Phenological displacement is uncommon among sympatric angiosperms

What is it about?

The timing of flowering, which is strongly linked to fitness is often highly variable even among close relatives and may be affected by interactions among co-occurring species. We apply data from tens of thousands of herbarium specimens to test whether flowering time difference among closely related species differs when they co-occur. Here we show that the difference in flowering time among closely related species is more likely to change with co-occurrence when the species that flower closer in time, though in general, though this phenomenon was not common across large scales. However, future climate change may alter existing differences in flowering time among many of these species pairs, which may significantly change the nature of species interactions.

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