Abstract
The first flowering dates of 26 Narcissus cultivars were recorded over a 27-year period on the island of Guernsey, within the English Channel. We analysed flowering trends over time and relationships with climate variables. The study revealed that earlier flowering cultivars advanced most and were more variable than later flowering Narcissus. We furthermore discovered a strong relationship between flowering and climate variables, with temperature appearing to be the main driver. Whilst the first flowering date averaged over all cultivars did show a significant advance, this was significant for only one of the individual cultivars. This is likely because temperatures from December to March had not significantly increased in Guernsey during the study period (1985 to 2011).
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Acknowledgments
We regret to report that Nigel Jee died in September 2013. Only his commitment to recording over 27 years made this manuscript possible. We thank Tim Lillington and the Meteorological Observatory of Guernsey Airport for Guernsey’s met records. With the support of the Technische Universität München-Institute for Advanced Study, funded by the German Excellence Initiative.
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Nigel Jee (Deceased) formerly of Castel, Guernsey GY5 7JP.
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Bock, A., Sparks, T.H., Estrella, N. et al. Climate sensitivity and variation in first flowering of 26 Narcissus cultivars. Int J Biometeorol 59, 477–480 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-014-0885-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-014-0885-6