Association between wild bee communities and floral resources in the Conservation Reserve Program
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Due to the significance of the plant-pollinator relationship, the loss of pollinators may impose widespread effects on plant communities. Pollinator declines raise questions for the future of agricultural productivity, food security, and human health. Due to the large diversity of the wild bee population and their essential role as pollinators of natural land and agricultural crops, implementing conservation practices are necessary to preserve decreasing populations. Previous conservation efforts have been limited to planting native flowering forbs in unused fields or hedgerows bordering farms and roadsides in order to establish sufficient floral resources. However, restored prairies have the ability to support bee richness and abundance to the level a remnant prairie can. Therefore, small patches of restored prairies may be a sanctuary and offer refuge to the diminishing bee population. Large scale habitat restoration, such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Pollinator Initiative, could increase not only the quantity of habitat for wild bees, but also the quality of the resources the bees have access to.
Author: Allison Eagan
Language: English
Topic: Plant and animal studies
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3026077137