Results of an investigation on the creation of habitat for insect pollinators in eastern Iowa

Jackson, Laura L.

Jonas, Kylie

Name not available

Tallgrass Prairie Center: Effects of Planting Time and Grass-Forb Seeding Ration on Establishment in CRP Pollinator Habitat

University of Northern Iowa

University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks UNI Conservation Corps Projects UNI Conservation Corps 2017 Tallgrass Prairie Center: Effects of Planting Time and Grass-Forb Seeding Ration on Establishment in CRP Pollinator Habitat Kylie Jonas University of Northern Iowa, jonask@uni.edu Laura L. Jackson University of Northern Iowa, laura.l.jackson@uni.edu Let us know how access to this document benefits you Copyright ©2017 Kylie Jonas and Laura Jackson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/conservationcorps_documents  Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons, and the Plant Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Jonas, Kylie and Jackson, Laura L., "Tallgrass Prairie Center: Effects of Planting Time and Grass-Forb Seeding Ration on Establishment in CRP Pollinator Habitat" (2017). UNI Conservation Corps Projects. 11. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/conservationcorps_documents/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the UNI Conservation Corps at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in UNI Conservation Corps Projects by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@uni.edu. Effects of Planting Time and Grass-Forb Seeding Ratio on Establishment in CRP Pollinator HabitatKylie Jonas and Dr. Laura JacksonDepartment of Biology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IABackground Butterfly and bee populations have declined in recent years due to a lack of flowers and forbs that provide nectar and pollen for these insects.  One of the Conservation Reserve Program’s goals is to create land that is environmentally healthier and to create habitats more suitable for wildlife. There is substantial interest in knowing how well this program is working for creating ideal habitats for bees and butterflies. The process of evaluating the effectiveness of the seed mixes had yet to be done successfully.Research Questions What species of forbs have the highest establishment rates in CRP fields? Does field age, season of planting, or grass-forb ratio of the original seed mix affect overall plant establishment or individual species plant establishment? We surveyed 13 CRP sites in eastern Iowa in summer 2017 QGIS was used to choose random starting points for five –100 m transects which ran along the longest plot dimension. We surveyed 75 – 0.5 m × 2.0 m quadrats, at seven meter intervals along the length of the five transects. All forbs >20 cm were identified to species. Unknown species were pressed for later identification.  Plants with branching stems were considered individuals. Stem number was counted for rhizomatous species. Establishment rate was calculated as: plant density (plants/m2) divided by sown seed number. Establishment rates were calculated at the site-level and species-level. We depicted establishment rates for: Asclepias tuberosa, Astragalus canadensis, Echinacea pallida, Heliopsishelianthoides, and Monarda fistulosa because these were species with variable establishment rates and of particular interest for pollinators.I would like to thank my fellow SURP students in all their assistance in the field and in the lab, as well as my committee members, Dr. Laura Jackson, Dr. Mark Sherrard, Dr. Mark Myers, and Dr. Ai Wen. Thanks to all the farmers that participated and allowed us to survey their fields. A special thank you to Daryl Smith and Bruce Stiles for letting us tour your prairies. This project was supported by the UNI Conservation Corps (an initiative funded by The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust) and the UNI Biology SURP. Jennifer Pauley         Esther Edgerton         Chandler Dolan     Molly LanghenryMichael Lashbrook Alec Glidden  Gabrielle Brown        Kathleen MadsenConservation Reserve Program. (n.d.). Retrieved July 21, 2017, from https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/conservation-programs/conservation-reserve-program/indexPrairie Moon Nursery. (n.d.). Retrieved July 21, 2017, from https://www.prairiemoon.com/MethodsConclusionsResultsAcknowledgements Of 101 sown species, 45 did not establish, 45 had low establishment (<5%) and 11 had high establishment (>5%).   We found no effect of field age, season of planting, or grass-forb ratio for establishment of all sown species combined.  Astragalus canadensis was found at higher rates in older fields. Monarda fistulosa and Echinacea pallida were more abundant in fields planted in fall. Monarda fistulosa and Astragalus canadensis were more abundant in plantings with a low grass-forb ratio. Future Direction In summer 2018, we will survey additional CRP sites in eastern Iowa. We can use these data to improve seed mix design.ReferencesFigure 1. Map of CRP fields evaluated.Figure 2. Mean percent establishment for every species sown in any of the 13 sites evaluated. An additional 45 species were seeded but not observed.Figure 3.  Mean (± 1SE) percent establishment for five selected species and all species combined (“all sown species”), by (a) field age in 2 (n=8), 3 (n=2), or 4 (n=2) years; (b) planting time in spring (n=8) or fall (n=4), and (c) grass-forb seeding ratio: high (1:1, n=4); medium (1:3, n=7); low (≥1:10, n=2). * p<.05 , ° p=0.05-0.1Heliopsis helianthoidesAstragalus canadensisEchinacea pallida Asclepias tuberosaMonarda fistulosaEstablishment (%)ABChttps://www.prairiemoon.com/ https://www.prairiemoon.com/Sown species not observedAgastache foeiculum Campanula americana Gentiana glauca Lithospermum canescens Ruellia humilisAllium canadense Ceanothus americanus Geum triflorum Lobelia cardinalis Silphium perfoliatumAllium stellatum Delphinium carolinianum Helianthus giganteus Lobelia siphilitica Solidago nemoralisAnemone patens Dodecatheon meadia Helianthus laetiflorus Ludwigia alternifolia Solidago riddelliAnemone virginiana Echinacea angustifolia Helianthus petiolaris Mimulus ringens Symphyotrichum lateriflorumAquilegia canadensis Eupatorium altissimum Heuchera richardsonii Penstemon grandiflorus Tanacetum partheniumAsclepias verticillata Festuca rubra Iris Shrevei Phlox pilosa Thalictrum dasycarpumAster linariifolius Gentiana andrewsii Liatris ligulistylis Physostegia virginiana Verbena hastataBrickellia eupatorioides Gentiana flavida Lilium michiganense Pycnanthemum pilosum Viola pedatifida We compared establishment rates between (1) two, three, and four year old CRP fields, (2) spring-sown vs. fall-sown CRP fields, (3) CRP fields with high, medium, and low grass-forb seeding ratio using one way ANOVAs with site age, seeding time, and grass-forb ratio as fixed factors respectively. Summer Research Students

https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=conservationcorps_documents

Tallgrass Prairie Center: Effects of Planting Time and Grass-Forb Seeding Ration on Establishment in CRP Pollinator Habitat

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Name not available

University of Northern Iowa