Pollinator presence in relation to wetland quality and disturbance

Pollinators contribute important services in any ecosystem, including wetlands. At the same time, habitats such as wetlands provide a bounty of flowering plant species that promote pollinator populations. For some pollinating insects, such as flower flies, wetlands may be an essential part of their life cycle. To better understand the mutually beneficial relationship between wetland habitats and pollinating insects, we will survey interactions between the flowering plant community and pollinator community in wetlands across a gradient from less urban to more urban. We will also measure wetland quality through a variety of methods, including light exposure, water quality, soil pH, and land-use surrounding the wetlands. We collected a total of 893 insects across six different sites with the majority found in the more disturbed sites. We expect to find greater plant and pollinator species richness in wetlands that are less disturbed and have a higher water quality. We also expect to find that the pollinators which react most strongly to wetland quality will be species of flower flies that rely on wetlands for the larval stage of their life cycle.