Vegetation Response to Climate: A 35 year study at Bibury, Gloucestershire

Important information on the climate-responsiveness of plant species has been gleaned from an unlikely source. The annually recorded control {unsprayed) plots from a 35-year field e, experiment assessing the effects of spraying herbicide and a plant growth regulator onto the vegetation of roadside verges near Bibury, Gloucestershire, have provided an opportunity to examine the detailed effects of year-to year variations in climate on the yields of different ·species and functional types within the vegetation. The results confirm the usefulness of plant functional types and genome size as predictors of plant community response to climatic change.