Climate change is leading some British botanists to conclude that winter is disappearing as a distinct season in the United Kingdom.
Scientists from the Kew Gardens said Friday that Britain's seasons appear to go from fall to spring with only a few wet and relatively mild months in between.
Their conclusions were based not only on temperature and rainfall but on plant behavior that has seen spring flowers and leaf buds on trees appearing what used to be the dead of winter.
"These are months earlier than the norm and given that they are species that have evolved in the vagaries of the English climate, the more remarkable, because one would expect them not to react so easily to milder weather in winter," said Nigel Taylor, curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
The Scotsman said similar observations were coming out of botanical gardens as far north as Edinburgh.
Taylor told The Telegraph that Britain's many amateur gardeners might want to adjust their planting schedules accordingly.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
Related stories:
Gardening may fight childhood obesity
A Kansas professor says gardening may be the way to fight the growing problem of childhood obesity.
Changing climate will challenge Northeast agriculture
Farmers will be the first to feel the heat from global warming as they grapple with new and aggressive crop pests, summer heat stress and other sobering challenges that could strain family farms to the limit, warns David Wolfe, a Cornell expert on the effects of climate change on agriculture.
Turtles are loyal in feeding as well as in breeding
A research team led by the Dr Annette Broderick of the University of Exeter’s School of Biosciences has discovered that, after laying their eggs, sea turtles travel hundreds of miles to feed at exactly the same sites. The research, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), shows for the first time that marine turtles appear to be as loyal to specific foraging sites and migratory routes as they are to nesting sites.
Three from MIT envision grow-your-own home
In the future, homeowners may grow their houses instead of building them. That's the vision of MIT architect Mitchell Joachim of the Media Lab's Smart Cities group.
Moose killing riles Michigan town
Some residents of the town of Ishpeming, Mich., are furious at police officers and a state biologist who killed a female moose that wandered into town, leaving its twin calves to fend for themselves during the winter.
Turning freshwater farm ponds into crab farms
Work by researchers at North Carolina State University is leading to a new kind of crab harvest – blue crabs grown and harvested from freshwater ponds, instead of from the sea.
Bad connection caused atom smasher shutdown
(AP) -- A bad electrical connection likely caused the malfunction that sidelined the world's largest atom smasher days after it was launched with great fanfare, a senior scientist said Monday.
AP Investigation: Ike environmental toll apparent
(AP) -- Hurricane Ike's winds and massive waves destroyed oil platforms, tossed storage tanks and punctured pipelines. The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas, according to an analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.