Pollinators In American Honey Bees

Native pollinators and European honey bees have experienced widespread declines in the Midwestern United States in recent years. These insects play a significant role in the ecosystem and provide important ecosystem services by pollinating vegetable crops. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency recently developed the CP-42 conservation planting practice to restore habitat for pollinators. The goals of the program are to provide at least three pollinator-friendly wildflowers during the early, middle, and late summer bloom times as well as create a diverse and abundant pollinator habitat. An estimated 230,000 acres of pollinator fields have been planted across Iowa since 2011, however there has been little to no monitoring of these plantings. …show more content…
We surveyed six CP-42 Pollinator habitat sites and collected plant density data for analysis. Next, we developed a model based on availability of nectar resources throughout the season, plant diversity, and plant density to formulate a Floral Resource Index (FRI) score. We then calculated the FRI for each of the six sites. FRI scores ranged from 51.3 to 69.9 out of a maximum score of 100. Most sites had high density during the mid-summer bloom period and inadequate numbers of species in the early and late bloom periods, therefore lowering their FRI score. These results suggest that CP-42 pollinator plantings are not meeting the published goals, and not providing sufficient habitat for native