Perennial Grass and Native Wildflowers: A Synergistic Approach to Habitat Management

Abstract

Marginal agricultural land provides opportunities to diversify landscapes by producing biomass for biofuel, and through floral provisioning that enhances arthropod-mediated ecosystem service delivery. We examined the effects of local spatial context (adjacent to woodland or agriculture) and irrigation (irrigation or no irrigation) on wildflower bloom and visitation by arthropods in a biofeedstocks-wildflower habitat buffer design. Twenty habitat buffer plots were established containing a subplot of Napier grass (Pennisetum perpureum Schumach) for biofeedstock, three commercial wildflower mix subplots, and a control subplot containing spontaneous weeds. Arthropods and flowers were visually observed in quadrats throughout the season. At the end of the season we measured soil nutrients and harvested Napier biomass. We found irrespective of buffer location or irrigation, pollinators were observed more frequently early in the season and on experimental plots with wildflowers than on weeds in the control plots. Natural enemies showed a tendency for being more common on plots adjacent to a wooded border, and were also more commonly observed early in the season. Herbivore visits were infrequent and not significantly influenced by experimental treatments. Napier grass yields were high and typical of first-year yields reported regionally, and were not affected by location context or irrigation. Our results suggest habitat management designs integrating bioenergy crop and floral resources provide marketable biomass and habitat for beneficial arthropods.

Identity and Seasonal Abundance of Beneficial Arthropods Associated with Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) in Central Washington State, USA

“…In many instances, the numbers of beneficial arthropods attracted to non-flowering A. tridentata exceeded numbers trapped on flowering native plant species. The association of beneficial arthropods with non-flowering plants has been little studied, but our results and those of [ 21 , 24 , 25 ] indicate that some plants are attractive to predators and parasitoids throughout the growing season. Some predators and parasitoids may respond to plant cues other than chemicals associated with flowers and may be seeking plant-provided benefits like refuge, mating sites, hosts, and alternative food sources.…”

Remotely Estimating Beneficial Arthropod Populations: Implications of a Low-Cost Small Unmanned Aerial System

“…Images were captured from the 19 plots to provide data on each of the three commercial mix subplots on two dates, in June and September 2017. Sampling dates represented the peak bloom period in June, observed in a prior study of the same wildflower mixes, and a contrasting date in September, where previously we also observed very low numbers and diversity of flowers blooming [36] (Table 1). While radiometric correction and calibration is usually performed with multi-and hyper-spectral remotely sensed imagery [37], neither the measurement of changes in reflectance, nor absolute radiance were goals of this research.…”

“…For the purpose of this study, we analyzed data from subplots sown with the three commercial wildflower mixes, purchased in fall of 2015. The commercial seed mixes were specific to southeastern USA, and included: Southeast wildflower Seed Mix: "eden"-Eden Brothers ® (Arden, NC, USA), "ameri"-American Meadows ® (Shelburne, VT, USA), and "high"-High Country Gardens ® [36] (Table 1). commercial UAVs for indirectly monitoring floral resources and estimating pollinator density in agricultural landscapes.…”

Ecosystem Services in Working Lands of the Southeastern USA

“…An example of this might be hydrological restoration of seasonal wetlands in grazed pastures in Florida, which "pushes" greater biodiversity of plants, fish and frogs, although it "pulls" or reduces yields of more nutritional forage grasses (Boughton et al, 2019) and increases natural ecosystem emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas (Chamberlain et al, 2016). In a cropping system, this could be visualized as a naturalized buffer area that provides habitat for insect pollinators and natural enemies (Xavier et al, 2017), while also serving a reservoir for "weed" species.…”