Project Description: Bee pollinators are essential for maintaining ecosystems, because nearly 90% of plant species are animal pollinated. The habitat associations and management needs of most North American bees are poorly known. The focus of pollinator restoration efforts to date has been almost entirely in restoring open meadow-type habitats with plants that bloom in the summer. Forest provides a phenologically distinct resource/habitat that is critical (a) for the many bee species that are on the wing as adults only in the spring, and (b) for long-season species like bumblebees that use forest resources to support key portions of their life cycle. There are no known published studies that determine what forest plants are most essential to forest bee species, nor the impacts of deer density to bee communities. The objective of this work is to study pollinator and plant associations in forested ecosystems in Great Lakes parks; and understand how various forest dynamics may influence bee communities.
Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. Rachael Winfree, Rutgers University
Partner Institution: Rutgers University
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Federal Agency Technical Contact: Carmen Thomson
Project Type: Research
Project Discipline: Natural Resources
Project Sub-Discipline(s): Biological (Ecology, Fish, Wildlife, Vegetation, T&E)
Start Year: 2017
End Year: 2021
Initial Funding Amount: $98,992.00
Federal Grant Number: P17AC01093
Products Associated with this Project:
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