Early onset of spring increases the phenological mismatch between plants and pollinators

Abstract

Climate warming accelerates the timing of flowering and insect pollinator emergence, especially in spring. If these phenological shifts progress independently between species, features of plant-pollinator mutualisms may be modified. However, evidence of phenological mismatch in pollination systems is limited. We investigated the phenologies of a spring ephemeral, Corydalis ambigua, and its pollinators (bumble bees), and seed-set success over 10-14 years in three populations. Although both flowering onset and first detection of overwintered queen bees in the C. ambigua populations were closely related to snowmelt time and/or spring temperature, flowering tended to be ahead of first pollinator detection when spring came early, resulting in lower seed production owing to low pollination service. Relationships between flowering onset time, phenological mismatch, and seed-set success strongly suggest that phenological mismatch is a major limiting factor for reproduction of spring ephemerals. This report demonstrates the mechanism of phenological mismatch and its ecological impact on plant-pollinator interactions based on long-term monitoring. Frequent occurrence of mismatch can decrease seed production and may affect the population dynamics of spring ephemerals.

Early Spring Nectar and Pollen and Insect Visitor Behavior in Two Corydalis Species (Papaveraceae)

“…Synchronous blooming of the flowers of the species in a given plant population is very important for the energetics of pollination. Early in the season, temperature drops are frequent; therefore, the pattern of blooming minimizes the energy expenditure of the pollinators flying between plants (Heinrich and Raven, 1972;Kudo and Ida, 2013). The corolla of the studied Corydalis species persisted on the pedicel even for 14 days, which is consistent with the findings of Olesen (1996) for C. solida in Danish forests (approx.…”

Climatic Risk and Distribution Atlas of European Bumblebees

“…Schweiger et al, 2010;Lurgi et al, 2012;Pradervand et al, 2014) with changed functional structures. Indeed, changes in the spatial/temporal occurrence of pollinators can lead to spatial gaps/asynchrony between the pollinators and insect pollinated plants (Kudo, 2013;Kudo & Ida, 2013;Pradervand et al, 2014). The resulting effects could be dramatic for both plants and pollinators (e.g.…”

“…The resulting effects could be dramatic for both plants and pollinators (e.g. Kudo & Ida, 2013;Petanidou et al, 2014), even if several empirical studies suggest that the large plant and insect biodiversity could mitigate the expected dramatic consequences (e.g. Bartomeus et al, 2011Bartomeus et al, , 2013bForrest & Thomson, 2011;Iler et al, 2013).…”

Inferring functional extinction based on sighting records

“…The common cause of functional extinction is the persistent reproductive failure, which can occur due to different factors and mechanisms such as the lack of habitat, sterility or embryo mortality induced by genetic erosion, mutations, inbreeding or pollution, catastrophic events, phenological shifts caused by climate change, parasitism, diseases, invasive species, sex-ratio bias, and population fragmentation (Loehle and Li, 1996;Janssen and Jude, 2001;Smithers et al, 2003;Brodie et al, 2006;Taylor et al, 2006;Engelstädter and Hurst, 2009;Finger et al, 2011;Kudo and Ida, 2013;Grayson et al, 2014). Alternatively, persistent lack of recruitment, due to continuous elevated mortality of early life phases, represents another cause of functional extinction (Webb et al, 2005).…”