Posted on 12/19/2007 5:26:56 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Britain's favourite spring flowers are in danger of becoming extinct because climate change is causing them to bloom too early, environmental scientists said yesterday.
Some varieties are blossoming six months ahead of time, leaving them exposed to serious winter frosts. Others are losing the chance to pollinate and reproduce because their traditional flowering cycle is disrupted.
Climate change is also threatening varieties that prefer the colder weather. This year has been particularly confusing, with a cold, wet summer followed by a mild autumn.
This year botanists have recorded lilacs, which are supposed to flower in May, coming into life in November, six months early.
Camellias usually bloom in late winter to early spring, but many were in full flower this year by the end of November.
The Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew have reported that crocus plants have shifted their average annual flowering patterns by two months in the past 50 years. Nigel Taylor, Kew's curator, highlighted the risk of winter frosts to flowers blossoming too early.
"We have been running our own phenology study called the Kew 100 which is looking at year on year changes across 100 plant species," he said.
"Since the 1980s and the last decade we have observed marked changes in more than three quarters of the species whose biological patterns depend on temperature.
"The big risk to these plants is when the frost sets in. It opens them up to disease."
Scientists fear that many of the plants blooming out of season will fail to pollinate.
Bluebells in particular are timed to flower in time with the arrival of trees leafing overhead and providing shelter. If they start flowering before that, they may die without spreading their pollen.
Guy Barter, from the Royal Horticultural Society, said: "On some occasions the flowers have shot their bulbs, whereby they use up all the flowering buds available."
...somehow I know we will all live through this, somehow...
It seems like my wife looses flowers in the same spot in the garden every Dad-Gum year! (/s)
Global warming is going to kill all British mums.
Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown
New!!: Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH
Ping me if you find one I've missed.
Year of global cooling: Record Low Temps being set all over the world
All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray.
Well, if they don't pollinate this year, there's always next year.......
OK, so I'm not a scientist but I did get to bed early last night........
How did they ever get through the Medieval Warm Period, when it was even warmer than it is now?
Nothing can kill flowers faster than my wife’s black thumb.
Where have all the flowers gone,
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
I am really forced to think that these scientists are lying or totally misrepresenting or misunderstanding their findings. I have not noticed any examples of plants blooming two-six months out of sequence, nor do I see how an average change in temperature of less than one degree in the last century can have caused the changes they are claiming. If the average spring temp in England rises from - say - 43 degrees to 44 degrees, how will that cause the changes they are claiming to see? Sometimes a very mild winter/spring will cause plants to bloom 3-4 weeks early, but not 3-6 months. Cold is far more dangerous to the survival of plants than warmth.
I have definitely noticed that the days are getting shorter.
yitbos
These Believers are Unbelievable! If it’s so warm, why the frosts?
How do they know they're early? They could be six months late, meaning we need more Global Warming to get them to bloom earlier.
What??/ No EVOLUTION in Flowers to ADAPT???? WHOA.
Correcto!! Global warming is out. Those who would control language and thus minds now refer to "climate change".
You’re right. I have heard the term “climate change” more lately than glowball warning. Climate change is more generic and more open to interpretation. And, of course, climate change happens every season. A century from now carbon emissions will doubtless be blamed for summer slowly changing to winter. Lets face it, there is nothing climate change can’t do!
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