| Objectives: Recent climate warming has been shown to advance the seasonal timing of life cycle events, such as budding of trees and egg laying by birds. Species-specific differences in these changes in phenology may result in a decoupling of trophic relationships in food webs and subsequent cascading effects on community structure. For the timing of life cycle events, such as emergence, moulting and sexual reproduction, each species requires specific cues, which are used as proxies for the suitability of the environment for their reproduction and growth. Climate warming may change the validity of the proxies different species use. The fundamental questions underlying our proposed research are threefold: 1) What proxies do different species use to estimate the suitability of environmental conditions for successful reproduction and growth? 2) Could projected climate warming invalidate the use of these proxies and lead to a decoupling of trophic interactions? 3) Can adaptation to projected climate warming, maintain or restore trophic interactions? |
