Integrated global assessment of the natural forest carbon potential.

Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system1. Remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests2-5 are characterized by considerable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these estimates. Here we combine several ground-sourced6 and satellite-derived approaches2,7,8 to evaluate the scale of the global forest carbon potential outside agricultural and urban lands. Despite regional variation, the predictions demonstrated remarkable consistency at a global scale, with only a 12% difference between the ground-sourced and satellite-derived estimates. At present, global forest carbon storage is markedly under the natural potential, with a total deficit of 226 Gt (model range = 151-363 Gt) in areas with low human footprint. Most (61%, 139 Gt C) of this potential is in areas with existing forests, in which ecosystem protection can allow forests to recover to maturity. The remaining 39% (87 Gt C) of potential lies in regions in which forests have been removed or fragmented. Although forests cannot be a substitute for emissions reductions, our results support the idea2,3,9 that the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of diverse forests offer valuable contributions to meeting global climate and biodiversity targets.

Subgenome-aware analyses reveal the genomic consequences of ancient allopolyploid hybridizations throughout the cotton family.

Malvaceae comprise some 4,225 species in 243 genera and nine subfamilies and include economically important species, such as cacao, cotton, durian, and jute, with cotton an important model system for studying the domestication of polyploids. Here, we use chromosome-level genome assemblies from representatives of five or six subfamilies (depending on the placement of Ochroma) to differentiate coexisting subgenomes and their evolution during the family's deep history. The results reveal that the allohexaploid Helicteroideae partially derive from an allotetraploid Sterculioideae and also form a component of the allodecaploid Bombacoideae and Malvoideae. The ancestral Malvaceae karyotype consists of 11 protochromosomes. Four subfamilies share a unique reciprocal chromosome translocation, and two other subfamilies share a chromosome fusion. DNA alignments of single-copy nuclear genes do not yield the same relationships as inferred from chromosome structural traits, probably because of genes originating from different ancestral subgenomes. These results illustrate how chromosome-structural data can unravel the evolutionary history of groups with ancient hybrid genomes.

Morphometrics and Phylogenomics of Coca (Erythroxylum spp.) Illuminate Its Reticulate Evolution, With Implications for Taxonomy.

South American coca (Erythroxylum coca and E. novogranatense) has been a keystone crop for many Andean and Amazonian communities for at least 8,000 years. However, over the last half-century, global demand for its alkaloid cocaine has driven intensive agriculture of this plant and placed it in the center of armed conflict and deforestation. To monitor the changing landscape of coca plantations, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime collects annual data on their areas of cultivation. However, attempts to delineate areas in which different varieties are grown have failed due to limitations around identification. In the absence of flowers, identification relies on leaf morphology, yet the extent to which this is reflected in taxonomy is uncertain. Here, we analyze the consistency of the current naming system of coca and its four closest wild relatives (the "coca clade"), using morphometrics, phylogenomics, molecular clocks, and population genomics. We include name-bearing type specimens of coca's closest wild relatives E. gracilipes and E. cataractarum. Morphometrics of 342 digitized herbarium specimens show that leaf shape and size fail to reliably discriminate between species and varieties. However, the statistical analyses illuminate that rounder and more obovate leaves of certain varieties could be associated with the subtle domestication syndrome of coca. Our phylogenomic data indicate extensive gene flow involving E. gracilipes which, combined with morphometrics, supports E. gracilipes being retained as a single species. Establishing a robust evolutionary-taxonomic framework for the coca clade will facilitate the development of cost-effective genotyping methods to support reliable identification.

CuGenDBv2: an updated database for cucurbit genomics.

The Cucurbitaceae (cucurbit) family consists of about 1,000 species in 95 genera, including many economically important and popular fruit and vegetable crops. During the past several years, reference genomes have been generated for >20 cucurbit species, and variome and transcriptome profiling data have been rapidly accumulated for cucurbits. To efficiently mine, analyze and disseminate these large-scale datasets, we have developed an updated version of Cucurbit Genomics Database. The updated database, CuGenDBv2 (http://cucurbitgenomics.org/v2), currently hosts 34 reference genomes from 27 cucurbit species/subspecies belonging to 10 different genera. Protein-coding genes from these genomes have been comprehensively annotated by comparing their protein sequences to various public protein and domain databases. A novel 'Genotype' module has been implemented to facilitate mining and analysis of the functionally annotated variome data including SNPs and small indels from large-scale genome sequencing projects. An updated 'Expression' module has been developed to provide a comprehensive gene expression atlas for cucurbits. Furthermore, synteny blocks between any two and within each of the 34 genomes, representing a total of 595 pair-wise genome comparisons, have been identified and can be explored and visualized in the database.

