Large-scale geographical variation confirms that climate change causes birds to lay earlier.
Advances in the phenology of organisms are often attributed to climate change, but alternatively, may reflect a publication bias towards advances and may be caused by environmental factors unrelated to climate change. Both factors are investigated using the breeding dates of 25 long-term studied populations of Ficedula flycatchers across Europe. Trends in spring temperature varied markedly between study sites, and across populations the advancement of laying date was stronger in areas where the spring temperatures increased more, giving support to the theory that climate change causally affects breeding date advancement.
Both
Christiaan
C
Netherlands Institute of Ecology, PO Box 40, 6666ZG Heteren, The Netherlands. c.both@biol.rug.nl
Artemyev
Aleksandr V
AV
Blaauw
Bert
B
Cowie
Richard J
RJ
Dekhuijzen
Aarnoud J
AJ
Eeva
Tapio
T
Enemar
Anders
A
Gustafsson
Lars
L
Ivankina
Elena V
EV
Järvinen
Antero
A
Metcalfe
Neil B
NB
Nyholm
N Erik I
NE
Potti
Jaime
J
Ravussin
Pierre-Alain
PA
Sanz
Juan Jose
JJ
Silverin
Bengt
B
Slater
Fred M
FM
Sokolov
Leonid V
LV
Török
János
J
Winkel
Wolfgang
W
Wright
Jonathan
J
Zang
Herwig
H
Visser
Marcel E
ME
D000818:Animals; D002980:Climate; D005060:Europe; D005843:Geography; D016014:Linear Models; D010507:Periodicity; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012621:Seasons; D020308:Songbirds / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature