Abstract
Bees decrease in abundance and richness along elevation gradients, while flies replace bees as the dominant flower visitors in higher elevation systems. We reviewed the existing literature to determine if this global phenomenon of pollinator communities switching from bees to flies occurs at the same place along a temperature gradient. Here we examined five studies that have documented this bee-to-fly transition in the North America, South America, Europe & Australia. We determined where the bee-to-fly transition occurred along a temperature/elevation gradient for each study that ranged from 1.1 to 8.3°C. We found that pollinator communities shifted from bee dominated to fly dominated communities between 4.9 and 5.7°C on all elevation gradients worldwide. This shift in pollinators could substantially impact ecological systems reliant on fly pollination as temperatures continue to warm.
Highlights
The rapid warming of the earth’s atmosphere will likely change the makeup of all current ecosystems (IPCC, 2007)
While pollinator communities are likely to be buffered from phenological mismatch, individual plant-pollinator interactions will vary widely (Hegland et al, 2009)
To understand how pollinator communities may respond to warming temperature, we need to assess the direct effects of warming temperature and indirect effect
Summary
The rapid warming of the earth’s atmosphere will likely change the makeup of all current ecosystems (IPCC, 2007). Climate change, including warming temperatures, have already been documented to alter the fitness and range of species and effecting community dynamics within an ecosystem (Gilman et al, 2010). Pollinators have an added stressor of climate change due to their strong biotic associations. It is predicted, while pollinator communities are likely to be buffered from phenological mismatch (i.e., plants and their pollinators responding to different climate signals), individual plant-pollinator interactions will vary widely (Hegland et al, 2009). To understand how pollinator communities may respond to warming temperature, we need to assess the direct effects of warming temperature and indirect effect (i.e., phenological mismatch and nesting resources availability)
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