By Mark Kinver
Science and environment reporter

Springtime in the UK is starting on average 11 days earlier than 30 years ago, causing natural food chains to become disrupted, a study suggests.

Predators seem to be slower than organisms further down the food chains to respond to the seasonal shifts, according to a team of UK researchers.

The findings are based on more than 25,500 records of 726 marine, terrestrial and freshwater species.

The study has been published in the journal Global Change Biology.

“If biological events at different levels within the food chains are changing at different rates, it is possible that we are seeing a de-synchronisation,” explained lead author Stephen Thackeray, an ecologist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH).