The Flowering Responses of Economically Important Plants to Global Warming: An Ecosystem Perspective

Temperature is a major environmental determinant of flowering time and reproductive success in plants. Ongoing global warming is changing flowering phenology across natural and agricultural ecosystems, yet the mechanisms by which ambient temperature regulates the transition to reproduction remain less fully resolved than those underlying photoperiodic flowering and vernalization. This review synthesizes eco-physiological and molecular evidence for temperature-dependent flowering across plant groups and terrestrial ecosystems. It considers the development of the florigen concept, the identification of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and related phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein family members, and the integration of temperature signals with flowering activators and repressors. Particular attention is given to the thermosensory pathway, including alternative splicing, chromatin regulation, membrane-associated signaling, phase separation and temperature-dependent accumulation or stability of regulatory proteins. The review also examines phenological responses to rising temperatures in bulbous geophytes, Arctic and boreal species, subtropical and tropical crops, and desert plants. Available evidence indicates that the temperature requirements for floral initiation, their organogenesis and anthesis vary widely among species and developmental stages, and that these optima reflect life-history strategy, origin and adaptation to seasonal temperature regimes.