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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The number of flowers produced by the aspen sunflower (Helianthella quinquenervis) in a particular year is affected by the date of the start of the growing season, which is in turn influenced by the date that the winter snowpack melts. Years with low winter snowfall and warm springs have more rapid snowmelt and an earlier start to the growing season than years with a heavy snowpack or a cool...

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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A graph (modified from Boggs and Inouye 2012, Ecology Letters) demonstrating that Speyeria mormonia (Mormon fritillary) butterfly visits are proportionally greater when their food plant, Erigeron (fleabane), produces many flowers. Frost damage reduces the number of available flowers. When flowers are abundant, they produce more nectar and attract more butterflies. In turn, the greater...

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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