Spring apparently arriving sooner
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Shorebirds are laying their eggs 10 days early. Heather is flowering three weeks sooner. And the emergence of gnats has advanced by a month in the Arctic -- all in response to warmer climate, Danish researchers reported Monday in the journal Current Biology.
A study of three bird species, six plants and 12 varieties of invertebrates such as flies and spiders shows that from 1996 to 2005 they adopted springtime behavior 14 1/2 days earlier on average, and some did so by as much as 30 days. Previous studies in more southerly parts of Europe that show spring advancing an average of 5.1 days for plants and animals.