D3110: (2nd Place) Pollinator responses to wildflower patch size and diversity

The decline of insect pollinators has been well documented, with habitat loss and degradation thought to be two main drivers of the decline. These findings have been met with an ever-growing amount of support to better protect the ecosystem service these insects provide. Support often takes the form of conservation initiatives that center around mitigating habitat loss and returning that habitat to a more native state. In practice this often involves seeding diverse wildflower mixes to create native plantings for use by pollinators; however, follow-up studies documenting the success (or failure) of plantings are rare. The goal of our research is to document the impact of native wildflower plantings on pollinator communities. Using Missouri lands enrolled in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and a manipulative field study with a factorial design (3 levels of plant species diversity x 3 seeding rates), we investigate how seed mix diversity, seeding rate, patch size, and previous land use impact the establishment of the flower community and bumble bee (Bombus spp.) visitation. We found that flower abundance and diversity declined when previous land was cultivated compared to uncultivated grassland. We also found that flower diversity did not impact Bombus visitation to wildflower patches. These findings suggest that effective wildflower plantings should target previously unmanaged or less-intensively managed land and should tailor the seed diversity to the insect species of greatest concern.