There's a certain graceful flow that can be observed in nature. However, that flow is now being disrupted no thanks to climate change. The flowers and bees are affected, specifically, the Early Spider Orchid and the solitary bee Andrena nigroaenea.
Researchers from the University of East Anglia studied long-term trends based on historical records dating back to the 1840s. For the study, they analyzed the activities of solitary bees from museum specimens and compared these with flowering time records of the Early Spider Orchid as well as climate logs from the Met Office.
According to their findings, warmer temperatures in spring cause the orchids to bloom earlier. Male solitary bees are also emerging earlier, flying nine days earlier for every degree of temperature increase in spring. Although they're both ahead of their usual schedule, the orchid and the bees don't flower and emerge at the same time, throwing off the pollination process.
The Early Spider Orchid relies on "pseudocopulation" to thrive, attracting male solitary bees by mimicking the appearance of the females to facilitate pollination. Unfortunately, female solitary bees are also emerging earlier, coming out right around the time the orchids bloom. The flowers, of course, can't compete with the real thing. With male solitary bees busy with the females, pollination drops and, when it does, the growth of plant life suffers.
"There will be progressive disruption of pollination systems with climatic warming, which could lead to the breakdown of coevolved interactions between species because they either respond either to different seasonal cues, or to the same cues at different rates," explained Professor Anthony Davy from the School of Biological Sciences at UEA and the study's lead researcher.
About 75 percent of all food crops require pollination. With bees and other pollinators already dwindling in number because of pesticide use, disease and loss of flower as habitats, every chance at pollination is important. In the United Kingdom alone, the free fertilization that bees and other pollinators provide is pegged to be equivalent to about $680 million each year for farmers.
The study "Potential Disruption of Pollination in a Sexually Deceptive Orchid by Climate Change," which was published in the journal Current Biology, received funding support from the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Swiss Orchid Foundation. It was carried out in collaboration with the University of Sussex, University of Kent, and Royal Botanic Gardens. Aside from Davy, the study's authors include Michael Hutchings, David Roberts and Karen Robbirt.
