Evaluating Pollinator Responses to Grassland Management Techniques

Pollinator species such as butterflies and bees are declining globally primarily due to habitat loss. This is especially concerning within the tallgrass prairie ecoregion of North America, where the land area comprised of native vegetation has declined by an estimated 99%. Thus, tallgrass prairie restoration and management is imperative. The control of invasive plant species such as tall fescue (Schedonorus phoenix) is one aspect of grassland management. In our first study we added herbicide and seeding treatments to control tall fescue and enhance plant diversity, and measured how these combined treatments affect the abundance, species richness, and diversity of butterflies and flowering plants. Five sites were each divided into three patches, and each patch was managed using one of three different herbicide and seeding treatments. These treatments included a non-sprayed control patch, a patch sprayed with glyphosate, and a patch sprayed with glyphosate as well as seeded with a mixture of native plants. Floral resource abundance was significantly higher in patches that were sprayed or sprayed and seeded compared to the control patches. In addition, floral species richness and diversity were significantly higher in patches that were sprayed and seeded compared to the control. Butterfly abundance was marginally significantly higher in patches that were sprayed and seeded compared to the control patches. This study indicates that the control of an invasive grass via herbicide treatments and seeding can potentially provide benefits to native pollinator and flowering plant communities. Restoring grasslands with the goal of improving native plant abundance, species richness, and diversity is another aspect of grassland management. In our second study, we test responses of the native bee and flowering plant communities to three grassland management treatments. Twelve sites were selected for bee and floral resource sampling based on their current land management strategy. Four sites were tallgrass prairie