Frogs Now Spawn In The UK In October, Bumblebees Arrive In January

[hatrack]

"Climate change is playing havoc with the timing of the seasons and could drastically alter the landscape, according to one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind.

Frogs have begun spawning in Britain as early as October, oaks are coming into leaf three weeks earlier than they were 50 years ago and there were an unprecedented 4,000 sightings of bumblebees by the end of January this year. Scientists, who also noted that people were mowing their lawns earlier, have concluded that spring now arrives ahead of schedule.

The findings were submitted to scientists at the UK Phenology Network by hundreds of paid observers across the country and have been combined with environmental data over three centuries. The study is bound to intensify calls for tighter controls on environmental pollution linked to climate change. The report, published yesterday in the BBC Wildlife Magazine, provides startling evidence of how nature is reacting to rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns. Authors of the report have calculated that spring starts around six days earlier for every 1C temperature rise but not all species are affected in the same way. For example for every 1C temperature rise, oak trees come into leaf 10 days earlier compared to four days earlier for the ash, its main competitor for space.

In an example of the ecological balance being upset, these changes also affect caterpillars, which are developing earlier to meet the need to feed on the trees' young leaves. This may also have an effect on the migratory patterns of birds that feed on the insects, which can more readily adapt to climate change. "The findings suggest that there won't be a smooth progression towards a warmer climate, with all species advancing in unison, but rather that different responses may disrupt the complex linkages in nature," said Tim Sparks, one of the report's authors."

EDIT

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=629530

[BearClaws]

1. Normal?

Weather patterns aren't static, they have been changing since the beginning of time.
Look at the Dust Bowl.
Look at the Ice Age...
Certainly man is to blame for a great many of the Earth's problems, but as far as climate changes go, I'm a little skeptical.