Abstract
In plant-pollinator mutualisms the stages of a pollinator´s life cycle are often synchronized with the blooming period of one or multiple species of flowering plants. However, climate change and rapid changes in flower composition in agricultural landscapes can lead to temporal mismatches between food availability and energy-demanding life cycle stages of the pollinator. Changed resource availability can affect energy allocation to growth and reproduction, population growth rates and selection gradients for critical ecological traits. I will here study how the seasonal resource distribution, and changes thereof, affects: - pollinator reproductive output and population dynamics; - natural selection of pollinator phenologies; - coexistence of different phenological strategies within a pollinator community; and - interspecific competition with potential feedbacks on population growth and selection. I will focus on bumblebees (Bombus spp.) and their floral resources. Mathematical modelling will link resource use, growth and reproduction at the colony level to dynamics of populations and community evolution. I will use the theory to study responses of pollinator communities to mass-flowering crops and supplementary forage provisioning, e.g. as flower strips. By elucidating the seasonal dimension of pollinator adaptation this research will break new ground for understanding how environmental change affects ecosystem services and biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.
Sweden