Tiny Lily Tells Much About Climate Change

Listen Now

There’s a tiny interaction in nature that has huge effects. We’re talking about pollination. You have to have it for plants to reproduce. Turns out Colorado’s a hot spot for scientists who study pollination: and one aspect in particular... how climate change affects those creatures that do the pollinating and the plants they do it to. James Thomson is one of those scientists. Since 1977, he’s come to the mountains around Crested Butte to study how one particular lily is faring. It’s called the glacier lily. And it’s having some trouble. Thomson talks wtih Ryan Warner.