Desynchronizations in bee-plant interactions cause severe fitness losses in solitary bees

1. Global warming can disrupt mutualistic interactions between solitary bees and plants when increasing temperature differentially changes the timing of interacting partners. One possible scenario is for insect phenology to advance more rapidly than plant phenology.
2. However, empirical evidence for fitness consequences due to temporal mismatches is lacking for pollinators and it remains unknown if bees have developed strategies to mitigate fitness losses following temporal mismatches.
3. We tested the effect of temporal mismatches on the fitness of three spring-emerging solitary bee species, including one pollen specialist. Using flight cages, we simulated (i) a perfect synchronization (from a bee perspective): bees and flowers occur simultaneously, (ii) a mismatch of three days and (iii) a mismatch of six days, with bees occurring earlier than flowers in the latter two cases.
4. A mismatch of six days caused severe fitness losses in all three bee species, as few bees survived with...