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Show TV'V.f.., k'.h?J DAILY H(A 10 A MriON&WORLD Spring coming earlier for birds, bees, trees and sneezes Seth Borenstein THE ASSOCIATES Sw iss study that looked at common allergies since 1979. . I 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 at least in different honey Highland, Md., 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 as well as beekeeper, says global warming is a factor. Even western wildfires have a timing connection to global warming and are coming earlier. An early spring generally Richard Primack & Abraham means the plants that fuel fires The Lowell Cemetery in Lowe!, Mass., on May 30, 2005. are drier, producing nastier fire seasons, said University of Arizona geology professor Steve Yool. It's such a good population is allergic to pollen." and local. People can expericorrelation that Weltzin, the While some plants and ence it with all five senses: . animals use the amount of I You can see the trees and phenology network director, e is talking about using bushes blooming earlier. A sunlight to figure out when it is spring, others base it on heat photo of Lowell Cemetery, in lilac data to predict upcomLowell, Mass., taken May 30, ing fire seasons. Lilacs, which building in their tissues, much like a roasting turkey with a 1868, shows bare limbs. But the are found in most parts of the same scene photographed May country, offer some of the pop-u- p thermometer, Around the world, those internal therbroadest climate overview 30, 2005, by Boston University mometers are going to "pop" data going back to the 1950s. biology professor Richard Priearlier than they once did. This year, though, it's the mack shows them in full spring This past winter's weather greenery. early red maple that's creatcould send a mixed message. I You can smell the lilacs ing buzz, as well as sniffles. and honeysuckle. In the West A New Jersey conservationist Globally, it was the coolest December through February posted an urgent message on a they are coming out two to since 2001 and a year of heavy four days earlier each decade biology listserv on Feb. 1 about snowfall. Despite that, it was over more than half a century, the early blooming. A 2001 still warmer than average for study found that since 1970, according to a 2001 study. that tree is blossoming on averI You can hear it in the the 20th century. birds. Scientists in Gothic, Phenology data go back to age at least 19 days earlier in the 14th century for harvest of Colo., have watched the first Washington, D.C. robin of spring arrive earlier wine grapes in France. There Such changes have "implicais a change in the timing of fall, tions for the animals that are each year in that mountain but the change is biggest in ghost town, marching forward dependent on this plant," Weltzin said, as he stood beneath from April 9 in 1981 to March spring. In the 1980s there was 14 last year. This year, heavy a blooming red maple in late a sudden, big leap forward in snows may keep the birds February. By the time the anispring blooming, scientists noticed. And spring keeps coming away until April. mals arrive, "the flowers may earlier at an accelerating rate. I You can feel it in your already be done for the year." nose from increased allergies. The animals may have to find a Unlike sea ice in the Arctic, new food source. the way climate change is tinSpring airborne pollen is bethe natural with "It's all a part of life," Weltzin kering timing ing released about 20 hours life is concrete of said. "Timing is everything." earlier every year, according to a CRSS WASHINGTON 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. In central California, the first of the field skipper sachem, a drab little butterfly, was fluttering about on March 12. Just 25 years ago, that crea- 1 , T V ture predictably emerged there to anywhere from H M mid-Apr- il --J O mid-Ma- s : :;V, v- ' ocean-ograph- And sneezes are coming earlier in Philadelphia. 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. Pollen is bursting. Critters are stirring. Buds are swelling. Biologists are worrying. "The alarm clock that all the plants and animals are listening to is running too fast," Stanford University biologist Terry Root said. Blame global warming. e The fingerprints of 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 g 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. What's happening is so noticeable that scientists can track man-mad- Prize-winnin- 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 Mason-Dixo- n line. In much of Florida and southern Texas and Louisiana, the satellites show spring coming a tad later, and bizarrely, in a complicated way, global warming can explain that too, the scientists said. Biological timing is called it American journal of Botany The Lowell Cemetery in Lowell, Mass., on 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. The idea, said biologist and network director Jake Welt-ziis "to better understand the changes, and more important what do they mean? How does it affect humankind?" 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 surf ace from hibernation, the critters could starve. Also, plants that bud too early can still be whacked by a late freeze. The young of tree swallows which in upstate New York 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. University of Maryland n, May 30, 1868. biology professor David 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." 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. "It's an early warning sign that it's an additional onslaught that a lot of our threatened species can't handle," in Hellmann said. 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. "For plants, it's probably the strongest signal we have yet of climate change," said University of Massachusetts professor of aerobiology Christine Rogers. "It's a huge health impact. Seventeen percent of the American wind-pollinat- real-tim- 7 Computer fP - - " (1,1 PI ; taw rv3irii5i I CZ- - mm amm Let us take care of your PC for you! Remote SOS 1 Mstar's new service lets you enjoy the benefits of being online without having to continually worry about virus and spyware removal, backups and overall A PC performance. 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