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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| For Some Arctic Plants, Spring Arrives Almost a Month Earlier | For Some Arctic Plants, Spring Arrives Almost a Month Earlier |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Every spring, Arctic plants rely on direct and indirect cues from the environment — like warmer weather, longer days and shrinking sea ice cover — to tell them when they should awaken from winter’s slumber. But as the climate warms, these plants are getting mixed signals about when to rouse. | Every spring, Arctic plants rely on direct and indirect cues from the environment — like warmer weather, longer days and shrinking sea ice cover — to tell them when they should awaken from winter’s slumber. But as the climate warms, these plants are getting mixed signals about when to rouse. |
| In a new paper published in Biology Letters, researchers detail findings from a 12-year study of when plant species in the low Arctic region of Greenland first green up in the spring. Timing varied from plant to plant, but one speedy sedge species — a flowering, grasslike herb — stirred a full 26 days earlier than it did a decade ago. | In a new paper published in Biology Letters, researchers detail findings from a 12-year study of when plant species in the low Arctic region of Greenland first green up in the spring. Timing varied from plant to plant, but one speedy sedge species — a flowering, grasslike herb — stirred a full 26 days earlier than it did a decade ago. |
| The change corresponds to nearly an entire growing season, and breaks the record for the greatest shift in spring emergence that the scientists have observed in the Arctic. | The change corresponds to nearly an entire growing season, and breaks the record for the greatest shift in spring emergence that the scientists have observed in the Arctic. |
| Changes in growing seasons were associated with diminishing sea ice cover, which serves as a reminder that this loss may “have widespread effects on life on land,” said Jeffrey Kerby, an environmental studies researcher at Dartmouth College and an author of the study. | Changes in growing seasons were associated with diminishing sea ice cover, which serves as a reminder that this loss may “have widespread effects on life on land,” said Jeffrey Kerby, an environmental studies researcher at Dartmouth College and an author of the study. |
| Shifting patterns of plant growth may affect the availability of nutritious food for herbivores, for example. Dr. Kerby and his colleagues found in 2013 that more caribou calves died early in years when spring plant growth preceded the animal’s calving season. | |
| Over all, the difference between early bloomers and late bloomers widened, with longer periods of no plants blooming at all, the researchers found in the new study. According to Eric Post, an ecology professor at the University of California, Davis and the paper’s lead author, transformations in the Arctic are happening so rapidly that they are discernible to researchers who have studied its ecology for decades. | Over all, the difference between early bloomers and late bloomers widened, with longer periods of no plants blooming at all, the researchers found in the new study. According to Eric Post, an ecology professor at the University of California, Davis and the paper’s lead author, transformations in the Arctic are happening so rapidly that they are discernible to researchers who have studied its ecology for decades. |
| “As a climate scientist who studies the start of spring, I struggle to answer the question, ‘What is spring?’” said Heidi Steltzer, a professor at Fort Lewis College and author of the paper. | “As a climate scientist who studies the start of spring, I struggle to answer the question, ‘What is spring?’” said Heidi Steltzer, a professor at Fort Lewis College and author of the paper. |
| “A longer spring opens up the potential for gaps — points in time when it would be spring with no springlike events occurring. Would this still be spring?” | “A longer spring opens up the potential for gaps — points in time when it would be spring with no springlike events occurring. Would this still be spring?” |