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<h1><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:normal'>http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/WireStory?id=4481367&page=1<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'><a
href="http://abcnews.go.com"><span style='text-decoration:none'><img border=0
width=144 height=47 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01C889AB.2243C9E0"
alt="ABC News"></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h2><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:18.0pt'>Global
Warming Rushes Timing of Spring<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<h3 id=dek><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Spring
Keeps Coming Earlier for Birds, Bees, Trees, and Sneezes Because of Global
Warming<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<h4 id=byline><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>By SETH BORENSTEIN<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h4>
<h4 id=source><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The Associated Press<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h4>
<p><st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><strong><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>WASHINGTON</span></font></b></strong></st1:place></st1:State>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
capital's famous cherry trees are primed to burst out in a perfect pink peak
about the end of this month. Thirty years ago, the trees usually waited to
bloom till around April 5.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
central <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>,
the first of the field skipper sachem, a drab little butterfly, was fluttering
about on March 12. Just 25 years ago, that creature predictably emerged there
anywhere from mid-April to mid-May.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>And
sneezes are coming earlier in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:City>.
On March 9, when allergist Dr. Donald Dvorin set up his monitor, maple pollen
was already heavy in the air. Less than two decades ago, that pollen couldn't
be measured until late April.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Pollen is
bursting. Critters are stirring. Buds are swelling. Biologists are worrying.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"The
alarm clock that all the plants and animals are listening to is running too
fast," <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Stanford</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> biologist
Terry Root said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Blame
global warming.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
fingerprints of man-made climate change are evident in seasonal timing changes
for thousands of species on Earth, according to dozens of studies and last
year's authoritative report by the Nobel Prize-winning international climate
scientists. More than 30 scientists told The Associated Press how global
warming is affecting plants and animals at springtime across the country, in
nearly every state.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>What's
happening is so noticeable that scientists can track it from space. Satellites
measuring when land turns green found that spring "green-up" is
arriving eight hours earlier every year on average since 1982 north of the <st1:place
w:st="on">Mason-Dixon line</st1:place>. In much of <st1:State w:st="on">Florida</st1:State>
and southern <st1:State w:st="on">Texas</st1:State> and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Louisiana</st1:place></st1:State>, the satellites show spring coming
a tad later, and bizarrely, in a complicated way, global warming can explain
that too, the scientists said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Biological
timing is called phenology. Biological spring, which this year begins at 1:48
a.m. EDT Thursday, is based on the tilt of the Earth as it circles the sun. The
federal government and some university scientists are so alarmed by the changes
that last fall they created a National Phenology Network at the U.S. Geological
Survey to monitor these changes.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The idea,
said biologist and network director Jake Weltzin, is "to better understand
the changes, and more important what do they mean? How does it affect
humankind?"<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>There are
winners, losers and lots of unknowns when global warming messes with natural
timing. People may appreciate the smaller heating bills from shorter winters,
the longer growing season and maybe even better tasting wines from some early
grape harvests. But biologists also foresee big problems.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><!-- page --><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The changes could push some species to extinction. That's because
certain plants and animals are dependent on each other for food and shelter. If
the plants bloom or bear fruit before animals return or surface from
hibernation, the critters could starve. Also, plants that bud too early can
still be whacked by a late freeze.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The young
of tree swallows — which in upstate <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State> are laying eggs nine days earlier
than in the 1960s — often starve in those last gasp cold snaps because
insects stop flying in the cold, ornithologists said. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Maryland</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>
biology professor David Inouye noticed an unusually early February robin in his
neighborhood this year and noted, "Sometimes the early bird is the one
that's killed by the winter storm."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
checkerspot butterfly disappeared from Stanford's Jasper Ridge preserve because
shifts in rainfall patterns changed the timing of plants on which it develops.
When the plant dries out too early, the caterpillars die, said Notre Dame
biology professor Jessica Hellmann.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It's
an early warning sign in that it's an additional onslaught that a lot of our
threatened species can't handle," Hellmann said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>It's not
easy on some people either. A controlled federal field study shows that warmer
temperatures and increased carbon dioxide cause earlier, longer and stronger
allergy seasons.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"For
wind-pollinated plants, it's probably the strongest signal we have yet of
climate change," said <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Massachusetts</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>
professor of aerobiology Christine Rogers. "It's a huge health impact.
