Faculty Mentor(s)
Derek Rosenberger
For Communication to Presenters & Mentors
ksbell@olivet,edu, dwrosenberger@olivet.edu
Project Type
Other
Scholarship Domain(s)
Scholarship of Discovery
Presentation Type
Presentation
Abstract
The decline in many pollinator communities has been a topic of great concern for many years. The primary causes of these declines are habitat loss from urbanization and agriculture, pesticide usage, and climate change. Surveys of pollinator populations are important because they can help determine the health of the pollinator communities. No systematic surveys have assessed the pollinator populations at Olivet Nazarene University’s Prairie or at the LaGesse Prairie at Perry Farm Park in Bourbonnais Township, IL. Thus, little is known about the abundance or the species richness of bumble bees or butterflies in these areas. To address this lack of knowledge we utilized timed transect surveys at 4 locations throughout LaGesse Prairie and 2 locations at the ONU Prairie. Surveys were conducted in mid to late summer (June-September) to see the changes in abundance and richness throughout the season along with their utilization of various plant species. Despite being smaller in size, ONU Prairie had 2.85 times greater species abundance and 1.5 times greater richness of bumble bees than LaGesse Prairie. LaGesse Prairie and ONU Prairie had similar species richness and abundance of butterflies. A total of 41 floral species were observed on transects at both locations and 14 shared between sites, with LaGesse Prairie having slightly more (29) than ONU Prairie (25). Out of all 41 flowers, only 16 were utilized by bumble bees, with wild bergamot being the most utilized. Extending the research throughout the entire summer would be beneficial for future studies, particularly to capture the full butterfly assemblage. Overall, our findings provide the first assessment of pollinator communities at these sites and provides a baseline for future inquiries of butterfly and bumble bee communities.
Permission Type
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
A Comparative Study of Butterfly and Bumblebee Communities at the ONU Prairie and Perry Farm
Fishbowl
The decline in many pollinator communities has been a topic of great concern for many years. The primary causes of these declines are habitat loss from urbanization and agriculture, pesticide usage, and climate change. Surveys of pollinator populations are important because they can help determine the health of the pollinator communities. No systematic surveys have assessed the pollinator populations at Olivet Nazarene University’s Prairie or at the LaGesse Prairie at Perry Farm Park in Bourbonnais Township, IL. Thus, little is known about the abundance or the species richness of bumble bees or butterflies in these areas. To address this lack of knowledge we utilized timed transect surveys at 4 locations throughout LaGesse Prairie and 2 locations at the ONU Prairie. Surveys were conducted in mid to late summer (June-September) to see the changes in abundance and richness throughout the season along with their utilization of various plant species. Despite being smaller in size, ONU Prairie had 2.85 times greater species abundance and 1.5 times greater richness of bumble bees than LaGesse Prairie. LaGesse Prairie and ONU Prairie had similar species richness and abundance of butterflies. A total of 41 floral species were observed on transects at both locations and 14 shared between sites, with LaGesse Prairie having slightly more (29) than ONU Prairie (25). Out of all 41 flowers, only 16 were utilized by bumble bees, with wild bergamot being the most utilized. Extending the research throughout the entire summer would be beneficial for future studies, particularly to capture the full butterfly assemblage. Overall, our findings provide the first assessment of pollinator communities at these sites and provides a baseline for future inquiries of butterfly and bumble bee communities.