2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Presentation Type

Open Access Poster Presentation

Keywords

Bees--Ecology; Bees--Habitat;

Abstract

The recent decline in native bee populations across the Midwest has been linked to the drastic decrease of prairie habitats and pollinator floral resources. Since the agricultural revolution, grassland areas have been removed and replaced with row crops to meet the needs of expanding markets, including the production of ethanol. In response to the loss of these (and other) essential pollinators, the Conservation Reserve Program administered by the USDA initiated a pollinator habitat initiative called CP-42. Despite efforts to assess the program's success, there is still much that needs to be learned about restoring prairie habitats for bees. With CP-42, we do not know if sown plants are having any effect on pollinators compared to the effects of unsown plants. As a result, the seed mixes are not being improved to optimize the habitat. Since 2016, researchers from UNI Tallgrass Prairie Center and Biology Department have been collecting data on the composition and bee utilization of floral resources in CP-42 fields. In the summer of 2019, we surveyed bee populations and floral resources at 9 sites in northeast Iowa. The floral resources were specified as sown or unsown based on whether that species was included in the planted seed mix. We hypothesized that there is a positive correlation between the overall densities of floral resources and bees. Additionally, we hypothesized that the abundance of sown flowers would have a more positive relationship with bee abundance, compared to the relationship between unsown flower and bee abundance. As expected, a significant positive relationship was found between overall floral abundance and bee abundance of each site. However, analysis comparing the bee and floral abundance from sown and unsown species at each site showed no statistical difference between sown and unsown species. While the CP-42 plantings are attracting bee pollinators, the lack of additional benefit from sown species suggests that seed mixes are not resulting in the most optimal floral resources.

Start Date

2-8-2019 11:30 AM

End Date

2-8-2019 1:30 PM

Event Host

Summer Undergraduate Research Program, University of Northern Iowa

Faculty Advisor

Kenneth Elgersma

Department

Department of Biology

File Format

application/pdf

Download

Comments?

Included in

Entomology Commons

Share

Import Event to Google Calendar

COinS
 
Aug 2nd, 11:30 AM Aug 2nd, 1:30 PM

Sown and Unsown Floral Resources Both Support Bee Abundance

The recent decline in native bee populations across the Midwest has been linked to the drastic decrease of prairie habitats and pollinator floral resources. Since the agricultural revolution, grassland areas have been removed and replaced with row crops to meet the needs of expanding markets, including the production of ethanol. In response to the loss of these (and other) essential pollinators, the Conservation Reserve Program administered by the USDA initiated a pollinator habitat initiative called CP-42. Despite efforts to assess the program's success, there is still much that needs to be learned about restoring prairie habitats for bees. With CP-42, we do not know if sown plants are having any effect on pollinators compared to the effects of unsown plants. As a result, the seed mixes are not being improved to optimize the habitat. Since 2016, researchers from UNI Tallgrass Prairie Center and Biology Department have been collecting data on the composition and bee utilization of floral resources in CP-42 fields. In the summer of 2019, we surveyed bee populations and floral resources at 9 sites in northeast Iowa. The floral resources were specified as sown or unsown based on whether that species was included in the planted seed mix. We hypothesized that there is a positive correlation between the overall densities of floral resources and bees. Additionally, we hypothesized that the abundance of sown flowers would have a more positive relationship with bee abundance, compared to the relationship between unsown flower and bee abundance. As expected, a significant positive relationship was found between overall floral abundance and bee abundance of each site. However, analysis comparing the bee and floral abundance from sown and unsown species at each site showed no statistical difference between sown and unsown species. While the CP-42 plantings are attracting bee pollinators, the lack of additional benefit from sown species suggests that seed mixes are not resulting in the most optimal floral resources.