D3188: Bee use of three native prairie forbs and their nativars

This experiment compared pollinator abundance and species richness using two native prairie forbs, Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower), and Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot), along with one or two phenotypically different, commercially available nativars of each species. We hypothesized that native plants would support more pollinators than domesticated nativars. Plants of each native flower species or nativar were positioned randomly within a 1x7 meter block in the Luther community garden, and replicated 6 times using a randomized complete block design. Data were collected during the summer of 2023 by quantifying the number of pollinators visiting each plant during its flowering period. During observations, all pollinators visiting each flower were identified (Apis mellifera and Bombus were identified to species, while all other pollinators were identified either as “flower/hoverflies”, “lepidoptera” or “other bees”) and the number of each were quantified repeatedly throughout the flowering season. Comparing the three E. purpurea varieties, “powwow white” nativar was found to have the greatest number of pollinators; twice as many as the native variety, and five times as many as the red kismet nativar (p=0.043). Of the two varieties of M. fistulosa, “bee mine red” nativar had almost twice the pollinators than the “native” type (p=0.038). Native bees were the most common pollinator for all flower varieties, regardless of species and nativar.