Changes to flowering time caused by climate change could affects plant fecundity, but studies that compare the individual‐level responses of phenologically distinct, co‐occurring species are lacking. We assessed how variation in floral phenology affects the fecundity of individuals from three montane species with different seasonal flowering times, including in snowmelt acceleration treatments to increase variability in phenology.
We collected floral phenology and seed set data for individuals of three montane plant species (
Differences in individual phenology relative to the rest of the population affected fecundity in our focal species, but effects were species‐specific. For our early‐season species, individuals that bloomed later than the population peak bloom had increased fecundity, while for our midseason species, simply blooming before or after the population peak increased individual fecundity. For our late‐season species, blooming earlier than the population peak increased fecundity. The early and midseason species were pollen‐limited, and conspecific density affected seed set only for our early‐season species.
Our study shows that variation in individual phenology affects fecundity in three phenologically distinct montane species, and that pollen limitation may be more influential than conspecific density. Our results suggest that individual‐level changes in phenology are important to consider for understanding plant reproductive success.