Experiments

Experiment 316 - Optimizing the nutrition of roadside plants for pollinators

While roadsides are promising pollinator habitat, there is a concern they may act as ecological sinks, which attract pollinators, but result in declines in pollinator health. For instance, plants along roadsides can accumulate sodium from salt runoff. Sodium is a potent attractant for many animals, and while it is an important micronutrient, they can feed on it to the point of toxicity. Nitrogen also accumulates on roadsides, potentially attracting animals with protein-poor diets to areas that also suffer from heavy metal buildup from brake pads and tire residue. Because different plants accumulate chemicals to different degrees, this research aims to develop recommendations for plantings for various road use intensities that optimize the value of roadside milkweed for monarchs and flower pollen and nectar for bees. This research combines roadside surveys with controlled laboratory rearing of monarchs and bumblebees and field manipulations of pollinator friendly plants. In the initial stage of this project (summer 2017), we plan to pilot sodium, zinc, and nickel manipulations of milkweed for monarch rearing and pollinator visitation assays.

While roadsides are promising pollinator habitat, there is a concern they may act as ecological sinks, which attract pollinators, but result in declines in pollinator health. For instance, plants along roadsides can accumulate sodium from salt runoff. Sodium is a potent attractant for many animals, and while it is an important micronutrient, they can feed on it to the point of toxicity. Nitrogen also accumulates on roadsides, potentially attracting animals with protein-poor diets to areas that also suffer from heavy metal buildup from brake pads and tire residue. Because different plants accumulate chemicals to different degrees, this research aims to develop recommendations for plantings for various road use intensities that optimize the value of roadside milkweed for monarchs and flower pollen and nectar for bees. This research combines roadside surveys with controlled laboratory rearing of monarchs and bumblebees and field manipulations of pollinator friendly plants. In the initial stage of this project (summer 2017), we plan to pilot sodium, zinc, and nickel manipulations of milkweed for monarch rearing and pollinator visitation assays.

Methods for e316

Datasets