The world is warming and many scientists are concerned that the earlier springtime flowering of many plants will disrupt the ‘normal interactions between the plants and their pollinators, be they bees, butterflies, bats.

Other subtle changes have been observed.  The flower ‘morning glory - Ipomoea is a weedy, vine-like plant in the States .  Between 2003 and 2012, the size of its flowers has increased (from a diameter of 4.5 cm to 4.8 cm).  The study also revealed that flowering occurred 4 days earlier and the flowers have increased their ‘floral rewards’.  That is they devote more resources in the production of pollen and nectar to attract the bees, flies and wasps that visit the flowers.  The changes were more noticeable in northern populations of the Morning Glory.

Extra Growing time ?

In the late nineteenth century, an Ohio farmer (Thomas Mikesell) kept detailed records on local trees*, noting their growth, daily temperatures, rainfall, dates of frosts, snows &  thunderstorms. With the death of Thomas Mikesell  [July 18, 1917], the world lost an dedicated student of nature and a remarkable phenological record came to an end. It forms the only detailed record of plant and tree growth in North America during the late C19th / early C20th. Since that time, significant global warming has occurred.

Now researchers at Ohio State University have compared  Mikesell’s observations with growth data of present day trees - from time of bud burst to peak (autumnal) leaf coloration (for seven tree species). They concluded that trees now experience a longer growing season.  Leaves stay on the trees for approximately one month longer than they did a hundred years ago.  Quite how this longer growing ‘season’ affects the trees is not known, there may be a positive through increased carbon assimilation.  On the other hand, higher temperatures may stress the trees in ways which are not yet understood.

*A Calendar Of The Leafing, Flowering And Seeding Of The Common Trees Of The Eastern United States.