Data from: Phenological plasticity enables thermal homeostasis in a wild bird population

Shifts in the timing of seasonal events are widely documented biological
responses to climate change, but measuring responses on human calendars
reveals little about the underlying biological causes of such changes.
Here, using six decades of individual-based data from wild great tits
Parus major, we show that plasticity in reproductive phenology has enabled
stable long-term thermal homeostasis despite marked local warming. This
homeostasis has matched the average temperatures at which reproductive
success is maximised, thereby synchronising with a key invertebrate food
source. Shifting our perspective from analysing the phenological timing of
life history events to analysing changes relative to environmental
gradients has the potential to shed new light on the causes, mechanisms,
and consequences of these shifts by establishing direct links with
biologically relevant variables.

季节事件的时间偏移是学界广泛记录的生物响应气候变化的表现，但以人类历法为基准衡量此类响应，却难以揭示这类变化背后的深层生物学成因。本研究依托六十年间针对野生大山雀（Parus major）的个体水平监测数据，研究结果表明：尽管局地气候显著变暖，繁殖物候的可塑性仍使种群得以维持长期稳定的热稳态。该热稳态恰好匹配了繁殖成功率达到峰值时的平均环境温度，由此与一类关键无脊椎动物食物资源的发生时间形成精准同步。将研究视角从分析生活史事件的物候时间，转向分析相对于环境梯度的变化量，可通过建立与生物学相关变量的直接关联，为这类物候偏移的成因、机制与后果提供全新的解析视角。