The phenology group are celebrating their involvement in a publication categorised as a 'Super Hot paper' by Thomson Reuters' Essential Science Indicators. This rating is based on citations, and the paper in question has been cited over 205 times to date. This classification means that, for the first time, Trinity College is ranked in the top 0.1% worldwide in the area of  'Environment/Ecology'.

The 'Super Hot' paper examined over 125,000 trends in plant and animal phenology in relation to temperature over a 30-year period (1971-2000). Data from 21 European countries, including Ireland, were analysed and the results clearly demonstrated that recent climate warming was having a detectable impact on our environment. The analyses revealed that the timing of more than 75% of spring and summer phenological events, such as leafing, flowering and fruiting of plants, advanced (i.e. occurred earlier) and that this was driven primarily by rising temperatures.

The significance of this paper was recognised by the world's leading scientific authority on climate change, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and was included in the most recent 4th Assessment Report to convince policy makers of the type of impact climate change was having on plants and animals.

Dr Alison Donnelly is one of the co-authors of the paper, which was co-ordinated by Professor Annette Menzel of the Technical University Munich. Alison was also a member of the management committee of the COST Action (COST Action 725 "Establishing a European Phenological Data Platform for Climatological Applications") from which the paper evolved.

Menzel, A., Sparks, T.H., Estrella, N., Koch, E., Aasa, A., Ahas, R., Alm-Kübler,K., Bissolli, P., Braslavská, O., Briede, A., Chmielewski, F.M., Crepinsek, Z., Curnel, Y., Dahl, Å., Defila, C., Donnelly, A., Filella, Y., Jatczak, K., Måge, F., Mestre, A., Nordli, Ø, Peñuelas, J., Pirinen, P., Remisová, V., Scheifinger, H., Striz, M., Susnik, A., Wielgolaski, F.-E., van Vliet, A., Zach, S., and Zust A. (2006) European phenological response to climate change matches the warming pattern.  Global Change Biology 12:1-8.