Seventeen percent of the American population is allergic to pollen."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>While
some plants and animals use the amount of sunlight to figure out when it is
spring, others base it on heat building in their tissues, much like a roasting
turkey with a pop-up thermometer. Around the world, those internal thermometers
are going to "pop" earlier than they once did.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This past
winter's weather could send a mixed message. Globally, it was the coolest
December through February since 2001 and a year of heavy snowfall. Despite
that, it was still warmer than average for the 20th century.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Phenology
data go back to the 14th century for harvest of wine grapes in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region>. There
is a change in the timing of fall, but the change is biggest in spring. In the
1980s there was a sudden, big leap forward in spring blooming, scientists
noticed. And spring keeps coming earlier at an accelerating rate.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><!-- page --><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Unlike sea ice in the <st1:place w:st="on">Arctic</st1:place>, the way
climate change is tinkering with the natural timing of day-to-day life is
concrete and local. People can experience it with all five senses:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>—
You can see the trees and bushes blooming earlier. A photo of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Lowell</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Cemetery</st1:PlaceType>,
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Lowell</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Mass.</st1:State></st1:place>, taken May 30, 1868, shows bare limbs.
But the same scene photographed May 30, 2005, by <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Boston</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
biology professor Richard Primack shows them in full spring greenery.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>—
You can smell the lilacs and honeysuckle. In the West they are coming out two
to four days earlier each decade over more than half a century, according to a
2001 study.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>—
You can hear it in the birds. Scientists in Gothic, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Colo.</st1:place></st1:State>, have watched the first robin of
spring arrive earlier each year in that mountain ghost town, marching forward
from April 9 in 1981 to March 14 last year. This year, heavy snows may keep the
birds away until April.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>—
You can feel it in your nose from increased allergies. Spring airborne pollen
is being released about 20 hours earlier every year, according to a Swiss study
that looked at common allergies since 1979.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>—
You can even taste it in the honey. Bees, which sample many plants, are
producing their peak amount of honey weeks earlier. The nectar is coming from
different plants now, which means noticeably different honey — at least
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Highland</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Md.</st1:State></st1:place>, where Wayne Esaias has been monitoring
honey production since 1992. Instead of the rich, red, earthy tulip poplar
honey that used to be prevalent, bees are producing lighter, fruitier black
locust honey. Esaias, a NASA oceanographer as well as beekeeper, says global
warming is a factor.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State>, seven of the
last 20 Cherry Blossom Festivals have started after peak bloom. This year will
be close, the National Park Service predicts. Last year, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Knoxville</st1:place></st1:City>'s dogwood blooms came and went
before the city's dogwood festival started. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Boston</st1:place></st1:City>'s Arnold Arboretum permanently
rescheduled Lilac Sunday to a May date eight days earlier than it once was.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Even
western wildfires have a timing connection to global warming and are coming
earlier. An early spring generally means the plants that fuel fires are drier,
producing nastier fire seasons, said <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Arizona</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> geology
professor Steve Yool. It's such a good correlation that Weltzin, the phenology
network director, is talking about using real-time lilac data to predict
upcoming fire seasons. Lilacs, which are found in most parts of the country,
offer some of the broadest climate overview data going back to the 1950s.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><!-- page --><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>This year, though, it's the early red maple that's creating buzz, as
well as sniffles. A <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Jersey</st1:place></st1:State>
conservationist posted an urgent message on a biology listserv on Feb. 1 about
the early blooming. A 2001 study found that since 1970, that tree is blossoming
on average at least 19 days earlier in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Such
changes have "implications for the animals that are dependent on this
plant," Weltzin said, as he stood beneath a blooming red maple in late
February. By the time the animals arrive, "the flowers may already be done
for the year." The animals may have to find a new food source.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It's
all a part of life," Weltzin said. "Timing is everything."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>———<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>On the
Net:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>National
Phenology Network: <a href="http://www.usanpn.org/">http://www.usanpn.org/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>IPCC
report on phenological changes:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-chapter1.pdf">http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-chapter1.pdf</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>National
Park Service on cherry blossoms:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.nps.gov/nama/planyourvisit/cherry-blossom-bloom.htm">http://www.nps.gov/nama/planyourvisit/cherry-blossom-bloom.htm</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:PlaceType w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>University</span></font></st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName> at <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Davis</st1:place></st1:City>
butterfly changes:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/education/stat2/data">http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/education/stat2/data</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee lilac data: <a
href="http://www.uwm.edu/mds/gcb_2006.html">http://www.uwm.edu/mds/gcb—2006.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Copyright
2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Copyright
© 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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