An ecological function in crisis? The temporal overlap between plant flowering and pollinator function shrinks as the Arctic warms

Environmental monitoring aims to evaluate the state of nature, and to detect emerging threats (Lindenmayer and Likens 2009, Nie and Schultz 2012). Yet, the cautionary principle of science may hamper detection at the risk of reduced ecosystem health. Of particular concern are changes in the functioning of entire communities (Walther 2010), where potential consequences of change are devastating. Clear-cut indicators at the community-scale are, however, hard to derive. Here, we define an indicator of the community-wide scope and timing of pollen carrying capacity. We apply this measure to long-term monitoring data of High Arctic plants and pollinators to reveal that with current and future arctic warming, the timing of plant flowering and pollen transfer seems to be heading towards a functional disruption. By drafting this community-wide perspective on interaction phenology, we aim to direct attention to an impending functional disruption in the Arctic - and more broadly to stimulate functionally-oriented research into how ecosystems are responding to climate change.