Timing is Everything : How Environmental Change May Disrupt the Timing of Plant-Pollinator Interactions

Abstract

Ecosystems are experiencing environmental change brought about by warming temperatures, altered precipitation, and increasing atmospheric CO2, among other factors. These changes could alter interspecies’ relationships, including those between plants and pollinators. One important change may be to the timing of when flowers bloom and when pollinators are active. Environmental cues drive the phenology of many flowers and insect pollinators, so an alteration in timing for either species could jeopardize the plant-pollinator relationship. Previous studies indicate that many plant species have changed flowering dates in response to an environmental cue, but the response is species specific. Some pollinators may not be "keeping pace" with flowers, leaving this mutualism at risk. Since not all plants and pollinators are responding equally to change it is important to develop a better understanding of how environmental change may influence vulnerable species in this mutualism and the possible implications to the function and diversity of ecosystems.