Native grass cover influences forb density in CP-42 pollinator plantings

Authors

Alyssa Burgert, University of Northern Colorado
Laura Jackson, University of Northern Iowa

Work/Availability

Open Access Undergraduate Student Work

Type of Work

Poster Presentation

Keywords

Pollinators--Habitat--Iowa; Forbs--Iowa; Grasses--Iowa; Weeds--Biological control--Iowa;

Abstract

In recent years, pollinator populations have greatly declined due to a large decrease in habitat. In order to combat this decline, government programs have provided farmers with incentives to convert cropland to pollinator habitat.¹ Farmers are required to plant at least 9 insect-pollinated species, with 3 species each blooming in early, middle and late summer. Any grasses must be native and comprise no more than 25% of the seed mix.² Because of the high cost of forb seed and relatively low cost of grasses, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of this seed mix strategy. We predicted that higher native grass cover would not significantly impact pollinator resources, and that successful establishment of sown grasses and forbs would reduce weed invasion.

Date of Work

2018

Department

Department of Biology

Department

Tallgrass Prairie Center

First Advisor

Laura Jackson

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Copyright

©2018 Alyssa Burgert and Laura Jackson

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Burgert, Alyssa and Jackson, Laura, "Native grass cover influences forb density in CP-42 pollinator plantings" (2018). Undergraduate Student Work. 16.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ugswork/16