Assessing plant phenological changes based on drivers of spring phenology

Understanding plant phenological responses to climate warming is essential for predicting shifts in plant communities and ecosystems. However, this remains challenging when sensitivity analyses overlook the underlying drivers of spring phenology. In this article, we present a new measure phenological lag to quantify the overall effect of phenological constraints, including insufficient winter chilling, photoperiod, and environmental stresses, based on observed response and that expected from species-specific changes in spring temperatures, that is, changes in spring forcing (degree days) from warming and average temperature at budburst with the warmer climate. We applied this new analytical framework to a global dataset with 980 species and 1527 responses to synthesize observed changes in spring budburst (leafing or flowering) and investigate the mechanisms of differential phenological responses reported previously. We found longer phenological lags with experimental studies and native plants in flowering, likely due to a more stressful environment associated with warmer and drier climate. Smaller forcing changes were mainly responsible for the smaller responses in leafing and flowering in the boreal region (compared to the temperate region) and in grass leafing (compared to trees and shrubs). Higher budburst temperatures also contributed to the smaller responses in flowering for experimental studies and with herbs and grasses. The effects of altitude, latitude, mean annual temperature (MAT), and average spring temperature change were minor (all combined <2.5% variations), while those of photoperiod and long-term precipitation were not significant in influencing spring phenology. Our method helps to determine mechanisms responsible for changes in spring phenology and differences in plant phenological responses.