tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164804243040726299.post1098908623478978329..comments2024-03-19T06:40:22.220-04:00Comments on The EEB & Flow: Timing is everything: global warming and the timing of species interactionsMarc Cadottehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08335319636148357534noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164804243040726299.post-1353638561768415512010-01-20T19:21:45.492-05:002010-01-20T19:21:45.492-05:00Thanks Jake!Thanks Jake!Marc Cadottehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08335319636148357534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164804243040726299.post-10384101707316581622010-01-20T16:59:52.085-05:002010-01-20T16:59:52.085-05:00Ahh, yes. Timing is indeed everything. Phenology...Ahh, yes. Timing is indeed everything. Phenology is a (re-)emergent subdiscipline of ecology, with an increasing awareness of the fact that <br /><br />1) it's one of the most sensitive biological responses to environmental variation<br />2) it affects nearly all aspects of ecosystem function (pollination, water and C flux, predator-prey, agriculture) across many scales<br />3) it's relatively easy to observe (though common protocols are critical).<br /><br />Not only are there many applications for phenology data, there is an enormous amount of science underlying (um, not to mention gaps in understanding) phenology. Recent papers point to relationships between invasiveness and phenology, population declines and phenology, species distributions and phenology, variation in many variables and phenology; environmental controls on phenology are not well known: one of the grand challenges for plant biology identified by the scientific community is phenology (G, E, and G x E) -- this will be tackled by the iPlant Collaborative.<br /><br />Phenology may also explain global patterns of biodiversity! See the recent paper by Martin et al. in Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 2: 9-17, 2009 entitled "Latitudinal variation in the asynchrony of seasons: implications for higher<br />rates of population differentiation and speciation in the tropics." Yes, yet another plausible and probably untestable hypothesis...;)<br /><br />Jake Weltzin<br />Executive Director<br />USA National Phenology Network<br />www.usanpn.orgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com