Tropical plants flowering months earlier or later because of climate crisis – study

An orchid bee visits a flower in the Ecuadorian cloud forest. If a plant’s flowering times change they may fall out of sync with pollinators. Photograph: Nature Picture Library/Alamy

Tropical flowers are blooming months earlier or later than they used to because of climate breakdown, with potentially “cascading impacts across ecosystems”, according to a study of 8,000 plants dating back 200 years.

Researchers looked at flowers from a range of countries, including Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana and Thailand, home to the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, but also the most understudied.