Flowering is a critical stage in plant life cycles, and changes in phenology might alter processes at the species, community and ecosystem levels. Therefore, likely flowering-time responses to global-change drivers are needed for predictions of global-change impacts on natural and managed ecosystems. Predicting responses of species to global changes would be simplified if functional, phylogenetic or biogeographical traits contributed substantially to a species' response. Here we investigate the role of growth form (grass, graminoid, forb, subshrub), longevity (annual, perennial), origin (native, exotic) and flowering time in determining the impact of elevated [CO 2] (550 μmolmol-1) and infrared warming (mean warming of +2°C) on flowering times of 31 co-occurring species of a range of species-types in a temperate grassland in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Warming reduced time to first flowering by an average of 20.3 days in 2004, 2.1 days in 2005 and 7.6 days in 2007; however, the response varied among species and was unrelated to growth form, origin or longevity. Elevated [CO2] did not alter flowering times; neither was there any [CO2] by species-type interaction. However, both warming and elevated [CO2] tended to have a greater effect on later-flowering species, with time to first flowering of later-flowering species being reduced by both elevated [CO2] (P<0.001) and warming (P<0.001) to a greater extent than that of earlier-flowering species. These results have ramifications for our predictions of community and ecosystem interactions in native grasslands in response to global change. © CSIRO 2008.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Environmental Sciences
Research Group:	Ecological Applications
Research Field:	Ecological Impacts of Climate Change
Objective Division:	Environment
Objective Group:	Climate and Climate Change
Objective Field:	Climate Change Adaptation Measures
UTAS Author:	Hovenden, MJ (Associate Professor Mark Hovenden)
UTAS Author:	Williams, AL (Ms Amanda Williams)
UTAS Author:	Vander Schoor, JK (Mrs Jacqueline Vander Schoor)
UTAS Author:	Wills, KE (Dr Karen Wills)
ID Code:	54949
Year Published:	2008
Web of Science® Times Cited:	10
Deposited By:	Plant Science
Deposited On:	2009-03-03
Last Modified:	2009-05-16
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