Early Spring Has Consequences

Early spring has consequences. For example, if snow melts earlier, the vegetation will suck up the water right away, and the system dries out, which leaves a much longer dry spell for the rest of the summer, and fairly dramatically increases the possibilities of wildfire. Photo: Alice Hoffman https://merionfriends.org/cherry.htm

The Union of Concerned Scientists is collecting data on early spring. Among those providing the data is Jake Weltzin, an ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey. He points out that early spring may confuse plants and insects, and make them shift their schedules???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?with unhappy results.

???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?A bee that???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?s coming along and gathering pollen from plants might end up where there is no pollen available,???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+? says Weltzin. ???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?Because some plants might have shifted earlier, and others might not have shifted at all.???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?

On the ground, early spring looks different, too. Dennis Whigham, a botanist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland, spends much of his time in the center???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?s hardwood deciduous forest. He says many plants and trees???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?spring beauty, spicebush, oaks and maples???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?are emerging or flowering earlier than usual because of higher temperatures.

Many plants remain dormant until soil and air temperatures get warm enough for a certain number of days; then they take off. Whigham bends over one of spring???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?s debutantes, growing near a stream.

???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?This is an understory herb???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?this particular one is called bloodroot,???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+? he says. ???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?It???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?s the first understory herb to appear in the spring, so it has these lovely white flowers.???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?

It???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?s only a few inches tall. But this year it???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?s behaved strangely. Normally, it flowers for two weeks, but like many plants this year in Whigham???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?s forest, its life cycle has sped up.

???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?And I noticed this year that the flowers???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?I was seeing them for only about a week, which again is this whole notion of everything being compressed because it was so warm.???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?

Whigham says he doesn???????????(R)???????+?????????(R)???????+?t know whether this hurried flowering is due to climate change or something else, but scientists say a warming climate may lead plants and animals to do some strange things. And they may have to do some very strange things to survive where they are if spring continues to come earlier and temperatures keep rising. Either that, or hit the road and head north.