Phenology is the study of the timing of recurring biological events in organisms, particularly plants and animals, and the environmental drivers that regulate these events. It focuses on phase transitions such as leaf-out, flowering, fruiting, migration, and reproduction, and quantifies their relationships with abiotic factors like temperature, photoperiod, and precipitation. As a research topic, phenology integrates field observations, remote sensing, and modeling to analyze interannual variability, long-term trends, and spatial patterns. It is central to understanding organismal responses to climate variability and change, trophic synchrony or mismatch, and feedbacks between biosphere processes and the climate system.
Facing both climate change and a crashing pollinator population, plants may be evolving to attract pollinators rather than adapting to a warming climate, and the trade-off has resulted in a steep decline in plants' rate of ...
Evolution
7 hours ago
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In Europe, trees are increasingly dying prematurely. A new study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) on French forests now shows that it is not only drought but also unusually warm ...
Ecology
Jul 7, 2026
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Spring migration has taken flight, but with rising temperatures and shifting seasons, birds are adjusting when and how they migrate to keep up with a rapidly warming climate. Morgan Tingley, a professor of ecology and evolutionary ...
Ecology
Jul 6, 2026
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Due to increasing heat and drought, forests are turning brown more often before autumn, when leaf senescence normally occurs. It is often unclear whether the trees are actively shedding foliage to avoid a breakdown in water ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 2, 2026
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Migratory birds such as the pied flycatcher typically have wintering locations in Africa close to others from the same breeding population. That means that birds breeding in the Netherlands run into each other again in Africa, ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 25, 2026
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Since the 1970s, the number of insects at Canada's Long Point Bird Observatory has dropped by more than 60%, according to a new study led by the University of Michigan. Because of this, today's birds are smaller and facing ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 22, 2026
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Researchers have developed a new approach using data from NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite to observe the timing and progression of fall colors across landscapes.
Earth Sciences
Jun 15, 2026
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It's intuitive to think that if a tree is photosynthesizing, it's also growing. But that's not necessarily so—and a new study of oak trees, published in the journal Science Advances, found that even as they photosynthesize ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 12, 2026
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A new study led by researchers from Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Deakin University has uncovered that alpine species may be more vulnerable to climate change because their seeds rely on specific temperature cues and ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 11, 2026
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In its native habitat, switchgrass flowered earlier when growing farther north. In experiments with diverse genetic samples, it flowered earlier in the south.
Plants & Animals
Jun 3, 2026
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