Submission Type
Poster
Abstract
Climate change is a major human-mediated stressor that has been altering temperature patterns across the globe since the Industrial Revolution. In the Eastern United States, it has been projected that the average annual temperature will increase by 3-5 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. Such environmental changes have the potential to disrupt key interactions between species. For example, the vast majority (ca. 90%) of flowering plants rely on animal pollinators to transfer pollen between individuals to reproduce. Higher temperatures cause many plant species to flower up to 3-4 weeks earlier in the year, but pollinator activity has not shifted with the same magnitude, meaning that flowers are produced when fewer pollinators are active. Flower size can be limited by increasing temperatures, which makes it harder for larger pollinators to transfer pollen. Some plant species can produce self-pollinating flowers to mitigate disruptions in pollination, however this can decrease genetic diversity. How has temperature increases due to climate change influenced floral traits of a common focal plant species? To investigate this question, I measured the timing of flowering, flower size, and selfing ratio from over 600 herbarium specimens of Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) collected in Pennsylvania between 1880-2020. Orange Jewelweed is a well-characterized annual flowering species that grows along floodplains in the Eastern United States. It primarily relies on bumblebees to transfer pollen between individuals, but can also produce selfing flowers. To examine to effect of temperature on floral traits, I used the historical PRISM climate projections dataset to extract local mean temperature for the year each specimen was collected. I hypothesized that increasing temperatures are highly correlated with H1) earlier flowering time, H2) smaller flower size, and H3) increased production of selfing flowers. Changes in floral traits due to increasing temperatures may alter the pollination interaction and could increase extinction risk.
Historical climate-influenced shifts in flower shape and production of a common annual plant, Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)
Climate change is a major human-mediated stressor that has been altering temperature patterns across the globe since the Industrial Revolution. In the Eastern United States, it has been projected that the average annual temperature will increase by 3-5 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. Such environmental changes have the potential to disrupt key interactions between species. For example, the vast majority (ca. 90%) of flowering plants rely on animal pollinators to transfer pollen between individuals to reproduce. Higher temperatures cause many plant species to flower up to 3-4 weeks earlier in the year, but pollinator activity has not shifted with the same magnitude, meaning that flowers are produced when fewer pollinators are active. Flower size can be limited by increasing temperatures, which makes it harder for larger pollinators to transfer pollen. Some plant species can produce self-pollinating flowers to mitigate disruptions in pollination, however this can decrease genetic diversity. How has temperature increases due to climate change influenced floral traits of a common focal plant species? To investigate this question, I measured the timing of flowering, flower size, and selfing ratio from over 600 herbarium specimens of Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) collected in Pennsylvania between 1880-2020. Orange Jewelweed is a well-characterized annual flowering species that grows along floodplains in the Eastern United States. It primarily relies on bumblebees to transfer pollen between individuals, but can also produce selfing flowers. To examine to effect of temperature on floral traits, I used the historical PRISM climate projections dataset to extract local mean temperature for the year each specimen was collected. I hypothesized that increasing temperatures are highly correlated with H1) earlier flowering time, H2) smaller flower size, and H3) increased production of selfing flowers. Changes in floral traits due to increasing temperatures may alter the pollination interaction and could increase extinction risk.
Comments
Dr. Tia-Lynn Ashman, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh