Wild blueberries now ripen a week earlier than a century ago
Floyd J, Cadiou E, Belliveau AG, Panchen ZA, Roulston TT
Phenology
If you forage lowbush blueberries or watch birds and other wildlife feed on them, the window for green and ripe berries is sliding earlier each decade as spring temperatures climb.
Scientists looked at over a century of museum specimens and phone photos of wild lowbush blueberry plants across northeastern North America to track when they bud, flower, and fruit. Warmer spring and early summer temperatures push every stage earlier, with budding reacting the most, and the green-berry stage now shows up about seven days sooner than it did in 1901. That timing shift matters for the animals that eat the berries and for anyone who plans a harvest around when the fruit turns from green to blue.
Key Findings
928 observations of Vaccinium angustifolium from 1901-2023 across eight ecoregions were analyzed using herbarium specimens and iNaturalist photos.
Warmer spring and early summer temperatures shifted all five reproductive stages (bud, flower, pre-veraison, post-veraison, vegetative) earlier, with budding showing the strongest temperature response.
Fruit pre-veraison (green berry) timing has shifted approximately 7 days earlier over the past century.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Wild lowbush blueberries are budding, flowering, and ripening earlier as temperatures rise, with green berries now appearing about a week sooner than they did a century ago, a shift that could reshape harvest timing and food availability for wildlife.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Reproductive stages in lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) occur earlier with increasing temperature.
Climate change is altering the timing of many plant phenological events, yet most studies focus on flowering, with less attention given to later reproductive stages such as fruit development and ri...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
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Vaccinium angustifolium, commonly known as the wild lowbush blueberry and the low sweet berry is a species of blueberry native to eastern and central Canada, Great Lakes and the northeastern United States.