Warming temperatures affect meadow-wide nectar resources, with implications for plant-pollinator communities

Ecosphere
By: , and 
Edited by: Debra P. C. Peters

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Abstract

Nectar production may be a point of sensitivity that can help link primary and secondary trophic responses to climate shifts, and is therefore important to our understanding of ecosystem responses. We evaluated the nectar response of two widespread native forbs, Balsamorhiza sagittata and Eriogonum umbellatum, to experimental warming in a high-elevation sagebrush meadow in the Teton Range, WY, USA, over two years, 2015 and 2016. Warming treatments reduced the occurrence of nighttime freezing and nectar volume but increased sugar concentration in nectar in both species in both years. Warming effects were also evident in a consistent increase in the number of flowers produced by B. sagittata. Our research suggests that warming associated with climate change has the potential to induce shifts in the nectar-feeding community by changing nectar characteristics such as volume and sugar concentration to which nectar feeders are adapted.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Warming temperatures affect meadow-wide nectar resources, with implications for plant-pollinator communities
Series title Ecosphere
DOI 10.1002/ecs2.4162
Volume 13
Issue 7
Year Published 2022
Language English
Publisher Wiley
Contributing office(s) Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
Description e4162, 9 p.
Country United States
State Wyoming
Other Geospatial Grand Teton National Park
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