Buds of Delphinium barbeyi (tall larkspur, Ranunculaceae) killed by a late season frost. In those years, the larkspur suffers reproductive failure, affecting animal species that rely on them for food.

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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The glacier lily (Erythronium grandiflorum) is one of the earliest wildflowers to bloom after snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains. Its ovaries and seeds are sensitive to late-season frosts. But because the species is a perennial, it can survive occasional years of reproductive failure by blooming the following year. By avoiding the cost of producing the relatively large fruit and seeds in one year,...

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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A queen bumble bee (Bombus bifarius) foraging for nectar on a flower of Erythronium grandiflorum (glacier lily). This flower has frost-sensitive ovaries. Bumble bee queens and hummingbirds are common pollinators of Erythronium grandiflorum flowers.

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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Example of a frost-killed ovary (on left) and a normally developing fruit (on right) of Erythonium grandiflorum, the glacier lily. The two plants were selected to show the difference, and weren't growing next to each other.

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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A Mormon fritillary butterfly (Speyeria mormonia) visiting flowers of the fleabane daisy (Erigeron speciosus), an important and preferred nectar resource. Flower buds of E. speciosus are frost-sensitive. Egg production of female S. mormonia butterflies is limited by the amount of nectar they can collect (which is unusual for butterflies). Therefore, spring frosts that kill E. speciosus flowers...

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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