Mutualisms drive plant trait evolution beyond interaction-related traits.

Mutualisms have driven the evolution of extraordinary structures and behavioural traits, but their impact on traits beyond those directly involved in the interaction remains unclear. We addressed this gap using a highly evolutionarily replicated system - epiphytes in the Rubiaceae forming symbioses with ants. We employed models that allow us to test the influence of discrete mutualistic traits on continuous non-mutualistic traits. Our findings are consistent with mutualism shaping the pace of morphological evolution, strength of selection and long-term mean of non-mutualistic traits in function of mutualistic dependency. While specialised and obligate mutualisms are associated with slower trait change, less intimate, facultative and generalist mutualistic interactions - which are the most common - have a greater impact on non-mutualistic trait evolution. These results challenge the prevailing notion that mutualisms solely affect the evolution of interaction-related traits via stabilizing selection and instead demonstrate a broader role for mutualisms in shaping trait evolution.

The origin and speciation of orchids.

Orchids constitute one of the most spectacular radiations of flowering plants. However, their origin, spread across the globe, and hotspots of speciation remain uncertain due to the lack of an up-to-date phylogeographic analysis. We present a new Orchidaceae phylogeny based on combined high-throughput and Sanger sequencing data, covering all five subfamilies, 17/22 tribes, 40/49 subtribes, 285/736 genera, and c. 7% (1921) of the 29 524 accepted species, and use it to infer geographic range evolution, diversity, and speciation patterns by adding curated geographical distributions from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants. The orchids' most recent common ancestor is inferred to have lived in Late Cretaceous Laurasia. The modern range of Apostasioideae, which comprises two genera with 16 species from India to northern Australia, is interpreted as relictual, similar to that of numerous other groups that went extinct at higher latitudes following the global climate cooling during the Oligocene. Despite their ancient origin, modern orchid species diversity mainly originated over the last 5 Ma, with the highest speciation rates in Panama and Costa Rica. These results alter our understanding of the geographic origin of orchids, previously proposed as Australian, and pinpoint Central America as a region of recent, explosive speciation.

DNA sequences from type specimens and type strains - how to increase their number and improve their annotation in NCBI GenBank and related databases.

Scientific names permit humans and search engines to access knowledge about the biodiversity that surrounds us, and names linked to DNA sequences are playing an ever-greater role in search-and-match identification procedures. Here, we analyze how users and curators of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) are flagging and curating sequences derived from nomenclatural type material, which is the only way to improve the quality of DNA-based identification in the long run. For prokaryotes, 18,281 genome assemblies from type strains have been curated by NCBI staff and improve the quality of prokaryote naming. For Fungi, type-derived sequences representing over 21,000 species are now essential for fungus naming and identification. For the remaining eukaryotes, however, the numbers of sequences identifiable as type-derived are minuscule, representing only 1,000 species of arthropods, 8,441 vertebrates, and 430 embryophytes. An increase in the production and curation of such sequences will come from (i) sequencing of types or topotypic specimens in museum collections, (ii) the March 2023 rule changes at the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration requiring more metadata for specimens, and (iii) efforts by data submitters to facilitate curation, including informing NCBI curators about a specimen's type status. We illustrate different type-data submission journeys and provide best-practice examples from a range of organisms. Expanding the number of type-derived sequences in DNA databases, especially of eukaryotes, is crucial for capturing, documenting, and protecting biodiversity.

A chromosome-level genome of a Kordofan melon illuminates the origin of domesticated watermelons.

