Working with wildflowers in a changing climate: The value of long-term research
In January 2024, we were privileged to hear Dr. David Inouye speak. Dr. Inouye is a retired professor from the University of Maryland, who has spent 53 years doing research at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. His long-term research there includes work on plant demography (following individual plants for as long as 50 years), hummingbirds (helping document the oldest known hummingbird in the wild), and the phenology (timing) and abundance of flowering by about 120 species of wildflowers that he and his collaborators check three times a week for the whole growing season (since 1973). He’s also helping with the most extensive and longest monitoring program for native bees in Colorado. His work was featured in articles in National Geographic last April, and in the Colorado Sun this summer.
Dr. Inouye shared his conclusions with us and also shared how his research was able to verify research done by others on the same topics. Here are Dr. Inouye’s conclusions from his 53 years of research in the same small area:
Conclusions
- The climate is indeed changing
- Snowmelt dates are getting earlier
- Flowering is starting earlier
- Frequency of frost damage is increasing
- Abundance of some flowers I declining
- Plant demography is being affected
- Pollinators are being affected
- Variation in species responses may lead to altered and new interactions
- Long-term data are critical to unraveling such relationships
- Landscaping can help pollinators
