title: Interactions between warming and soil moisture increase overlap in reproductive phenology among species in an alpine meadow.
abstract: Climate warming strongly influences reproductive phenology of plants in alpine and Arctic ecosystems. Here, we focus on phenological shifts caused by experimental warming in a typical alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau. Under soil water stress caused by warming, most plants in the alpine meadow advanced or delayed their reproductive events to be aligned with the timing of peak rainfall. As a result, warming significantly increased the temporal overlap among reproductive stages of early- and late-flowering species. In addition, we found that some species, for example the late-flowering species, were unable to produce flowers and fruits under warming with failed monsoon rains. The potentially warmer- and drier-growing seasons under climate change may similarly shift the phenological patterns and change species composition of these alpine systems.
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China zhujt@igsnrr.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Juntao
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0379-3213
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China zhangyj@igsnrr.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yangjian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Science, Institute of Agriculture Science, Lhasa 850032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wenfeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D035264:Flowers / Q000254:growth & development*; D005638:Fruit / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D063245:Plant Development; D012098:Reproduction; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013696:Temperature; D018609:Tibet; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D014867:Water
keywords: alpine meadow; experimental warming; phenological overlap; phenological shifts; reproductive phenology