Spatial sampling inconsistency leads to differences in phenological sensitivity to warming between natural and experiment sites

Plant spring phenology is receiving increasing attention owing to the recognition of its high sensitivity to ongoing climatic warming [1]. Changes in plant spring phenology can substantially influence a wide range of ecosystem structure and functions, which can not only affect human-beings but also in turn affect climate [2]. Warming experiments have been widely conducted to help understand, and thus predict plant phenological response to climate. Most of these experiment-based studies have focused on reporting the signs and magn让udes of phenological responses, and a few have included temperature sensitivity (phenological shifts per unit temperature change). However, applying the outputs of these experiments to predict future phenological response to climate change remains challenging.