Calibrating the data logger…
Plants vary in their flowering time, ranging from early flowering species that mark the start of spring, to colourful blooms at the height of summer. But with recent climate change, we are seeing advances in the timing of these life history events or phenologies, particularly in temperate and alpine plant communities. The timing of phenological events within a growing season determine the environment a plant experiences, their access to pollinators, as well as the intensity of competition for resources. Despite its ecological importance, few studies have addressed the relationships between phenology and species growth strategies, but there has been considerable work associating other leaf and floral traits to such characteristics and environmental conditions. Without knowing the relationship of phenology in species overall trait profiles, it is difficult to predict the effects of phenological shifts on individual plants and their communities. In this study, we will test whether differences in the timing of phenological events of flowering plants follow similar trends in growth strategies as seen for other commonly measured leaf and floral traits. We predict that species with traits we associate with faster growth rates will favour earlier flowering, while species that exhibit slower growth strategies, but more tolerance for competition, will flower later in the growing season. This work will further our understanding of the role of phenology within broader trait syndromes and allow us to better predict the possible effects of continued phenological shifts on plant community dynamics.