The effects of soil warming on flowering phenology, reproductive strategy and attractiveness to pollinators in the herb Cerastium fontanum (Caryophyllaceae)

• Main Author: Johner, Julia
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och botanik 2019
• Subjects: Climate change; soil warming; phenological mismatch; phenotypic plasticity; counter-gradient variation; plant-pollinator interactions; reproductive assurance; autogamous self-pollination; flower size; common-garden experiment; Natural Sciences; Naturvetenskap; Hengill; Iceland
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-184959

Phenotypic plasticity plays an important role in organisms’ adaptability to environmental change such as global warming caused by greenhouse-gas emissions. One plastic response to increased temperatures is for organisms to shift their phenology. It is of great concern that the phenologies of interacting species, such as plants and pollinators, may be shifting at different rates, causing temporal mismatches, which for plants can lead to unsuccessful reproduction. The “reproductive assurance hypothesis” states that plants capable of self-pollination should be under high selection to employ this as their main reproductive strategy in the event of pollinator scarcity to ensure reproduction, and consequently invest less in attracting pollinators. This study examines how soil warming in the Hengill geothermal area in Iceland affects the flowering phenology, reproductive strategy and investment in attractiveness to pollinators in the self-compatible herb Cerastium fontanum (Caryophyllaceae), when grown in a common garden in Stockholm, Sweden. Previous research showed that C. fontanum from warmed soils flowered earlier in situ than plants from colder soils, and later when grown in a common environment. In this study, C. fontanum plants collected along a temperature gradient followed the same counter-gradient pattern, where plants from warmer soils flowered later than plants from colder soils. Soil temperature at site of origin positively affected flower number but had no effect on flower size, seed production from autogamous self-pollination or visitation rate. Based on my findings it does not appear that C. fontanum, despite having an earlier flowering phenology in situ, is under any selection to alter its reproductive strategy or investment in attractiveness to pollinators when grown in a common temperature, and therefore it seems unlikely that plants are experiencing a temporal mismatch with insect pollinators. However, it would be worthwhile to conduct a similar experiment in Iceland to better understand how an ...