Embedded Files
Interactions between species are essential for preventing secondary extinctions and maintaining ecosystem stability. Most flowering plants, including agricultural crops, interact with pollinators for reproduction. Many factors threaten pollinator diversity, including anthropogenic land use, climate change, biological invasion, pesticide application, etc. all of which can limit pollination success, ecosystem stability, and environmental health. Our research aims to understand how plant-pollinator interactions are formed or disrupted in response to drivers of pollinator decline, and the significance of the changes in plant-pollinator interactions on ecosystem stability. Ongoing projects in our lab include (1) Assessing pollinator functional and beta-diversity across a gradient of urban development, (2) Harnessing trait-based information to predict plant-pollinator interactions across a gradient of urban development and (3) Evaluating the effect of enhanced bee traits diversity on urban crop pollination.
Assessing pollinator functional and beta-diversity across a gradient of urban development
Pollinators are declining globally due to many alarming causes, but variable responses to perturbation among pollinator communities may be mediated by species traits. Species morphological and phenological traits may also be modified by urban drivers, further limiting plant-pollinator interactions. This project investigates pollinator community response to disturbances across urban gradient. We will also assess pollinator trait-environment relationship, and determine how functional traits mediate pollinator community response to the perturbation. Current, we are investigating pollinator beta-diversity and functional diversity in urban pollinator gardens in central Arkansas.
Harnessing trait-based information to predict plant-pollinator interactions across a gradient of urban development
Ecological networks can be constrained by trait-matching, that is, the co-occurrence of traits that are necessary to facilitate an interaction between pollinator and plant. This could include phenological co-occurrence (i.e., similar bee activity and flowering periods) and coupled morphological attributes (e.g., bee proboscis length and flower corolla depth). By including species traits within interaction networks, we aim to interpret networks not only through the observed interactions, but also through matching traits that underlie a network’s structure. In urban environment where loss of pollinator habitat and fragmentation are major drivers of pollinator decline, integrating trait-matching into conservation planning can aid our ability to identify and select effective floral-mix for enhancing pollinator habitat across urban gradient.
Evaluating the effect of enhanced bee traits diversity on urban crop pollination
This project will explore the effectiveness of pollinator habitat enhancement on crop production. We will investigate how pollinator trait diversity mediate crop yield, and we will also investigate how responses vary across urban gradient.
Page updated
Report abuse