Not to be confused with Phrenology, Phonology, or Phenomenology.
Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation).[1]
Examples include the date of emergence of leaves and flowers, the first flight of butterflies, the first appearance of migratory birds, the date of leaf colouring and fall in deciduous trees, the dates of egg-laying of birds and amphibia, or the timing of the developmental cycles of temperate-zone honey bee colonies. In the scientific literature on ecology, the term is used more generally to indicate the time frame for any seasonal biological phenomena, including the dates of last appearance (e.g., the seasonal phenology of a species may be from April through September).
Because many such phenomena are very sensitive to small variations in climate, especially to temperature, phenological records can be a useful proxy for temperature in historical climatology, especially in the study of climate change and global warming. For example, viticultural records of grape harvests in Europe have been used to reconstruct a record of summer growing season temperatures going back more than 500 years.[2][3]
In addition to providing a longer historical baseline than instrumental measurements, phenological observations provide high temporal resolution of ongoing changes related to global warming.[4][5]
^"Phenology". Merriam-Webster. 2020.
^
Meier, Nicole (2007). "Grape Harvest Records as a Proxy for Swiss April to August Temperature Reconstructions" (PDF). Diplomarbeit der Philosophisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Bern (Thesis of Philosophy and Science Faculty of the University of Bern). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2007-12-25. Phenological grape harvest observations in Switzerland over the last 500 years have been used as a proxy indicator for reconstructing past temperature variability.
^Meier, N.; Rutishauser, T.; Luterbacher, J.; Pfister, C.; Wanner, H. (2007). "Grape Harvest Dates as a proxy for Swiss April to August Temperature Reconstructions back to AD 1480". Geophysical Research Letters. 34 (20): L20705. Bibcode:2007GeoRL..3420705M. doi:10.1029/2007GL031381. S2CID 53598463. Phenological grape harvest observations in Switzerland over the last 500 years have been used as a proxy indicator for reconstructing past temperature variability.
^Menzel, A.; Sparks, T.H.; Estrella, N.; Koch, E.; Aasa, A.; Ahas, R.; Alm-kübler, K.; Bissolli, P.; Braslavská, O.; Briede, A.; et al. (2006). "European phenological response to climate change matches the warming pattern". Global Change Biology. 12 (10): 1969–1976. Bibcode:2006GCBio..12.1969M. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.167.960. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01193.x. S2CID 84406339. One of the preferred indicators is phenology, the science of natural recurring events, as their recorded dates provide a high-temporal resolution of ongoing changes.
^Schwartz, M. D.; Ahas, R.; Aasa, A. (2006). "Onset of spring starting earlier across the Northern Hemisphere". Global Change Biology. 12 (2): 343–351. Bibcode:2006GCBio..12..343S. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2005.01097.x. S2CID 86329402. SI first leaf dates, measuring change in the start of 'early spring' (roughly the time of shrub budburst and lawn first greening), are getting earlier in nearly all parts of the Northern Hemisphere. The average rate of change over the 1955–2002 period is approximately -1.2 days per decade.
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