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ViewAttendees 10

P-IE

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Undergrad 10-min: P-IE, Pollinators

Pollinator gardens as havens for overlooked biodiversity

On-Demand
Student Competition On-Demand
Pollinators are an important part of our everyday lives, assisting in the pollination of most of the world’s flowering plants, including much of the produce we consume. Hoverflies are a diverse group of pollinators often overlooked in North American research. They rely on nectar, pollen, and aphids during their life cycles. We wanted to determine if pollinator gardens affect hoverfly diversity and which flower varieties they prefer. We hypothesized that pollinator gardens provide a diverse range of floral resources, increasing hoverfly diversity. We further hypothesize that flower color and ease of nectar access affect floral use. For 8 sampling periods across two years, pan traps were used in the lawn and garden of two sites (UNCP and RCC). A total of 71 plots of 70 flower varieties were observed for 15 minute intervals to determine hoverfly visitation rates. We collected 92 total hoverflies of 5 different species in pan traps. UNCP’s pollinator garden showed higher abundance of hoverflies than the nearby lawn, however, there was no significant difference at RCC. During 70 hours of floral observations (216 hoverfly visits), we saw that hoverflies only visited 26 of the 70 available flower varieties. The results from the UNCP site seem to confirm that pollinator gardens increase hoverfly abundance. We also found that hoverflies seem to prefer warm colored flowers with easily accessible nectar and pollen. Hoverflies can be a great benefit to our native plants, gardeners, and even farmers who may want to attract both pollinators and predatory insects.