ethics
Global Environmental
+
policy
Change Affects the Timing of
Plant Growth and Flowering
The Jasper Ridge
Global Change Experiment
by Nancy Falxa-Raymond
I
n a study published in the September 12, 2006 issue of
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
lead author Elsa Cleland and investigators from the
Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology and
Stanford’s Department of Biological Sciences found that
global environmental change may alter the timing of plant
growth and flowering. Their study was conducted in the
Jasper Ridge Global Change Experiment (JRGCE)—a site
designed to simulate environmental conditions predicted to
exist one hundred years from now. Their results show that
global environmental change could disrupt the progression
of plant flowering, shaping the patterns in which limited
resources are used in primary production—the production
of organic compounds by organisms at the base of the food
chain.
The Jasper Ridge Global Change Experiment
One of the longest running experiments of its kind, the
JRGCE began in 1998 and analyzes four different variables
of environmental change: doubling of atmospheric carbon
dioxide, a temperature increase of 2 degrees Fahrenheit,
a 50% increase in precipitation, and increased nitrogen
deposition. Each of these four experimental treatments
are applied to grassland plots singly and in all possible
combinations. The experiment includes control plots, and
each treatment is replicated eight times.
An important feature of the JRGCE is its natural
community setting. Dr. Christopher Field, director of the
Department of Global Ecology, notes that “it is difficult
to do realistic experiments in artificial settings.” Many
experiments that try to mimic global environmental change
use communities created for the experiment, not ones that
64 stanford scientific
Photos Credit: Don Mason (top) and Nona Chiariello (bottom)
TOP: Chiariello explains, “One of the things that’s hard in any research like this is
to look at species level response versus ecosystem response. In between these
two levels are groups of similar species, and we can look at grasses as a group,
forbs (wildflowers) as a group. At this level we can look for patterns.”
BOTTOM: Nona Chiariello measures spectral reflectance to detect the greenness
of the plants and determine primary productivity.
already exist. The natural community of Jasper Ridge is
ideal for the Global Change Experiment because the plants
are small enough to be measured and have annual life cycles
that allow research to span many generations. To test plant
growth timing changes, the scientists monitored the timing
of both flowering and primary productivity, estimated by
canopy greenness.
Timing is Everything
The study of seasonal life cycle timing events in
plants and animals, phenology, is one dimension of the
influence of climate change on plant growth. Phenological
complementarity (when plants of different species grow,
flower, or mature at different times) promotes coexistence in
multispecies plant communities. It is one of the mechanisms
that determines critical ecosystem processes, such as
nutrient capture and primary production. In Mediterranean-
type ecosystems like those at Jasper Ridge, the majority of
plant growth occurs in a short growing season, so even small
shifts in phenology can disrupt the complementarity among
species.

According to the studies, where global warming is
strongest, the increase in temperature has a dominant
effect on phenology, accelerating it and thus causing earlier
flowering of grasses and wildflowers. However, where there is
less warming, elevated carbon dioxide is the dominant factor
affecting phenology. Increased carbon dioxide concentration
and nitrogen deposition causes the flowering of grasses
Photo Credit: Nona Chiariello
Above: Researchers monitor plots as part of the Jasper Ridge Global
Change Experiment (JRGCE).
Photo Credit: Jasper Ridge
Above: Within its 1,189 acres, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve provides
a natural laboratory for researchers from all over the world.
Photo Credit: Nona Chiariello
Above: Dr. Elsa Cleland surveys the plants as part of the phenology
experiment.
layout design: Stephanie Le
ethics
and wildflowers to converge significantly. For +
example, grasses normally flower earlier in the policy
growing season than wildflowers. With increased
carbon dioxide and nitrogen, flowering of grasses is
delayed, and flowering in wildflowers is accelerated, reducing
phenological complementarity.
Through the reduction in phenological complementarity,
the overall productivity of the ecosystem could be reduced
by altering the timing of flowering necessary to coincide
with the needs of some species. Additionally, reduction in
phenological complementarity could increase competition
between the species, possibly reducing productivity and
biodiversity because some species would outcompete
others.
In Mediterranean-type ecosystems
like those at Jasper Ridge, the
majority of plant growth occurs in a
short growing season, so even small
shifts in phenology can disrupt the
complementarity among species.
Dr. Nona Chiariello, research coordinator at Jasper
Ridge, points out that the plants used in the study are not
important globally and the results are not directly applicable
to other areas. She does assert, however, that “using the
Jasper Ridge results as a starting point, we can look for the
same mechanisms elsewhere and determine whether they
are functionally the same.”
The Future of Plant Phenology
Although the detailed measurements of each species are
no longer being recorded, the ecologists at the JRGCE are
still measuring primary productivity and how it changes
over time, both throughout the growing season and over
the years. Future research aims to determine whether the
phenologically-altered ecosystems could become susceptible
to changes such as invasive species replacing native
populations that could not survive the changes.
Research at the JRGCE is providing scientists with
valuable information about how the earth will change in the
decades to come. Once the data has been collected, says Field,
“People from a wide variety of perspectives can assess the
information.” Then decisions can be made to preemptively
address environmental concerns that humans may face in
the near future. S
NANCY FALXA-RAYMOND is a senior majoring in History, with a minor
in Biology. She enjoys spending time with trees and watching the
New York Metropolitans.
To Learn More
Visit the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve website:
http://jrbp.stanford.edu/
volume v 65