phenology

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, particularly the timing of biological events such as flowering, leaf-out, bird migration, insect emergence, and breeding seasons, and how these are influenced by climate and weather; phenological mismatches — where the timing of interdependent events such as peak caterpillar abundance and the arrival of migrant birds falls out of sync due to differential responses to warming — are considered a key mechanism by which climate change disrupts ecological communities and reduces reproductive success of species across trophic levels