[PCA] Fw: [Pollinator] Fwd: Climate-associated phenological advances in bee pollinators and bee-pollinated plants

[Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov]

Forwarding a post from the Pollinator listserve about a publication in the 
Proceedings of the National Academiy of Sciences - which, among other 
things, explores whether a phenological mismatch has occurred between 
North American bees and native plants visited by bees.

Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist, Division of Scientific Authority-US Fish & Wildlife Service
Chair, Medicinal Plant Working Group-Plant Conservation Alliance
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 110
Arlington, VA  22203
703-358-1708 x1753
FAX: 703-358-2276

Promoting sustainable use and conservation of our native medicinal plants.
<www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>

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Climate-associated phenological advances in bee pollinators and 
bee-pollinated plants
Ignasi Bartomeus, John S. Ascher, David Wagner, Bryan N. Danforth, Sheila 
Colla, Sarah Kornbluth, and Rachael Winfree
PNAS December 20, 2011 vol. 108 no. 51 20645-20649 

The phenology of many ecological processes is modulated by
temperature, making them potentially sensitive to climate change.
Mutualistic interactions may be especially vulnerable because of
the potential for phenological mismatching if the species involved
do not respond similarly to changes in temperature. Here we
present an analysis of climate-associated shifts in the phenology of
wild bees, the most important pollinators worldwide, and compare
these shifts to published studies of bee-pollinated plants over the
same time period. We report that over the past 130 y, the phenology
of 10 bee species from northeastern North America has advanced
by a mean of 10.4 ± 1.3 d. Most of this advance has taken
place since 1970, paralleling global temperature increases. When
the best available data are used to estimate analogous rates of
advance for plants, these rates are not distinguishable from those
of bees, suggesting that bee emergence is keeping pace with shifts
in host-plant flowering, at least among the generalist species that
we investigated.

Taken from:  www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1115559108

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