Due to global warming, plants are increasing the size of flowers. Reported by the University of Michigan.
Biologists have long noticed that as the climate warms, many plants begin to bloom earlier in the spring. This trend worries experts because it can disrupt interactions between plants and the animals that pollinate them (bees, birds, bats, and others). Much less attention has been paid to changes in plants and other characteristics such as the size of flowers, which may also affect the interaction of pollinators, due to climate change.
James Erickson of the University of Michigan and his colleagues conducted an experiment. They collected morning glory seeds from the edges of agricultural soybean and corn fields in Tennessee, North and South Carolina. The collection was edited twice: in 2003 and in 2012. During this nine-year period, the region experienced an increase in average temperatures, particularly at night, as well as an increase in heavy rainfall, alternating with more extreme drought. The researchers planted seeds collected from every two years in the greenhouse at the University of Massachusetts Botanical Gardens to investigate changes in flower morphology. When the flowers opened, their characteristics were measured using digital calipers. A total of 2836 flowers were measured from 456 plants.
It turned out that the morning glory crowns have expanded significantly over a nine-year interval – 4.8 centimeters in diameter in 2012 compared to 4.5 centimeters in 2003, this difference became more pronounced in the north of the country. In addition, the flowers became more “rewarding” to pollinators over time. On average, Ipomoea flowers grown from seeds harvested in 2012 produced more pollen grains and more nectar than flowers from seeds harvested in 2003. However, because the analysis of nectar and pollen was done on a smaller sample, scientists are unsure of this result.
“Still, the investment in attracting pollinators seems likely to increase over time,” the authors write.
According to scientists, the increase in the length of flowers is associated with the need to attract the attention of insects in the face of global warming.
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