Large-scale climate variability and its effects on mean temperature and flowering time of Prunus and Betula in Denmark

Summary

Large-scale climate variability largely affects average climatic conditions and therefore is likely to influence the phenology of plants. In NW-Europe, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) particularly influences winter climate and, through climate interactions on plants, flowering time of all tree species. In Denmark, like in many other NW-European countries, flowering of most tree species has become earlier since the end of the 1980’s. To quantify a possible relation between NAO and flowering time of tree species, two sources of phenological information from the Copenhagen area (Denmark) were analysed, i.e. pollen counts of the genus Betula and observed first bloom dates of Prunus avium. The Winter NAO explained 29 and 37% of the variation of monthly mean temperature for February and March, respectively. The influence of temperature on flowering time was up to 56% to 60% for the February–April mean. A direct correlation of Winter NAO-index and flowering time also revealed a clear relation but the time of influence was earlier (December to February). This was shown to be the likely result of a combination of direct and time-lagged effects of the NAO on air and sea surface temperature. The NAO signal is apparently stored in the North Sea and then influences temperature east up to the Baltic States. It is shown that Denmark is right in the centre of direct and time-lagged effects of the NAO. This offers the possibility of using the NAO-index for predicting flowering time of Prunus avium. The beginning of pollen flow appears to be influenced too much by short-term perturbations of the climate system decreasing the value of the NAO-index for prediction. However, it indicates a close relationship between natural climate variability, measured by the NAO index, and flowering time of tree species for Denmark.