Elevated CO2 and warming impacts on flowering phenology in a southern Australian grassland are related to flowering time but not growth form, origin or longevity
Mark J. Hovenden A C , Amity L. Williams A , Jane Kongstad Pedersen B , Jacqueline K. Vander Schoor A and Karen E. Wills AA School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia.
B Forest and Landscape Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Hørsholm, Denmark.
C Corresponding author. Email: Mark.Hovenden@utas.edu.au
Australian Journal of Botany 56(8) 630-643 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT08142
Submitted: 6 August 2008 Accepted: 3 November 2008 Published: 15 December 2008
Abstract
Flowering is a critical stage in plant life cycles, and changes in phenology might alter processes at the species, community and ecosystem levels. Therefore, likely flowering-time responses to global-change drivers are needed for predictions of global-change impacts on natural and managed ecosystems. Predicting responses of species to global changes would be simplified if functional, phylogenetic or biogeographical traits contributed substantially to a species’ response. Here we investigate the role of growth form (grass, graminoid, forb, subshrub), longevity (annual, perennial), origin (native, exotic) and flowering time in determining the impact of elevated [CO2] (550 μmol mol−1) and infrared warming (mean warming of +2°C) on flowering times of 31 co-occurring species of a range of species-types in a temperate grassland in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Warming reduced time to first flowering by an average of 20.3 days in 2004, 2.1 days in 2005 and 7.6 days in 2007; however, the response varied among species and was unrelated to growth form, origin or longevity. Elevated [CO2] did not alter flowering times; neither was there any [CO2] by species-type interaction. However, both warming and elevated [CO2] tended to have a greater effect on later-flowering species, with time to first flowering of later-flowering species being reduced by both elevated [CO2] (P < 0.001) and warming (P < 0.001) to a greater extent than that of earlier-flowering species. These results have ramifications for our predictions of community and ecosystem interactions in native grasslands in response to global change.
Acknowledgements
We thank the Australian Federal Department of Defence for access to the Pontville Small Arms Range Complex. This project was supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects scheme.
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