Studies are showing that some flowers are changing the intensity of their colours to help protect themselves from the sun’s radiation. Climate change is weakening the ozone layer and increasing temperatures throughout the world. This, in turn, is damaging the quality of the pollen a flower can produce. According to Matthew Koski, a plant ecologist at Clemson University, “Flowers’ UV pigments are invisible to the human eye, but they attract pollinators and serve as a kind of sunscreen for plants.” The science journal Current Biology reports that UV pigmentation, between the years 1941 and 2017, increased by 2% each year.
Unfortunately, there is a downside to this clever response to climate change – pollinators are less attracted to these darker hues. They prefer flowers that have brightly-tipped petals leading to darker centers. Perhaps, like flowers, pollinators will adapt to these changes as well.