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Snow in Wilmington
This photo was taken on March 12th 2017 next to Fisher University Union on UNCW's campus. This image essentially captures the crazy weather that Wilmington and surrounding areas have been experiencing. Warm weather seemed to come early this year, with 80 degree weather as early as late January. The early onset of warm weather initiated the bloom of many species of plants, including the flower pictured above (Hyacinthus orientalis). However, winter was not quite ready to leave and an unexpected snowy storm hit the area in the middle of march. This event had dire consequences for both the flora and fauna that inhabit the Wilmington area.
Climate change, specifically global warming is thought to be the culprit behind earlier and earlier plant blooming in recent years. The onset of warm weather sooner in the year triggers the response within plants to start budding and growing. However, this could cause problems if the patterns continue because plants may reach a tolerance point where they can no longer adapt to changes in temperature, or they may bloom constantly, through increasingly milder winters. Plants also have an upper temperature tolerance which may be affected by increasing temperatures. Plants may adapt to blooming earlier, but the duration of their growth may be stunted by extreme temperatures.
Another threat associated with early blooming is that there is no guarantee of no more frosts or winter storms, which is exactly what happened in Wilmington. These sudden onsets of cold can dramatically harm plants and even stunt their growth or kill them. This in turn would impact all other sorts of things in the environment including animals that depend on the plants as a source of nutrients as well as impacting the carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles.
For more information visit:
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/01/130116-spring-ea...
Snow in Wilmington
This photo was taken on March 12th 2017 next to Fisher University Union on UNCW's campus. This image essentially captures the crazy weather that Wilmington and surrounding areas have been experiencing. Warm weather seemed to come early this year, with 80 degree weather as early as late January. The early onset of warm weather initiated the bloom of many species of plants, including the flower pictured above (Hyacinthus orientalis). However, winter was not quite ready to leave and an unexpected snowy storm hit the area in the middle of march. This event had dire consequences for both the flora and fauna that inhabit the Wilmington area.
Climate change, specifically global warming is thought to be the culprit behind earlier and earlier plant blooming in recent years. The onset of warm weather sooner in the year triggers the response within plants to start budding and growing. However, this could cause problems if the patterns continue because plants may reach a tolerance point where they can no longer adapt to changes in temperature, or they may bloom constantly, through increasingly milder winters. Plants also have an upper temperature tolerance which may be affected by increasing temperatures. Plants may adapt to blooming earlier, but the duration of their growth may be stunted by extreme temperatures.
Another threat associated with early blooming is that there is no guarantee of no more frosts or winter storms, which is exactly what happened in Wilmington. These sudden onsets of cold can dramatically harm plants and even stunt their growth or kill them. This in turn would impact all other sorts of things in the environment including animals that depend on the plants as a source of nutrients as well as impacting the carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles.
For more information visit:
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/01/130116-spring-ea...