Evaluation of Native and Nonnative Ornamentals as Pollinator Plants in Florida: I. Floral Abundance and Insect Visitation

Diverse floral resources impart immense value for pollinating insects of all types. With increasing popularity and demand for modern ornamental hybrids, cultivation by breeders has led to selection for a suite of traits such as extended bloom periods and novel colors and forms deemed attractive to the human eye. Largely understudied is pollinator preference for these new cultivars, as compared with their native congeners. To address this gap in understanding, 10 species of popular herbaceous flowering plants, commonly labeled as pollinator-friendly, were evaluated at two sites in Florida [U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cold hardiness zones 8b and 9a] and across three seasons for their floral abundance and overall attractiveness to different groups of pollinating insects. Each genus, apart from pentas, encompassed a native and nonnative species. Native species included blanket flower (Gaillardia pulchella), lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), pineland lantana (Lantana depressa), and scarlet sage (Salvia coccinea). Nonnative species included Barbican™ yellow-red ring blanket flower (G. aristata ‘Gaiz005’), Bloomify™ rose lantana (L. camara ‘UF-1011-2’), mysty salvia (S. longispicata ×farinacea ‘Balsalmysty’), Lucky Star® dark red pentas (Pentas lanceolata ‘PAS1231189’), ruby glow pentas (P. lanceolata ‘Ruby glow’) and Uptick™ Gold & Bronze coreopsis (Coreopsis × ‘Baluptgonz’). Flower-visiting insects were recorded during five-minute intervals in the morning and categorized into the following morpho-groups: honey bees, large-bodied bees (bumble and carpenter bees), other bees (small to medium-bodied native bees), butterflies/moths, and wasps. Floral abundance and pollinator visitation varied widely by season, location, and species. Of the plant species evaluated, nonnative plants produced nearly twice as many flowers as native plants. About 22,000 floral visitations were observed. The majority of visits were by native, small to medium-bodied bees (55.28%), followed by butterflies and moths (15.4%), large-bodied native bees (11.8%), wasps (10.0%), and honey bees (7.6%). Among plant genera, both native and nonnative coreopsis and blanket flower were most attractive to native, small to medium-bodied bees (e.g., sweat bees, leafcutter bees) with the greatest number of visitations occurring during the early and midmonths of the study (May–August). Across the study, butterflies and moths visited lantana more frequently than all other ornamentals evaluated, whereas pentas were most attractive to wasps. Large-bodied bees visited plants most frequently in May and June, primarily foraging from both native and nonnative salvia. While results from this study showed nominal differences between native and nonnative species in their ability to attract the studied pollinator groups, care should be taken to making similar assessments of other modern plant types.

High diversity of bees detected in guarana crop and natural habitat due to the use of combined sampling methods

Bees are the main pollinators of native and agricultural plants. Identifying and knowing these insects responsible for the environmental service of pollination is essential for the maintenance and management of pollination in agricultural systems, especially in a high diversity biome as the Amazon rainforest. Some crops in this region are dependent of benefited by wild pollinators, especially native plants like guarana. To address methodological aspects of monitoring bee diversity, samplings were carried out in an agricultural environment (guarana crop, Paullinia cupana) surrounded by Amazon natural habitat at Manaus, Amazonas State. We used three combined methods (two passive traps: Malaise and yellow pan-traps, and one active: hand nets) in different periods, with the same number of samplings (12 each). In total, 4,143 native bees belonging to 171 species were sampled; 117 species (1,926 individuals) were collected with Malaise trap, 15 (91 individuals) with pan-traps, and 114 (2,126 individuals) through active sampling. Only seven species were common to all methods, 60 species on two methods and 104 species were unique to one sampling method (50 with Malaise, two with pan-traps, and 52 with hand nets). We reinforce the need for complementary sampling to known bee diversity as the best strategy here was the joint use of active samples and Malaise traps. Recently the concern with Amazon preservation has aroused worldwide interest, a fact that shreds of evidence the need for studies of biodiversity and taxonomy in several areas, since very little is known of this vast region.

