Serita Frey, a soil microbiologist and a professor at UNH in Durham, got curious and found old data about the date that a campus ginko tree dumps its leaves in late fall. (The species famously drops all its leaves at once, like a strip tease for attention-deficit customers.)
“I’ve been in the department for 15 years, and I knew this was going on but didn’t pay too much attention,” says Serita Frey, a soil microbiologist and a professor at the university.“It didn’t have anything to do with climate change at first. Everyone just knew that the ginkgo tree dumps its leaves in one day.”
Her curiosity led her to find old informal records that show – surprise! well, no, actually no surprise – that the date has been affected by the slow rise in average temperatures in New Hampshire’s autumn. “It’s our poster tree—our local example of climate change,” she said.
The Atlantic had a nice story about it – where these quotes come from. You should read it right here.
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