Herbarium records identify sensitivity of flowering phenology of eucalypts to climate: Implications for species response to climate change

• Published in: Austral ecology 2015-04, Vol.40 (2), p.117-125
• Main Authors: Rawal, Deepa S., Kasel, Sabine, Keatley, Marie R., Nitschke, Craig R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Australia; Australia, environmental change; Climate change; environmental change; Eucalyptus; Eucalyptus polyanthemos; flowering date; Global warming; herbarium specimens; Phenology; Plant ecology; Plant reproduction; rainfall; rainfall, temperature; temperature
• ISSN: 1442-9985; 1442-9993
• DOI: 10.1111/aec.12183

Flowering phenology is very sensitive to climate and with increasing global warming the flowering time of plants is shifting to earlier or later dates. Changes in flowering times may affect species reproductive success, associated phenological events, species synchrony, and community composition. Long‐term data on phenological events can provide key insights into the impacts of climate on phenology. For Australia, however, limited data availability restricts our ability to assess the impacts of climate change on plant phenology. To address this limitation other data sources must be explored such as the use of herbarium specimens to conduct studies on flowering phenology. This study uses herbarium specimens for investigating the flowering phenology of five dominant and commercially important Eucalyptus species of south‐eastern Australia and the consequences of climate variability and change on flowering phenology. Relative to precipitation and air humidity, mean temperature of the preceding 3 months was the most influential factor on the flowering time for all species. In response to a temperature increment of 1°C, a shift in the timing of flowering of 14.1–14.9 days was predicted for E. microcarpa and E. tricarpa while delays in flowering of 11.3–15.5 days were found for E. obliqua, E. radiata and E. polyanthemos. Eucalyptus polyanthemos exhibited the greatest sensitivity to climatic variables. The study demonstrates that herbarium data can be used to detect climatic signals on flowering phenology for species with a long flowering duration, such as eucalypts. The robust relationship identified between temperature and flowering phenology indicates that shifts in flowering times will occur under predicted climate change which may affect reproductive success, fitness, plant communities and ecosystems.