Flowering phenology in subalpine meadows: does climate variation influence community co-flowering patterns?
- PMID: 20392008
- DOI: 10.1890/09-0099.1
Flowering phenology in subalpine meadows: does climate variation influence community co-flowering patterns?
Abstract
Climate change is expected to alter patterns of species co-occurrence, in both space and time. Species-specific shifts in reproductive phenology may alter the assemblages of plant species in flower at any given time during the growing season. Temporal overlap in the flowering periods (co-flowering) of animal-pollinated species may influence reproductive success if competitive or facilitative interactions between plant species affect pollinator services. We used a 33-year data set on flowering phenology in subalpine meadows in Colorado, USA, to determine whether interannual variation in snowmelt date, which marks the start of the growing season, affected co-flowering patterns. For two of four species considered, we found a significant relationship between snowmelt timing and composition of the assemblage of co-flowering plants. In years of early snowmelt, Lathyrus lanszwertii var. leucanthus (Fabaceae), the species we investigated in most detail, tended to overlap with earlier-flowering species and with fewer species overall. In particular, overlap with the flowering period of Lupinus polyphyllus var. prunophilus, with which Lathyrus leucanthus shares pollinators, was significantly reduced in early-snowmelt years. The observed association between timing of snowmelt and patterns of flowering overlap could not have been predicted simply by examining temporal trends in the dates of peak flowering of the dominant species in the community, as peak flowering dates have largely shifted in parallel with respect to snowmelt date. However, subtle interspecific differences in responsiveness of flowering time, duration, and intensity to interannual climate variation have likely contributed to the observed relationship. Although much of the year-to-year variation in flowering overlap remains unexplained by snowmelt date, our finding of a measurable signal of climate variation suggests that future climate change may lead to altered competitive environments for these wildflower species.
Similar articles
-
Climate drives phenological reassembly of a mountain wildflower meadow community.Ecology. 2017 Nov;98(11):2799-2812. doi: 10.1002/ecy.1996. Epub 2017 Oct 11. Ecology. 2017. PMID: 29023677
-
Nonlinear flowering responses to climate: are species approaching their limits of phenological change?Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2013 Jul 8;368(1624):20120489. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0489. Print 2013 Aug 19. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2013. PMID: 23836793 Free PMC article.
-
Warming acts through earlier snowmelt to advance but not extend alpine community flowering.Ecology. 2020 Sep;101(9):e03108. doi: 10.1002/ecy.3108. Ecology. 2020. PMID: 32455489
-
Effects of climate change on alpine plants and their pollinators.Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2020 Jun;1469(1):26-37. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14104. Epub 2019 Apr 26. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2020. PMID: 31025387 Review.
-
How Climate Change May Impact Plant Reproduction and Fitness by Altering the Temporal Separation of Male and Female Flowering.Glob Chang Biol. 2024 Oct;30(10):e17533. doi: 10.1111/gcb.17533. Glob Chang Biol. 2024. PMID: 39400973 Review.
Cited by
-
The effects of warming-shifted plant phenology on ecosystem carbon exchange are regulated by precipitation in a semi-arid grassland.PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e32088. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032088. Epub 2012 Feb 16. PLoS One. 2012. PMID: 22359660 Free PMC article.
-
High-altitude multi-taskers: bumble bee food plant use broadens along an altitudinal productivity gradient.Oecologia. 2014 Dec;176(4):1033-45. doi: 10.1007/s00442-014-3066-8. Epub 2014 Sep 9. Oecologia. 2014. PMID: 25199658
-
Early spring, severe frost events, and drought induce rapid carbon loss in high elevation meadows.PLoS One. 2014 Sep 10;9(9):e106058. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106058. eCollection 2014. PLoS One. 2014. PMID: 25207640 Free PMC article.
-
Yearly fluctuations of flower landscape in a Mediterranean scrubland: Consequences for floral resource availability.PLoS One. 2018 Jan 18;13(1):e0191268. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191268. eCollection 2018. PLoS One. 2018. PMID: 29346453 Free PMC article.
-
Flowering phenology shifts in response to biodiversity loss.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Mar 28;114(13):3463-3468. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1608357114. Epub 2017 Mar 13. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017. PMID: 28289231 Free PMC article.