Welcome to the Anthropocene

In its 4.6 billion year history, the Earth has always been in a state of flux: various astronomical, geological, and biogeochemical forces have driven dramatic and almost unimaginable changes in the Earth’s environment. I would love to go back in time and see a completely alien Earth with lush tropical forests at the poles about 55 million years ago, or to somehow watch a time-lapse from the moon of huge ice sheets coming and going over the surface of the Earth over hundreds of thousands of years!

Since humans evolved some 200,000 years ago, and as our populations and enterprises have grown, we’ve been leaving more and more of a mark on this world. In fact, the sheer pace and magnitude of recent, human-induced environmental change is so dramatic that it overshadows natural forces we observe in the geological record. This has led scientists to propose a new epoch - that is, coin a new term for our time - the Anthropocene.

The human impact on the environment is not limited to global warming, but that's what grabs everyones attention. What is happening, and will happen in the future, to plants and animals during this time of rapid warming?

There are numerous ways in which species can potentially respond to environmental change. On long timescales, they can evolve. They can go extinct. They can move away, to a more suitable habitat. Or, they can show changes in their phenology.

Phenology is the study of the timing of seasonal plant and animal activity. The oldest phonological records date from AD 705 Japan, and are of the first cherry blossoming. Robert Marsham has been called the founding father of phenology. From 1789 he made meticulous records of, for example, the first frog and toad croaks, first snowdrops, and first turnip flower to appear. He kept these records up for decades, and successive generations of the Marsham family maintained the tradition. Nowadays anybody can submit their observations online. Modern technology is a blessing, letting us amass such large datasets.

Plenty of people have casually observed that spring is coming sooner. In fact, studies have shown that spring has been advancing by 2.3-5.2 days per decade for the last 30 years, and there is good evidence to show that this is caused by recent warming.

In this blog I'll be exploring current research in phenology. Plants and animals are inherently interesting, but the details of scientific papers can sometimes be a bit inaccessible to the layperson (and to students!!!). I hope to learn a lot, and I look forward to showing this blog to my friends and family. Until next time!