Wild relatives or progenitors of crops are important resources for breeding and for understanding domestication. Identifying them, however, is difficult because of extinction, hybridization, and the challenge of distinguishing them from feral forms. Here, we use collection-based systematics, iconography, and resequenced accessions of Citrullus lanatus and other species of Citrullus to search for the potential progenitor of the domesticated watermelon. A Sudanese form with nonbitter whitish pulp, known as the Kordofan melon (C. lanatus subsp. cordophanus), appears to be the closest relative of domesticated watermelons and a possible progenitor, consistent with newly interpreted Egyptian tomb paintings that suggest that the watermelon may have been consumed in the Nile Valley as a dessert by 4360 BP. To gain insights into the genetic changes that occurred from the progenitor to the domesticated watermelon, we assembled and annotated the genome of a Kordofan melon at the chromosome level, using a combination of Pacific Biosciences and Illumina sequencing as well as Hi-C mapping technologies. The genetic signature of bitterness loss is present in the Kordofan melon genome, but the red fruit flesh color only became fixed in the domesticated watermelon. We detected 15,824 genome structural variants (SVs) between the Kordofan melon and a typical modern cultivar, "97103," and mapping the SVs in over 400 Citrullus accessions revealed shifts in allelic frequencies, suggesting that fruit sweetness has gradually increased over the course of watermelon domestication. That a likely progenitor of the watermelon still exists in Sudan has implications for targeted modern breeding efforts.

Genome Sequencing of up to 6,000-Year-Old Citrullus Seeds Reveals Use of a Bitter-Fleshed Species Prior to Watermelon Domestication.

Iconographic evidence from Egypt suggests that watermelon pulp was consumed there as a dessert by 4,360 BP. Earlier archaeobotanical evidence comes from seeds from Neolithic settlements in Libya, but whether these were watermelons with sweet pulp or other forms is unknown. We generated genome sequences from 6,000- and 3,300-year-old seeds from Libya and Sudan, and from worldwide herbarium collections made between 1824 and 2019, and analyzed these data together with resequenced genomes from important germplasm collections for a total of 131 accessions. Phylogenomic and population-genomic analyses reveal that (1) much of the nuclear genome of both ancient seeds is traceable to West African seed-use "egusi-type" watermelon (Citrullus mucosospermus) rather than domesticated pulp-use watermelon (Citrullus lanatus ssp. vulgaris); (2) the 6,000-year-old watermelon likely had bitter pulp and greenish-white flesh as today found in C. mucosospermus, given alleles in the bitterness regulators ClBT and in the red color marker LYCB; and (3) both ancient genomes showed admixture from C. mucosospermus, C. lanatus ssp. cordophanus, C. lanatus ssp. vulgaris, and even South African Citrullus amarus, and evident introgression between the Libyan seed (UMB-6) and populations of C. lanatus. An unexpected new insight is that Citrullus appears to have initially been collected or cultivated for its seeds, not its flesh, consistent with seed damage patterns induced by human teeth in the oldest Libyan material.

Dead-End Hybridization in Walnut Trees Revealed by Large-Scale Genomic Sequence Data.

Although hybridization plays a large role in speciation, some unknown fraction of hybrid individuals never reproduces, instead remaining as genetic dead-ends. We investigated a morphologically distinct and culturally important Chinese walnut, Juglans hopeiensis, suspected to have arisen from hybridization of Persian walnut (J. regia) with Asian butternuts (J. cathayensis, J. mandshurica, and hybrids between J. cathayensis and J. mandshurica). Based on 151 whole-genome sequences of the relevant taxa, we discovered that all J. hopeiensis individuals are first-generation hybrids, with the time for the onset of gene flow estimated as 370,000 years, implying both strong postzygotic barriers and the presence of J. regia in China by that time. Six inversion regions enriched for genes associated with pollen germination and pollen tube growth may be involved in the postzygotic barriers that prevent sexual reproduction in the hybrids. Despite its long-recurrent origination and distinct traits, J. hopeiensis does not appear on the way to speciation.

Tradeoffs in the evolution of plant farming by ants.

Diverse forms of cultivation have evolved across the tree of life. Efficient farming requires that the farmer deciphers and actively promotes conditions that increase crop yield. For plant cultivation, this can include evaluating tradeoffs among light, nutrients, and protection against herbivores. It is not understood if, or how, nonhuman farmers evaluate local conditions to increase payoffs. Here, we address this question using an obligate farming mutualism between the ant Philidris nagasau and epiphytic plants in the genus Squamellaria that are cultivated for their nesting sites and floral rewards. We focused on the ants' active fertilization of their crops and their protection against herbivory. We found that ants benefited from cultivating plants in full sun, receiving 7.5-fold more floral food rewards compared to shade-cultivated plants. The higher reward levels correlated with higher levels of crop protection provided by the ants. However, while high-light planting yielded the greatest immediate food rewards, sun-grown crops contained less nitrogen compared to shade-grown crops. This was due to lower nitrogen input from ants feeding on floral rewards instead of insect protein gained from predation. Despite this tradeoff, farming ants optimize crop yield by selectively planting their crops in full sun. Ancestral state reconstructions across this ant-plant clade show that a full-sun farming strategy has existed for millions of years, suggesting that nonhuman farmers have evolved the means to evaluate and balance conflicting crop needs to their own benefit.