Bee Positive: Design for Awareness

<p>This thesis aims to create a museum dedicated to awareness, research, and education, in an attempt to preserve the declining bee population. It focuses on the Native Bees of New Zealand in conjunction with introduced bees. The architectural design intention for the bee museum aims to encapsulate the life and biology of the bee through an informative experience of current issues, by delving into the current world in which bees exist, as well as an ephemeral architectural expression based on organic elements occurring in nature. The aim is to adhere to an emotional as well as a cognitive human response for the sake of forming an empathetic connection between the occupier and the architectural subject. This has the potential to aid the bee population through a captivating and informative design, raising further awareness as to what the issue is and how it can potentially be resolved through public initiative. The promotion of bee conservation in New Zealand may have a prospective ecological impact on a national scale and may subsequently have the potential to work as an example for other countries in their approach to this global concern.</p>

Bee Positive: Design for Awareness

<p>This thesis aims to create a museum dedicated to awareness, research, and education, in an attempt to preserve the declining bee population. It focuses on the Native Bees of New Zealand in conjunction with introduced bees. The architectural design intention for the bee museum aims to encapsulate the life and biology of the bee through an informative experience of current issues, by delving into the current world in which bees exist, as well as an ephemeral architectural expression based on organic elements occurring in nature. The aim is to adhere to an emotional as well as a cognitive human response for the sake of forming an empathetic connection between the occupier and the architectural subject. This has the potential to aid the bee population through a captivating and informative design, raising further awareness as to what the issue is and how it can potentially be resolved through public initiative. The promotion of bee conservation in New Zealand may have a prospective ecological impact on a national scale and may subsequently have the potential to work as an example for other countries in their approach to this global concern.</p>

The Native Bees of Texas: Evaluating the Benefits of a Public Engagement Course

Declines in native bee communities due to forces of global change have become an increasing public concern. Despite this heightened interest, there are few publicly available courses on native bees, and little understanding of how participants might benefit from such courses. In October of 2018 and 2019, we taught the ‘Native Bees of Texas’ course to the public at The University of Texas at Austin Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center botanical gardens in an active learning environment with slide-based presentations, printed photo-illustrated resources, and direct insect observations. In this study, we evaluated course efficacy and learning outcomes with a pre/post-course test, a survey, and open-ended feedback, focused on quality improvement findings. Overall, participants’ test scores increased significantly, from 60% to 87% correct answers in 2018 and from 64% to 87% in 2019, with greater post-course differences in ecological knowledge than in identification skills. Post-course, the mean of participants’ bee knowledge self-ratings was 4.56 on a five-point scale. The mean of participants’ ratings of the degree to which they attained the course learning objectives was 4.43 on a five-point scale. Assessment results provided evidence that the course enriched participants’ knowledge of native bee ecology and conservation and gave participants a basic foundation in bee identification. This highlights the utility of systematic course evaluations in public engagement efforts related to biodiversity conservation.

Causes and Reasons of Insect Decline and the Way Forward

There are lot of reasons and causes of insect decline. The main causes of insect decline is attributed to habitat destruction, land use changes, deforestation, intensive agriculture, urbanization, pollution, climate change, introduction of invasive insect species, application of pesticides, mass trapping of insects using pheromones and light traps, pathological problems on various insects, and introduction of exotic honey bees in new areas that compete with the native bees for resource portioning and other management techniques for pest management, and even not leaving any pest residue for predators and parasitoids for their survival. The use of chemical insecticides against target or non-target organisms is major cause for insect decline. The diseases and decline of the important pollinators is still a mistry for colony collapse disorder. To overcome the cause of insect decline, various conservation techniques to be adopted and augmentation of artificial nesting and feeding structures, use of green pesticides, maintaining the proper pest defender ratio (P:D), policies and reaching to political audience at global level and other factors already discussed in the chapter may be helpful for mitigating the insect decline and especially for the pollinators, a key insect for life.