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Item Earlier spring snowmelt drives arrowleaf balsamroot phenology in montane meadow(Wiley, 2022-08) Durney, J. Simone; Engel, Arden; Debinski, Diane M.; Burkle, Laura A.Climate change is shifting phenology globally, altering when and how species respond to environmental cues such as temperature and the timing of snowmelt. These shifts may result in phenological mismatches among interacting species, creating cascading effects on community and ecosystem dynamics. Using passive warming structures and snow removal, we examined how experimentally increased temperatures, earlier spring snowmelt, and the poorly understood interaction between warming and earlier spring snowmelt affected flower onset, flowering duration, and maximum floral display of the spring-flowering montane species, arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), over a 7-year period. Additionally, potential cumulative effects of treatments were evaluated over the study duration. The combination of heating with snow removal led to earlier flower onset, extended flowering duration, and increased maximum floral display. While there was year-to-year variation in floral phenology, the effect of heating with snow removal on earlier onset and maximum floral display strengthened over time. This suggests that short-term studies likely underestimate the potential for climate change to influence phenological plant traits. Overall, this research indicates that B. sagittata's flowering onset responded more strongly to snow removal than to heating, but the combination of heating with snow removal allowed plants to bloom earlier, longer, and more profusely, providing more pollinator resources in spring. If warming and early snowmelt cause similar responses in other plant species, these patterns could mitigate phenological mismatches with pollinators by providing a wider window of time for interaction and resiliency in the face of change. This example demonstrates that a detailed understanding of how spring-flowering plants respond to specific aspects of predicted climatic scenarios will improve our understanding of the effects of climate change on native plant–pollinator interactions in montane ecosystems. Studies like this help elucidate the long-term physiological effects of climate-induced stressors on plant phenology in long-lived forbs.Item Earlier spring snowmelt drives arrowleaf balsamroot phenology in montane meadows(Wiley, 2022-08) Durney, J. Simone; Engel, Arden; Debinski, Diane M.; Burkle, Laura A.Climate change is shifting phenology globally, altering when and how species respond to environmental cues such as temperature and the timing of snowmelt. These shifts may result in phenological mismatches among interacting species, creating cascading effects on community and ecosystem dynamics. Using passive warming structures and snow removal, we examined how experimentally increased temperatures, earlier spring snowmelt, and the poorly understood interaction between warming and earlier spring snowmelt affected flower onset, flowering duration, and maximum floral display of the spring-flowering montane species, arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), over a 7-year period. Additionally, potential cumulative effects of treatments were evaluated over the study duration. The combination of heating with snow removal led to earlier flower onset, extended flowering duration, and increased maximum floral display. While there was year-to-year variation in floral phenology, the effect of heating with snow removal on earlier onset and maximum floral display strengthened over time. This suggests that short-term studies likely underestimate the potential for climate change to influence phenological plant traits. Overall, this research indicates that B. sagittata's flowering onset responded more strongly to snow removal than to heating, but the combination of heating with snow removal allowed plants to bloom earlier, longer, and more profusely, providing more pollinator resources in spring. If warming and early snowmelt cause similar responses in other plant species, these patterns could mitigate phenological mismatches with pollinators by providing a wider window of time for interaction and resiliency in the face of change. This example demonstrates that a detailed understanding of how spring-flowering plants respond to specific aspects of predicted climatic scenarios will improve our understanding of the effects of climate change on native plant–pollinator interactions in montane ecosystems. Studies like this help elucidate the long-term physiological effects of climate-induced stressors on plant phenology in long-lived forbs.Item Wildfires Influence Abundance, Diversity, and Intraspecific and Interspecific Trait Variation of Native Bees and Flowering Plants Across Burned and Unburned Landscapes(2019-07) Burkle, Laura A.; Simanonok, Michael P.; Durney, J. Simone; Myers, Jonathan; Belote, R. TravisWildfire regimes are changing in the western United States, yet the ways in which wildfires influence native bees, the resources they depend on for food and nesting, or the traits that influence their interactions with plants are poorly understood. In burned and unburned areas in Montana, USA, we investigated the abundance and diversity of native bees, floral and nesting resources, nesting success, and traits of flowers and bees. In two of the three localities studied, burned areas, including areas that burned with high-severity wildfires, supported higher density and diversity of native bees and the flowers they depend on for food and larval provisioning. Burned areas also had more bare ground for ground-nesting bees and more available coarse woody debris for cavity-nesting bees than unburned areas. Moreover, cavity-nesting bees were completely unsuccessful at nesting in artificial nesting boxes in unburned areas, while nesting success was 40% in burned areas. Mean bee intertegular distance (a trait strongly correlated with tongue length, foraging distance, and body size) was similar between burned and unburned areas. However, wildfires influenced both interspecific and intraspecific trait variation of bees and plants. Intraspecific variation in bee intertegular distance was higher in unburned than burned areas. Both interspecific and intraspecific variation in floral traits important for interactions with pollinators were generally higher in burned than unburned areas. Thus, wildfires generally increased the density and species diversity of bees and flowers as well as trait variation at both trophic levels. We conclude that wildfires—even large, high-severity wildfires—create conditions that support native bees and the resources they need to flourish, but that unburned areas maintain trait variation in landscape mosaics with heterogeneous fire conditions.