Climate change could be throwing bees out of sync with plants - with males too distracted by females to carry out pollination.

Certain flowers have evolved so they bloom just as bees emerge after winter.

Warmer springs have resulted in both bees and flowers emerging earlier but they no longer coincide.

By the time flowers bloom, the bees are busy mating so they do not help fertilise the plants in the normal way.

According to the University of East Anglia (UEA), the findings could have severe implications for crop productivity.

The research gives the first clear example of the potential for climate change to disrupt critical co-evolutionary relationships between species and comes after the Government launched its new Bee and Pollinator Strategy.

Lead researcher Anthony Davy, from the university's school of biological sciences, said that under normal conditions, male bees are deceived into inadvertently pollinating orchid flowers but this process could be disrupted by climate change.

He said: "Warming by as little as two degrees causes males to emerge much earlier, meaning they are less well synchronised with the orchids.

"The problem is compounded by female bees also emerging earlier, and attracting the attention of the male bees.