Misalignment ...

Black Eyed Susan

Yours truly takes pictures and videos when walking in woods and fields as my loyal readers know.  While walking, one readily sees the adverse impact of GW ranging from the early blooming of flowers to the dearth of insects needed to pollinate the flowers in question. Other slights include the slow dying of unhealthy trees along with the early arrival of birds, which often proves problematic when the food sources for said birds are not available due to the specter of climate change. The frightening aspect about this is the fact it's just the beginning in terms of what GW means for the continued existence of mankind as nature cannot adapt fast enough to this catastrophe of our own making.

Humans may welcome the chance to put away our coats early. But off-schedule springs can have devastating ecological impacts, from pollinators missing the flowers they usually visit to an increase in conflicts between humans and animals as hibernations are cut short. “A really early spring can lead to all sorts of unexpected problems,” says Morgan Tingley, an ornithologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. The situation will only worsen as climate change makes warmer winters and earlier spring conditions ever more likely. “The issue is when really early springs don’t just become the exception; they become the rule. And that is what we are seeing with climate change in general,” Tingley says. “The extreme has become the typical.  That’s when we start to see stronger, really negative impacts.”

On the other end of the spectrum, not all flowers will bloom early; some tie their efflorescence to the amount and quality of sunlight they receive. But those that do so can mismatch with pollinators that emerge ahead of schedule as a result of warm weather. If the primary flowers they rely on haven’t bloomed, there won’t be anything for them to eat. “I heard some anecdotal accounts ... of dead bees being witnessed on the ground,” says Theresa Crimmins, director of the USA National Phenology Network. Some biologists speculate that warm temperatures might have lured the bees out of their winter rest and that they then starved without the right flowers being open.

A welcomed pit stop :)