Late-spring frost risk between 1959 and 2017 decreased in North America but increased in Europe and Asia.

Late-spring frosts (LSFs) affect the performance of plants and animals across the world's temperate and boreal zones, but despite their ecological and economic impact on agriculture and forestry, the geographic distribution and evolutionary impact of these frost events are poorly understood. Here, we analyze LSFs between 1959 and 2017 and the resistance strategies of Northern Hemisphere woody species to infer trees' adaptations for minimizing frost damage to their leaves and to forecast forest vulnerability under the ongoing changes in frost frequencies. Trait values on leaf-out and leaf-freezing resistance come from up to 1,500 temperate and boreal woody species cultivated in common gardens. We find that areas in which LSFs are common, such as eastern North America, harbor tree species with cautious (late-leafing) leaf-out strategies. Areas in which LSFs used to be unlikely, such as broad-leaved forests and shrublands in Europe and Asia, instead harbor opportunistic tree species (quickly reacting to warming air temperatures). LSFs in the latter regions are currently increasing, and given species' innate resistance strategies, we estimate that ∼35% of the European and ∼26% of the Asian temperate forest area, but only ∼10% of the North American, will experience increasing late-frost damage in the future. Our findings reveal region-specific changes in the spring-frost risk that can inform decision-making in land management, forestry, agriculture, and insurance policy.

"My Reputation is at Stake." Humboldt's Mountain Plant Geography in the Making (1803-1825).

Alexander von Humboldt's depictions of mountain vegetation are among the most iconic nineteenth century illustrations in the biological sciences. Here we analyse the contemporary context and empirical data for all these depictions, namely the Tableau physique des Andes (1803, 1807), the Geographiae plantarum lineamenta (1815), the Tableau physique des Îles Canaries (1817), and the Esquisse de la Géographie des plantes dans les Andes de Quito (1824/1825). We show that the Tableau physique des Andes does not reflect Humboldt and Bonpland's field data and presents a flawed depiction of plant occurrences and vertical succession of vegetation belts, arising from Humboldt's misreading of La Condamine's description (1751). Humboldt's 1815 depiction, by contrast, shows a distribution of high-vegetation belts that is consistent with La Condamine's description, while the 1824 depiction drops innovations made in 1815 and returns to simply showing numerous species' names, thus not applying Humboldt's own earlier zonation framework. Our analysis of contemporary reactions to Humboldt's TPA includes Francis Hall's posthumously published 1834 illustration of Andean plant zonation near Quito and Humboldt's reaction to Hall's critique. Throughout his work on plant geography, Humboldt disregarded some of his own observations, or confused them. At stake was his reputation as an innovator in the field of plant geography and a discoverer of the sequence of high-elevation vegetation belts on the world's mountains.

Centromere organization and UU/V sex chromosome behavior in a liverwort.

In 1917, sex chromosomes in plants were discovered in a liverwort with hetermorphic U and V chromosomes. Such heteromorphy is unexpected because, unlike the XY chromosomes in diploid-dominant plants, in haploid-dominant plants the female U and the male V chromosomes experience largely symmetrical potential recombination environments. Here we use molecular cytogenetics and super-resolution microscopy to study Frullania dilatata, a liverwort with one male and two female sex chromosomes. We applied a pipeline to Illumina sequences to detect abundant types of repetitive DNA and developed FISH probes to microscopically distinguish the sex chromosomes. We also determined the phenotypic population sex ratio because biased ratios have been reported from other liverworts with heteromorphic sex chromosomes. Populations had male-biased sex ratios. The sex chromosomes are monocentric, and of 14 probes studied (eight satellites, five transposable elements and one plastid region), four resulted in unique signals that differentiated the sex chromosomes from the autosomes and from each other. One FISH probe selectively marked the centromeres of both U chromosomes, so we could prove that during meiosis each U chromosome associates with one of the opposite telomeres of the V chromosome, resulting in a head-to-head trivalent. The similarity of the two U chromosomes to each other in size and in their centromere FISH signal positions points to their origin via a non-disjunction event (aneuploidy), which would fit with the general picture of sex chromosomes rarely crossing-over and being prone to suffer from non-disjunction.

