Phenological Reactions of Perennial Plants to Climate Change in Western Siberia

Abstract

The results of a phenology study of 78 species of perennial plants over a 20-year period (1996–2015) in the Western Siberia forest steppe are discussed. Against the background of the detected meteorological trends of the warm season in Novosibirsk, the timing shift in phenological events of individual species and their ecological groups have been analyzed using linear trends. It is found that the start of vegetation in the vast majority of perennials was delayed (+3 to +7 days), and the terms of vegetation end changed differently (within –4 to +1 days), while the duration of vegetation decreased in all groups. The duration of the prefloral period significantly decreased (–6 to –9 days) due to the later vegetation start and an earlier start of flowering (–1 to –2 days). Fruiting trends are different in direction and magnitude. The rate of seasonal development of the species generally accelerated over the observation period. The trends describe 6–32% of phenological changes in ecological groups.