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ViewAttendees 6

P-IE

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Undergrad 10-min: P-IE, Pollinators

Butterfly diversity, floral use, and persistence in pollinator plantings

On-Demand
Student Competition On-Demand
Butterflies play a vital role in pollination, a key step in plant reproduction and fruit production. Concerns about pollinator declines have increased interest in pollinator plantings. For this study we asked: What are the possible effects of habitat enhancement, do butterflies show a preference for certain flowers, and how long do butterflies persist in a habitat? We hypothesized that having a wide variety of flowers that bloom throughout the season attracts and provides resources for butterfly visitors encouraging them to remain. We predict that butterflies will be more likely to visit flowers commonly marketed for butterflies in red and orange colors. For 10 weeks, butterflies were netted, marked, and released once per week for an hour in both a pollinator garden and lawn. After 10 weeks, butterflies continued to be caught and released three times per week for thirty minutes. Data were recorded for the variety of flower visited and weather conditions such as humidity, temperature, wind, UV index, and cloud cover. Results showed no significant effect of weather on the diversity of butterflies however, the effect of pollinator plantings had a great influence on the abundance and species richness. Butterflies show preference to zinnia, purple coneflower, and coreopsis. Ten butterflies were recaptured, with the longest persistence consisting of 7 days. Promoting butterfly diversity is important because they are important pollinators and beautiful additions to a garden. People interested in promoting butterfly diversity should plant brightly colored flowers that bloom continuously and produce a lot of nectar.