Molecular Clocks and Archeogenomics of a Late Period Egyptian Date Palm Leaf Reveal Introgression from Wild Relatives and Add Timestamps on the Domestication.

The date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, has been a cornerstone of Middle Eastern and North African agriculture for millennia. It was first domesticated in the Persian Gulf, and its evolution appears to have been influenced by gene flow from two wild relatives, P. theophrasti, currently restricted to Crete and Turkey, and P. sylvestris, widespread from Bangladesh to the West Himalayas. Genomes of ancient date palm seeds show that gene flow from P. theophrasti to P. dactylifera may have occurred by ∼2,200 years ago, but traces of P. sylvestris could not be detected. We here integrate archeogenomics of a ∼2,100-year-old P. dactylifera leaf from Saqqara (Egypt), molecular-clock dating, and coalescence approaches with population genomic tests, to probe the hybridization between the date palm and its two closest relatives and provide minimum and maximum timestamps for its reticulated evolution. The Saqqara date palm shares a close genetic affinity with North African date palm populations, and we find clear genomic admixture from both P. theophrasti, and P. sylvestris, indicating that both had contributed to the date palm genome by 2,100 years ago. Molecular-clocks placed the divergence of P. theophrasti from P. dactylifera/P. sylvestris and that of P. dactylifera from P. sylvestris in the Upper Miocene, but strongly supported, conflicting topologies point to older gene flow between P. theophrasti and P. dactylifera, and P. sylvestris and P. dactylifera. Our work highlights the ancient hybrid origin of the date palms, and prompts the investigation of the functional significance of genetic material introgressed from both close relatives, which in turn could prove useful for modern date palm breeding.

Trees growing in Eastern North America experience higher autumn solar irradiation than their European relatives, but is nitrogen limitation another factor explaining anthocyanin-red autumn leaves?: A comment on Peña-Novas and Marchetti 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13903).

Trees growing at a particular latitude in Eastern North America (ENA) receive more autumn solar irradiation than do trees growing at the same latitude in Europe, a difference that could partly explain the higher percentage of anthocyanin-producing deciduous species in ENA compared with European floras. A proposed link between autumn light intensity and the production of anthocyanins is their function in photoprotection, which enables plants with red leaves to resorb nutrients for a longer time than can yellow or brown leaves. The innately 4-week-shorter foliage period of ENA trees compared with European ones may also play a role, as may stronger nitrogen limitation in poorer soils in ENA. We here test for a correlation between nitrogen access and fall anthocyanin in 126 species (55 genera, 22 families) from different temperate forests, using a Hierarchical Bayesian model and accounting for phylogenetic structure in the data. None of 81 species with nitrogen-fixing symbionts produce autumn anthocyanin, whereas 42% of non-nitrogen-fixers do. Thus, when ample nitrogen is available from symbionts, the benefits of anthocyanin-derived photoprotection apparently do not outweigh the costs of anthocyanin production. If nitrogen limitation indeed plays a role in the dominance of red-autumn-colouring trees in ENA floras - while European floras predominantly produce yellow autumn leaves - there might also be continental differences in the frequency or abundance of nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs, a new hypothesis that deserves testing.

Statistical evidence that honeybees competitively reduced wild bee abundance in the Munich Botanic Garden in 2020 compared to 2019.

In a commentary on our paper (Renner et al., Oecologia 195:825-831, 2021), Harder and Miksha lay out why they think that our finding of higher honeybee abundances reducing wild bee abundances in an urban botanical garden is not statistically supported. Here, we explain the statistical test provided in our paper, which took advantage of a natural experiment offered by 2019 being a poorer year for bee keeping than 2020.

The International Phenological Garden network (1959 to 2021): its 131 gardens, cloned study species, data archiving, and future.

