[Pollinator] Fwd: New study suggests climate change linked to decline in pollination

[stephenbuchmann]

>
> Dear Friends of CANPOLIN,
>
> Dr. James Thomson, a University of Toronto researcher who is also a  
> member of NSERC-CANPOLIN (Working Group 2), has just published the  
> results of a 17-year study exploring pollination and fruiting  
> success of the glacier lily, Erythronium grandiflorum, in Colorado.  
> The novel study provides the first long-term evidence that climate  
> change may be linked to a decline in pollination.
>
>
> Full citation and link to paper:
> James D. Thomson.  2010.  Flowering phenology, fruiting success and  
> progressive deterioration of pollination in an early-flowering  
> geophyte
> Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 365:3187-3199.
>
>
> UNIVERSITY of TORONTO PRESS RELEASE
>
> Fears of a decline in pollination confirmed: may be due to climate  
> change
>
> Widespread reports of a decline in the population of bees and other  
> flower-visiting animals have aroused fear and speculation that  
> pollination is also likely on the decline.  A recent University of  
> Toronto study provides the first long-term evidence of a downward  
> trend in pollination, while also pointing to climate change as a  
> possible contributor.
>
> “Bee numbers may have declined at our research site, but we suspect  
> that a climate-driven mismatch betweenthe times when flowers open  
> and when bees emerge from hibernation is a more important factor,”  
> says James Thomson, a scientist with U of T’s  Department of Ecology  
> and Evolutionary Biology.
>
> Thomson’s 17-year examination of the wild lily in the Rocky  
> Mountains of Colorado is one of longest-term studies of pollination  
> ever done.  It reveals a progressive decline in pollination over the  
> years, with particularly noteworthy pollination deficits early in  
> the season.  The study will be published in Philosophical  
> Transactions of the Royal Society B:  Biological Sciences on  
> September 6.
>
> Three times each year, Thomson compared the fruiting rate of  
> unmanipulated flowers to that of flowers that are supplementally  
> pollinated by hand.  “Early in the year, when bumble bee queens are  
> still hibernating, the fruiting rates are especially low,” he says.   
> “This is sobering because it suggests that pollination is vulnerable  
> even in a relatively pristine environment that is free of pesticides  
> and human disturbance but still subject to climate change.”
>
> Thomson began his long-term studies in the late 1980s after  
> purchasing a remote plot of land and building a log cabin in the  
> middle of a meadow full of glacier lilies.  His work has been  
> supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Natural  
> Sciences and Engineering Research Council.
>
> MEDIA CONTACTS:
>
> James D. Thomson
> Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
> University of Toronto
> 416-978-3527
> james.thomson at utoronto.ca
>
>
> Be sure to visit the CANPOLIN website for  links to articles in the  
> popular press about this groundbreaking study.
>
>
>
>
>
> Sarah Bates, PhD
> Network Manager, NSERC-CANPOLIN
> School of Environmental Sciences - Bovey
> University of Guelph, 50 Stone Rd East, Guelph, ON   N1G 2W1
> tel: (519)824-4120 X58022    fax: (519)837-0442
> www.uoguelph.ca/canpolin
>
>

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