DOI: 10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2fc
title: Data from: Proximate cues of flowering in a subtropical rain forest

description: Plants have evolved mechanisms to track seasonal variation in
 environmental resources, enabling them to time key life-history events to
 appropriate seasons. While the proximate cues for flowering initiation are
 well documented in the temperate region, it is still unclear what the
 flowering cues are in the tropics, especially in the subtropics. Our study
 compared first flowering dates (FFDs) predicted by eight hypothesized
 proximate cues concerning photoperiod, mean and directional changes in
 solar irradiance and warm/cool temperature, and rainfall with flowering
 dates observed over 19 years of weekly monitoring for 16 species in a
 subtropical rainforest. We observed considerable inter-annual variation in
 the median FFDs for the study species, ranging from 21 to 101 days. The
 early-spring flowering species tended to have greater inter-annual
 variation in FFDs than the summer flowering species. For 13 study species,
 temperature cues best explained inter-annual variation in FFDs. Cool
 temperatures in the previous fall/winter and warm temperatures in the
 current spring (or previous summer) might trigger the onset of flowering
 in these 13 species. Cues associated with photoperiod and irradiance also
 predicted inter-annual variation in FFDs with small root mean square error
 (&lt;1.5 census intervals) for 12 species but generally had higher
 prediction errors than temperature-related cues. Cues associated with
 seasonal variation in rainfall failed to predict flowering times in any
 species. Our results suggest that future changes in temperature may alter
 flowering times for most species in subtropical forests, leading to
 changes in ecosystem processes and biosphere feedback to the climate
 system.
description: This dataset contains 19-year data of the first flowering dates
 (FFD) for 16 plant species in the Fushan Forest Dynamics Plot (FDP),
 Taiwan. The FFD data span from September 2002 to November 2021. A network
 of 106 0.5-m<sup>2</sup> litterfall traps was established
 along four 400 m trails within the Fushan FDP. We recorded the presence of flowers in each trap
 and identified most to the species level. Each unique species-trap-census
 combination constitutes a flower record. To ensure
 that multiple individuals were sampled and minimize bias when estimating
 first flowering dates, we selected species with ≥500 flower records in
 total and encountered in ten or more traps in at least ten years. We
 estimated the FFDs for each species by calculating the median date of each
 trap’s first census that recorded flowers within each species-specific
 phenological year.
description: # Data from: Proximate cues of flowering in a subtropical rain forest
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2fc](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2fc) This dataset contains 19-year data of the first flowering dates (FFD) for 16 plant species in the Fushan Forest Dynamics Plot (FDP), Taiwan. The FFD data span from September 2002 to November 2021. A 106 0.5-m<sup>2</sup> litterfall traps network was established along four 400 m trails within the Fushan FDP. We recorded the presence of flowers in each trap and identified most to the species level. Each unique species-trap-census combination constitutes a flower record. To ensure that multiple individuals were sampled and minimize bias when estimating first flowering dates, we selected species with ≥500 flower records in total and encountered in ten or more traps in at least ten years. We estimated the FFDs for each species by calculating the median date of each trap’s first census that recorded flowers within each species-specific phenological year. ## Description of the data and file structure **First flowering date data** (file name: fs\_ffd\_16spp.txt) This file contains the first flowering dates of the 16 plant species in the Fushan Forest Dynamics Plot from September 2002 to November 2021. There are five columns in this file: * sp: six-letter species code * year: the census year associated with the first flowering date, ranging from 2003 to 2021 * ffd: the first flowering date in days of the year (DOY) * ffd\_census: the first flowering date in the weekly census number, ranging from 26 to 991 * ffd\_week: the first flowering date in the week number, ranging from 3 to 36 **Census date data** (file name: fs\_census\_date.txt) This file contains the dates of 997 trap censuses in the Fushan Forest Dynamics Plot from September 2002 to November 2021. There are two columns in this file: * census: the census number, ranging from 2 to 1004. Seven censuses were skipped due to typhoons or extreme weather conditions. * date: the census date of each seed rain census