Collaborative networks that involve the compilation of observations from diverse sources can provide important data, but are difficult to maintain over long periods. The International Phenological Garden (IPG) network, begun in 1959 and still functioning 60 years later, has been no exception. Here we document its history, its monitored 23 species (initially all propagated by cloning), and the locations and years of data contribution of its 131 gardens, of which 63 from 19 countries contributed data in 2021. The decision to use clones, rather than multiple, locally adapted individuals, was based on the idea that this would "control" for genetic effects, and it affects the applicability of the data and duration of the network. We also describe the overlap among the IPG network, the Pan-European Phenology network (PEP725), and the phenological data offered by the German Weather Service. Sustainable data storage and accessibility, as well as the continued monitoring of all 23 species/clones, are under discussion at the moment, as is the fate of other phenological networks, despite a politically mandatory plant-based climate-change monitoring.

Repositories for Taxonomic Data: Where We Are and What is Missing.

Natural history collections are leading successful large-scale projects of specimen digitization (images, metadata, DNA barcodes), thereby transforming taxonomy into a big data science. Yet, little effort has been directed towards safeguarding and subsequently mobilizing the considerable amount of original data generated during the process of naming 15,000-20,000 species every year. From the perspective of alpha-taxonomists, we provide a review of the properties and diversity of taxonomic data, assess their volume and use, and establish criteria for optimizing data repositories. We surveyed 4113 alpha-taxonomic studies in representative journals for 2002, 2010, and 2018, and found an increasing yet comparatively limited use of molecular data in species diagnosis and description. In 2018, of the 2661 papers published in specialized taxonomic journals, molecular data were widely used in mycology (94%), regularly in vertebrates (53%), but rarely in botany (15%) and entomology (10%). Images play an important role in taxonomic research on all taxa, with photographs used in >80% and drawings in 58% of the surveyed papers. The use of omics (high-throughput) approaches or 3D documentation is still rare. Improved archiving strategies for metabarcoding consensus reads, genome and transcriptome assemblies, and chemical and metabolomic data could help to mobilize the wealth of high-throughput data for alpha-taxonomy. Because long-term-ideally perpetual-data storage is of particular importance for taxonomy, energy footprint reduction via less storage-demanding formats is a priority if their information content suffices for the purpose of taxonomic studies. Whereas taxonomic assignments are quasifacts for most biological disciplines, they remain hypotheses pertaining to evolutionary relatedness of individuals for alpha-taxonomy. For this reason, an improved reuse of taxonomic data, including machine-learning-based species identification and delimitation pipelines, requires a cyberspecimen approach-linking data via unique specimen identifiers, and thereby making them findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable for taxonomic research. This poses both qualitative challenges to adapt the existing infrastructure of data centers to a specimen-centered concept and quantitative challenges to host and connect an estimated $ \le $2 million images produced per year by alpha-taxonomic studies, plus many millions of images from digitization campaigns. Of the 30,000-40,000 taxonomists globally, many are thought to be nonprofessionals, and capturing the data for online storage and reuse therefore requires low-complexity submission workflows and cost-free repository use. Expert taxonomists are the main stakeholders able to identify and formalize the needs of the discipline; their expertise is needed to implement the envisioned virtual collections of cyberspecimens. [Big data; cyberspecimen; new species; omics; repositories; specimen identifier; taxonomy; taxonomic data.].

Climate data and flowering times for 450 species from 1844 deepen the record of phenological change in southern Germany.

PREMISE: State-sponsored weather stations became ubiquitous by the 1880s, yet many old climate data and phenological observations still need to be digitized and made accessible. METHODS: We here make available flowering times for 450 species of herbs and shrubs gathered in 1844 by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794-1868), director of the Munich Botanical Garden. The data formed part of the world's third-oldest phenological monitoring network as we explain in a brief overview of the history of such networks. Using data from one of the world's oldest continuously functioning weather stations, Hohenpeißenberg, we relate temperature to flowering in three species with short flowering times and herbarium collections made since 1844 within the city's perimeter, namely, Anemone patens, A. pulsatilla, and Arum maculatum. RESULTS: Mean advances in flowering dates were 1.3-2.1 days/decade or 3.2-4.2 days/1°C warming. These advances are in keeping with similar advances in other European herbs during more recent periods. CONCLUSIONS: Future studies might use the 1844 flowering data made available here as a source of information on the availability of particular flowers for specialized pollinators including insects looking for oviposition sites, such as the Psychoda flies that become trapped in Arum inflorescences. Another use of Martius's 1844 data would be their incorporation into larger-scale analyses of flowering in southern-central Europe.