Spring is germinating!

What does a lot of rain followed by an abundance of warm sunshine in the middle of February mean in the Bay Area?


For some it means a quick getaway to the beach before the rains return, or perhaps that "global weirding" is really starting to mess with our heads. But when the sun makes it out in the wintertime, sometimes the last thing people want to do is look at the ground (they're too busy thanking the sky for the warmth). But personally, I find it almost impossible to take my eyes off the things going on at my feet - the growth of new plants and fungi. Without this process, called germination, spring would never have the refreshing sense it provides us with every new bloom.

The germination of this California buckeye began
 at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch, CA.

Before a California buckeye is a full-grown tree, it is a seedling. Before it is a seedling, it is a seed, or a buckeye gall. When the rains come and is followed by an abundance of warm sunshine (ideal growing conditions), a physiological signal occurs within the buckeye gall, triggering it to begin sprouting. This is called germination. First the root forms and grows into the ground, and suddenly a young tree is rapidly sprouting towards the sky (a sporeling grows from a fungi spore). This is an important signal, not only for the plant and its growth, but for the insects, birds, and other wildlife that depends on this process every year for food and shelter.

But the problem with germination in recent years is the timing: germinating plants like California buckeye and oak trees have been experiencing germination earlier because of abundant rains followed by short periods of sun shine, once again followed by rains. If the plant germinates during a short window of ideal growth time and then drowned, there is a strong likely hood that the plants will not survive. This can have impacts on a plant population, and with fungus, can reduce the numbers of available decomposers. This in turn impacts the nutrient cycle and the food chain.

An acorn in the early
stages of germination.

So "global weirding" appears to be messing with more than just our heads. It is also messing with the most critical stage of a plant's life cycle by causing germination to begin earlier, when ideal conditions are more temporary and well, less than ideal. So the question becomes, How refreshing will spring be when it no longer begins the same?