Abstract :
Urbanization has caused environmental changes, such as urban heat islands (UHIs), that affect terrestrial ecosystems. However, how and to what extent urbanization affects plant phenology remains relatively unexplored. Here, we investigated the changes in the satellite-derived start of season (SOS) and the covariation between SOS and temperature ([R.sub.T]) in 85 large cities across the conterminous United States for the period 2001-2014. We found that 1) the SOS came significantly earlier (6.1 [+ or -] 6.3 d) in 74 cities and [R.sub.T] was significantly weaker (0.03 [+ or -] 0.07) in 43 cities when compared with their surrounding rural areas (P phenology | urbanization | temperature response | urban heat island