New York Wildlife

It’s currently 54 degrees where I am. The record high for December 28th was set in 1973, at 59 degrees, and I think we might break that.  Every time something like this happens I always hear people speculating as to whether this will “confuse” the trees, causing them to leaf out only to freeze when temperatures return to normal.

The reason we don’t see this happen very often is that many plants rely on day-length cues to decide when it is “spring” or “fall”. Unlike temperature this stays consistent throughout the year.  More specifically it’s been found to be the length of uninterrupted darkness rather that the length of daylight.

So could a late night construction project in the middle of winter “trick” trees in the surrounding area to put out leaves?  If global warming causes it to be warmer earlier, but daylight stays the same will animals that depend on the plants come out of hibernation/torpor before the plants they depend on can provide them with food?  The implications of this are interesting to think about.  I don’t have the answers. (but if you want to fund my research on the matter I’d definitely be willing to pursue the answers. :-))

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