1. By: Alexandra Brea, Jonathan Howlett, Alban Murati, Jasmelani Teves
Unveiling the Impact of Warming
Climes on the Pollen Abundance
of Staghorn Sumac ( Rhus typhina )
2. Climate Change
- Environmental temperatures largely drive changes in the seasonal timing of biological
events, changes in food availability, and food web structure
- Climate change favors species with wide thermal windows, short generation times, and a
range of genotypes among its populations
- Thermal windows likely evolved to be as narrow as possible to minimize maintenance
costs, resulting in functional differences between species and subspecies
- Warming rates are generally greatest at high latitudes, so Arctic and Antarctic species that
experience temperatures near their thermal maxima may be among the first species to face
severe stress from global warming and may have the least amount of time to undergo
adaptive evolutionary change
- Pollination services depend on both domesticated and wild pollinators, both of which might
be affected by changes such as habitat loss and climate change, with unknown
consequences for pollination service delivery
3. Pollinators and Environmental Stress
- Honeybees are efficient pollinators for the plant staghorn sumac, transferring pollen between flowers
as they collect nectar, promoting the plants reproduction.
- other insects like bumblebees, solitary bees, and butterflies also contribute to pollination and
promotion of biodiversity.
- Staghorn sumac is known for its tolerance in certain environmental stressors such as drought, poor
soil quality, and pollution.
- deep root system allows it to survive periods of drought, providing a consistent nectar source
for honeybees even in arid conditions.
- Common environmental stressors can make the survival much more difficult and interdependent.
- Pesticides, air pollution, climate change, habitat loss
- Stressors can disrupt their mutualistic relationship which can potentially lead to reduced pollination
success for the plan and diminish foraging resources for the bees.
4. Relevant Bee Biology
- Honey bees collect pollen and pack it on corbiculae, specialized structures on the hind legs
- When collecting pollen, bees tend to show a temporary specialization to one plant species but several species of pollen can be
found throughout the colony
- Foragers collect nectar, pollen, water, and tree resin
- Foragers transport nectar in their crop and transfer it to storer bees, which then deposit it into cells
- Foragers collect and pack the pollen pellets into cells around the brood
- Pollen is regulated according to a honey bees colony needs, but colonies maintain around 1kg of stored pollen
- Water is collected to mostly cool off the brood nest which would be a response to elevated temperature
- The tree resin is collect for the hygiene of the hive
Wright, G. A., Nicolson, S. W., & Shafir, S. (2018). Nutritional physiology and ecology of honey bees. Annual review of entomology, 63, 327-344.
5. Staghorn Sumac (rhus typhina)
- An Invasive species native to the eastern United States and northern
Canada
- Has relatively recently been introduced into Europe and Asia
- Can grow under stresses such as drought, low temperature
- Seeds are thought to be somewhat resistant to high temperatures;
presence of fire encourages germination of seeds
- Lives in -13-90° F, thrives in 32-77° F
- Serves as a winter emergency food source for wildlife such as: bobwhite
quail, wild turkey, moose, white-tailed deer, and over 300 species of
songbirds
6. Hypothesis and Predictions
Experimental Hypothesis: Warming environmental temperatures have reduced the
abundance and breadth of honey bee diets leading to colony physiological stress.
Prediction 1: There has been a decrease in the total amount of pollen collected at
given time of the year from 2017/18 to 2023.
Prediction 2: There has been a decrease in the number of plant sources utilized at
given time of the year from 2017/18 to 2023.
*Prediction 3: There has been a decrease in the abundance of pollen collected
from important food-source plant at given time of the year from 2017/18-2023.
7. Methods
Pollen was gathered from William Paterson University apiary colonies
Sample Dates from 2023 : 5/22/23, 6/05/23, 6/19/23, 7/10/23
Sample Dates from 2017/18: 5/24/17, 6/07/18, 6/20/18, 7/10/18
Pollen was suspended in a tube filled with 20% glycerin
Tube was then vortexed to mix pollen and glycerin together
8. Methods
- 20 μl of the mixed solution of pollen & glycerin was placed in a hemacytometer then placed onto the microscope stage
and was repeated for each of the sample dates
Group members all counted and documented:
-Total number of focal species in the well
-Total number of pollen grains in the well
-Total number of pollen species in the well
Then calculated the average number of different species in the well
10. Results (P3)
Temperature Effect on Pollen Gathered
● This graph
represents the
growing degree
days of Sumac.
● We used this
analysis to see if
climate had any
effect on the
pollination of
sumac
12. Results (P3)
Hypothesis Test : Chi-Square Test of Independence
Degree of Freedom = 1
Chi-Square = 15.627
P-Value= 0.000040796
13. Conclusion
● The trend line in the “Climate Effect on Pollination” graph shows a slight decrease in the increase of temperature
affecting the amount of pollen the bees acquired.
○ This could mean that the temperature did not affect pollination of the Sumac flower
● The p-value in the hypothesis test was 0.000040796 which shows that there was a significant difference in our data.
○ The p-value and the graph on the accumulation of growing degree days does not correlate with each other
probably because the types of grains depend on the year and which year has a larger amount of focal grains
does not count as part of the p-value.
14. Work Cited
- Bentrup, G., Hopwood, J., Adamson, N. L., & Vaughan, M. (2019). Temperate agroforestry systems and
insect pollinators: A review. Forests, 10(11), 981.
- Greco, C., Holland, D., & Kevan, P. (1996). FORAGING BEHAVIOUR OF HONEY BEES (APIS
MELLIFERA L.) ON STAGHORN SUMAC [RHUS HIRTA SUDWORTH (EX-TYPHINA L.)]: DIFFERENCES
AND DIOECY. The Canadian Entomologist, 128(3), 355-366. doi:10.4039/Ent128355-3
- Jiang, G., Wang, G., & Yang, J. (2009, July 15). Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac) | cabi compendium.
https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabicompendium.47400
- Sullivan, Janet. 1994. Rhus typhina. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer).
- Wang, Sunan, and Fan Zhu. "Chemical composition and biological activity of staghorn sumac (Rhus
typhina)." Food Chemistry 237 (2017): 431-443.
- What is the optimal temperature for Staghorn Sumac? (range, effects, and abnormalities). PictureThis.
(n.d.). https://www.picturethisai.com/care/temperature/Rhus_typhina.html
- Wright, G. A., Nicolson, S. W., & Shafir, S. (2018). Nutritional physiology and ecology of honey bees.
Annual review of entomology, 63, 327-344.
