Phenology and climate

Within the last 20 years, it has been documented that human caused climate change occurs on all continents having major influences on ecosystems. Knowledge on how individuals respond to climate change is of high importance for understanding the effects of climate change on ecosystems. A common way of assessing how individuals respond to climate change is by studying changes in phenology (timing of life-history events).This is done by studying reaction norms. Reaction norms are functions showing trait values of a genotype over an environmental gradient. Phenological changes across a large number of organisms have been reported from a range of geographic locations around the world as a result of climatic changes. Studies on birds, mammals, insects and plants show how individuals can differ in trait response to environmental factors both within and among species. So far, only few studies have been investigating whether observed responses to climate change represent phenotypic plasticity or genetic changes