Poster

         Ecology

Historical climate change shifts flower shape and production of a common annual plant, Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)

Presenting Author
Amber Stanley
Description
Climate change is a major-human mediated stressor that alters temperature and precipitation patterns across the globe. In the Eastern United States, projections show that annual temperatures will increase 3-5oC and precipitation will increase 20% by 2100. Such changes in the environment have the potential to disrupt key species interactions. For example, nearly 90% of all flowering plants rely on insect pollinators to transfer pollen between individuals. 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. Here, I ask How have temperature and precipitation increases due to climate change influenced floral traits of a common focal species? To investigate this question, I used a focal plant species, Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis). This well-characterized annual plant is common in wetlands and floodplain forests of the Eastern United States. It primarily relies on bumblebees to transfer pollen between individuals, but can also produce selfing flowers. Using digitized herbarium collections, I measured the timing of flowering, flower size and production on herbarium specimens of 650+ collected in Pennsylvania between 1900-2020. I used CRU-TS climate projections to extract temperature and precipitation for each specimen. I hypothesize increasing temperatures are highly correlated with H1) earlier flowering time and H2) increased production of flowers, and increasing precipitation is correlated with H3) increasing flower size. Such changes in floral traits due to increasing temperatures may alter the pollination interaction and could increase extinction risk.