Week of December 18th, 2021
As climate change progresses, we expect to see more strange circumstances such as this buttercup (Ranunculus spp.) flowering in the "wrong" season. The timing of flowering is controlled by genetic and environmental controls; such as soil moisture, day length, and temperature. Apparently, environmental conditions on December 14th were appropriate for this buttercup to flower. This species typically flowers in early March. The insects that act as pollinators for this species are likely not present at this time of year (I haven't seen any bugs for a few months).
This system shows the potential for uncoupling of the phenology of symbionts. Phenology is the fancy science word for the timing of cyclic or seasonality of life events, such as flowering time, egg emergence, migrations, and the like. Symbionts, such as flowering plants and their pollinators, might have different phenological signals. As climate change progresses, conditions like temperature and soil moisture are likely to change, but other signals, such as daylength, will not change. Depending on how dependent the symbionts are to each other, uncoupled phenology has the potential to be highly detrimental to the continuation of one or both species.
Photo credit: Julia Hull
Location: Near Flagstaff, AZ, USA