Climate change could be disrupting the relationship between bees and plants, according the research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) publishedย today.
The study examined how changes in temperature impacted the relationship between solitary bee species Andrena nigroaenea and the Early Spiderย Orchid.
The research, published in Current Biology, found that warmer springs cause changes in the beesโ life-cycle, and disrupt their natural synchronisation with the orchids theyย pollinate.
The university states this is the โfirst clear exampleโ of the potential for climate change to disrupt the synchrony between a specific plant and its pollinatorย species.
Examining historical records dating back to 1848 the researchers found that while warmer springs caused orchids to flower earlier it did not coincide with bees flyingย earlier.
Under normal conditions, male bees are deceived into inadvertently pollinating the flowers because the orchid has evolved to bloom in harmony with when the male bee emerges in theย springtime.
Yet the study reveals that male bees fly around nine days earlier for each degree increase in average early spring temperature. Female bees on the other hand emerge slightly later, closer to peak orchid pollinationย time.
โWarming by as little as 2ยฐC causes the males to emerge much earlier, meaning they are less well synchronised with the orchids,โ said lead researcher professor Anthony Davy from UAEโs school of biologicalย sciences.
โThe problem is compounded by the female bees which are also emerging earlier and attracting the attention of the male bees. This means that the male bees are more likely to copulate with the female bees rather than pollinatingย orchids.โ
Co-researcher Dr Karen Robbirt from UAEโs school of biological sciences said: โWe have shown that plants and their pollinators show different responses to climate change, and that warming will widen the timeline between bees and flowersย emerging.โ
โIf replicated in less specific systems, this could have severe implications for crop productivity,โ sheย said.
Davy added that there will be โprogressive disruption of pollination systemsโ with climatic warming. This will have economic consequences he said if pollination services more generally are affected by the same unsynchronised relationship observed in thisย study.
Photo:ย Charlesjsharp
