Data from: Climate warming: a loss of variation in populations can accompany reproductive shifts

The most documented response of organisms to climate warming is a change in the average timing of seasonal activities (phenology). Although we know that these average changes can differ among species and populations, we do not know whether climate warming impacts within-population variation in phenology. Using data from five study sites collected during a 13-year survey, we found that the increase in spring temperatures is associated with a reproductive advance of 10 days in natural populations of common lizards (Zootoca vivipara). Interestingly, we show a correlated loss of variation in reproductive dates within populations. As illustrated by a model, this shortening of the reproductive period can have significant negative effects on population dynamics. Consequently, we encourage tests in other species to assess the generality of decreased variation in phenological responses to climate change.

生物体对气候变暖最具详实记录的响应，是其季节性活动平均时间的改变（物候学，phenology）。尽管已知这类平均变化在不同物种与种群间存在差异，但目前仍不清楚气候变暖是否会影响种群内部的物候变异。基于一项为期13年的调查采集的5个研究样地的数据，我们发现：春季气温升高与胎生蜥蜴（Zootoca vivipara）自然种群的繁殖期提前10天存在显著关联。有趣的是，我们还观测到种群内部的繁殖日期变异度随之出现相关性下降。正如模型模拟所展示的那样，繁殖周期的缩短会对种群动态产生显著负面影响。因此，我们呼吁在其他物种中开展相关测试，以评估气候变化下物候响应变异度下降的普遍性。