Seedling Scramble: How Warming Changes Plant Communities
by Anna Funk, Holden Forests & Gardens
January 16, 2025
Our world is warming, and how exactly that will affect our ecosystems is a critical question. As the climate shifts, plants and animals are already responding in some obvious ways—like your daffodils blooming a bit earlier each spring—but the finer details are still unfolding. This timing of natural events, known as phenology, is changing across species and ecosystems as the climate warms, with potentially important consequences.
For instance, the timing of when seeds germinate and seedlings emerge in spring can affect not only individual species but entire communities. Some species may be responsive to warmer spring temperatures, germinating earlier in the year, while other species may not be as flexible. A new study from Holden Forests & Gardens reveals that these shifts in germination timing can give the more responsive plants an advantage, ultimately altering plant communities and the ecosystems that depend on them.
Published in the journal Ecology, the new research explores how warming-induced changes in germination timing alters the order in which plant species establish themselves, and how that, in turn, affects how big they can grow (a common measure in ecology of how well plants are faring against their competitors). This shift in “assembly order” could have a lasting impact on plant community composition, with important implications for ecosystem function. Research specialist Emma Dawson-Glass, in the Stuble lab at Holden, led the work. Dawson-Glass is now at the University of Michigan studying for her doctorate.
Keep reading: https://holdenfg.org/blog/seedling-scramble-how-warming-changes-plant-communities/
Read the Ecology paper: https://holdenfg.org/blog/seedling-scramble-how-warming-changes-plant-communities/