climate
Climate Change
Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts
Earth and Environmental Science
Environment
Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice
Global warming
Growing season
Phenological changes
Phenology
Seasons
Woody plants
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Summary:Climate warming is changing the aboveground phenology of plants around the world. However, the effects of warming on the belowground phenology of plants remain relatively under-investigated, even though roots play a vital role in carbon cycling. Here we synthesize 88 published studies to show a phenological mismatch between above- and belowground plant responses to climate warming. For herbaceous plants, warming advanced both the start and end of aboveground growing season, resulting in an unchanged growing season length. In contrast, belowground phenophases (the start, end and length of the growing season) of herbaceous plants remained unchanged. For woody plants, climate warming did not affect any aboveground phenophases but extended their belowground growing season. Mismatches between above- and belowground phenology will strongly influence biomass allocation in plants, implying that terrestrial carbon cycling models based exclusively on aboveground responses are inaccurate. The work highlights an urgent need for future research of under-represented belowground phenological changes. The authors conduct a meta-analysis to reveal mismatches in above- and belowground plant phenological responses to warming that differ by plant type (herbaceous versus woody). The work highlights a need for further research and consideration of under-represented belowground phenological changes.
ISSN:1758-678X
1758-6798
DOI:10.1038/s41558-021-01244-x