Calibrating the data logger…
As snowmelt timing continues to shift earlier due to climate change, many studies have focused on population level effects of earlier snowmelt on plant flowering phenology, but there are other aspects of phenology, and phenology also varies within a population. Another important aspect of phenology is leaf emergence, which is the process of a plant putting up new leaves at the beginning of the growing season. In high altitude environments, snowmelt is the primary cue for plants to begin this process. This study will focus on whether individual variation in leaf emergence phenology has an effect on plant fitness, and if that relationship changes in the presence of early snowmelt. I used historical data (2023-2026) from an ongoing experiment conducted by Drs. Amy Iler and Dylan Simpson on Delphinium nuttallianum, Geum triflorum, Delphinium barbeyi and Linum lewisii to compare leaf up date to a series of demographic measurements between control plots and experimental plots treated to advance snowmelt. Leaf up date, size, reproductive traits (attempt to flower and fruit set), growth and survival were recorded each year. This data was used to see if there is an ideal time for plants to emerge within a population and if that time changes in early snowmelt conditions. Species varied in their leaf up timing and treatment tended to delay leaf up timing. Leafout timing affected at least one vital rate in all four species. Delphinium nuttallianum was the only species to experience significant effects of leaf emergence timing on all four vital rates: growth, survival, probability of flowering and probability of fruiting. Later emergence increased the probability of fruiting in all species and growth in D. nuttallianum, while earlier emergence increased the probability of survival and flowering in D. nuttallianum. Of the eight instances where leaf up timing affected vital rate success, treatment altered the effect that leaf up timing had on success in five instances.
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