𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 For short-lived spring wildflowers such as wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia) and Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), timing is everything. These fleeting plants, known as ephemerals, grow in temperate forests around the world, leafing out and flowering early in spring before the trees towering above them leaf out. Emerge too early, and it will still be winter; emerge too late, and it will be too shady under the forest canopy for essential photosynthesis to happen. Over their evolutionary history, these plants have figured out the best timing for their survival. But climate change is altering spring growing conditions, and plant life is changing along with it. There are many examples of plants shifting flowering time in response to warming temperatures, such as cherry blossoms opening earlier and earlier each year. However, when one part of an ecosystem shifts, will all the organisms that depend on it successfully shift too? Or will they be out of luck? And what if interconnected species respond to change at different rates, leading to disruptions in long-standing ecological relationships? Read more; https://phys.org/news/2023-03-climate-threatens-wildflowers-trees-leaf.html