Providing for pollinators: Conserving natural habitat through fire and grazing strategies

Pollinator abundance and diversity are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, lowering the effectiveness of ecosystem services. Therefore, the remaining fragments of natural habitat must be managed in a way that is beneficial to pollinator biodiversity. Fire and grazing are two management practices commonly implemented in tallgrass prairies, but few studies have examined how these practices affect pollinator communities through the impact they may have on nesting and foraging resources. In a two-year study at the Konza Prairie reserve, we collected pollinators, measured soil characteristics, and utilized plant community data from six bison-grazed and six ungrazed sites that were under a fire rotation of 1, 4, or 20 years. We found that bison grazing significantly increased forb richness and the richness of bees, while fire rotation had only indirect impacts. Thus far, we found bison grazing and fire to have significant effects on pollinator habitat and abundance, and are therefore can be effective management strategies for mitigating pollinator decline.