Yeah, but does the theory come before or after the data is collected? I suspect that, in many cases, the theory is proposed after the fact.
The paper was an analysis of many different types of phenological studies. If you had read it -- I suggested that was something you could try -- you probably could have answered your question. Essentially, the paper says: "Observations indicate a warming climate in most parts of the world. Observations indicate that organisms are recently exhibiting changing behavioral and distributional patterns. Most of the observations of the organisms indicate that the changes the expected adaptations to a warming regime. There are very few observations that don't show such an expected response."