Wild bee utilization of engineered pollinator habitat within agroecosystems in eastern Nebraska

Habitat loss is a leading cause of biodiversity decline globally. Further, natural habitat loss is a major factor contributing to declines in native pollinator populations. Among intensive agroecosystems in the Midwestern U.S., corn, soy, and small grain fields dominate the landscape and leave little space available for forb-rich pollinator habitat. There are numerous barriers and challenges to integrating pollinator habitat into such agroecosystems and quantitative assessments for pollinator communities are largely lacking. The establishment of high-quality pollinator habitat can provide both high flower abundance and species richness throughout the growing season to support local bee communities. This project examines plant-bee interaction networks and flower preferences occurring in pollinator habitats in eastern Nebraska. These data will serve as baseline wild bee abundance and richness estimates for the region and to examine cost-effectiveness of seed mixes used design in pollinator habitat plantings.