Advances in Earth Science ›› 2002, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (5): 714-719. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2002.05.0714

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PROGRESS IN THE STUDIES ON THE PHENOLOGICAL RESPONDING TO GLOBAL WARMING

FANG Xiu-qi, YU Wei-hong   

  1. Department of Geography,Beijing Normal University,Beijing 100875, China
  • Received:2002-03-05 Revised:2002-05-27 Online:2002-12-20 Published:2002-10-01

FANG Xiu-qi, YU Wei-hong. PROGRESS IN THE STUDIES ON THE PHENOLOGICAL RESPONDING TO GLOBAL WARMING[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2002, 17(5): 714-719.

The global average surface temperature has increased over the 20th Century evidently, especially in the last 20 years of the century. Global warming has been a very important problem of the world. Climate warming is expected to alter seasonal biological phenomena such as plant growth and flowering or animal migration, which depend on accumulated temperature. These phenological changes are likely to have a wide range of consequences for ecological processes, agriculture, forestry, human health, and the global economy. The study on the phenological responding to global warming is becoming a new hot research point. Remote sensing data validate these ground observations on larger scales. Lots of studies demonstrate that NOAA AVHRR data are well suited for studying the regional impact of the climatic change. This paper summarized the progresses in the studies of the phenology in responding to global warming. Based on observation on the spot and remote sensing monitoring on plant and animal, it is found that the phenology is changing remarkably. Many plants and animals respond to a longer growing season by changing the timing of activities associated with the arrival of spring and onset of autumn such as flowering, leaf fall, breeding, and migration. Observations on the spot show the leaves of many deciduous plant species now unfold earlier and fall later in the mid- to high-latitude area of the northern hemisphere. A large increase in growing season NDVI magnitude and a longer active growing season has also been observed by satellite. Flowering date of many flowers are tending to earlier. Some insects now also appear earlier. The timing of bird migration and breeding is sensitive to changes in temperature, and global warming would be expected to lead to an earlier onset of those activities in the spring. These changes in plant and animal phenology may lead to a decoupling of species interactions. It is also found the trend toward earlier ice break-up and snow melting in spring that is consistent with the enhanced warming observed at higher latitudes. All the phenological changes which link to increasing surface temperatures very well, which is an obviously responding to the globe warming. Compared with the international research advance, there are still lots of work to do on the research of phonological response to global warming in China.

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