1 research outputs found
Examining the Potential for Agricultural Benefits from Pollinator Habitat at Solar Facilities in the United States
Of the many roles insects serve for
ecosystem function, pollination
is possibly the most important service directly linked to human well-being.
However, land use changes have contributed to the decline of pollinators
and their habitats. In agricultural landscapes that also support renewable
energy developments such as utility-scale solar energy [USSE] facilities,
opportunities may exist to conserve insect pollinators and locally
restore their ecosystem services through the implementation of vegetation
management approaches that aim to provide and maintain pollinator
habitat at USSE facilities. As a first step toward understanding the
potential agricultural benefits of solar-pollinator habitat, we identified
areas of overlap between USSE facilities and surrounding pollinator-dependent
crop types in the United States (U.S.). Using spatial data on solar
energy developments and crop types across the U.S., and assuming a
pollinator foraging distance of 1.5 km, we identified over 3,500 km<sup>2</sup> of agricultural land near existing and planned USSE facilities
that may benefit from increased pollination services through the creation
of pollinator habitat at the USSE facilities. The following five pollinator-dependent
crop types accounted for over 90% of the agriculture near USSE facilities,
and these could benefit most from the creation of pollinator habitat
at existing and planned USSE facilities: soybeans, alfalfa, cotton,
almonds, and citrus. We discuss how our results may be used to understand
potential agro-economic implications of solar-pollinator habitat.
Our results show that ecosystem service restoration through the creation
of pollinator habitat could improve the sustainability of large-scale
renewable energy developments in agricultural landscapes