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ViewAttendees 31

P-IE

Section Symposium

Designing Ecosystems for Insects, Humans and Other Species of Interest

6: Living on the edge: Determining the potential of multipurpose perennial crops as border habitat for native pollinators and natural enemies

Monday, November 16, 2020
5:25 PM - 5:45 PM EST
Livestream
Border plantings of perennial flowering species provide habitat for insect pollinators and natural enemies. However, farmers can be reluctant to plant border strips due to loss of arable land and perceived economic loss. An alternative is planting perennial multipurpose border strips of flowering forage crops to not only provide resources for pollinator and natural enemy but can be harvested for grain production. In 2018, we planted 24 plots of three known border crops – intermediate wheatgrass, alfalfa, and a flowering prairie mix – in addition to three alternative multipurpose perennial crops which can be harvested for forage after flowering: sainfoin, silflower, and cup plant. We measured the abundance and diversity of native pollinators and natural enemies and the relative benefit of each border planting as nutritional forage in efforts to determine the relative performance of each border planting as a multifunctional crop (i.e., which crop provides the best balance of insect habitat and forage). We found that pollinator abundance and diversity were highest in prairie mix, silflower, and cup plant plots and natural enemy communities did not differ between crop treatments.  Forage quality was highest in alfalfa followed by silflower and cup plant.  Altogether, this suggests that silflower and cup plant might serve as the best multi-purpose crop for attracting both beneficial insects and for grain production.  We are investigating whether these patterns persist after the first few years of plot establishment.