Phytophenological trends in Switzerland

Abstract

Nation-wide phenological observations have been made in Switzerland since 1951. In addition to these observation programmes, there are two very long phenological series in Switzerland: leaf bud burst of horse-chestnut trees has been observed in Geneva since 1808 and full flowering of cherry trees in Liestal since 1894. In addition to the presentation of these two long phenological series, trends for 896 phenological time series have been calculated with national data from 1951 to 1998. The earlier bud burst of horse-chestnut trees in Geneva can be attributed mainly to the city effect (warmth island). This phenomenon was not observed with the cherry tree flowering in Liestal. A clear trend towards earlier appearance dates in spring and a weak tendency towards later appearance dates in autumn could be shown with data from the national observation network. It must be noted that different phenophases and plant species react differently to various environmental influences.