Phenological responses to climate change based on a hundred years of herbarium collections of tropical Melastomataceae.

ABSTRACT: Changes in phenological events have been vastly documented in face of recent global climate change. These studies are concentrated on temperate plants, and the responses of tropical species are still little understood, likely due to the lack of long-term phenological records in the tropics. In this case, the use of herbarium specimens to gather phenological data over long periods and wide geographic areas has emerged as a powerful tool. Here, we used four Melastomataceae species endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest to evaluate phenological patterns and alterations as responses to recent climate changes. Phenological data were gathered from Reflora Virtual Herbarium specimens collected between 1920 and 2018, and analyzed with circular statistics applied to the intervals 1920-1979, 1980-

SUBMITTER: Lima DF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8104365 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature