Native, wild bee populations play an important functional role in terrestrial ecosystems through pollination services. In recent years, increased attention has been paid to the importance of bumble bee species and their contribution to the agricultural economy, in large part because of the widespread losses of populations across landscapes, both...
In recent years, monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) populations have declined at an alarming rate resulting in an extensive conservation effort across the species’ migratory range. One hypothesis for declining populations is decreased reproductive success during spring migration. The eastern monarch population’s first annual generation occurs in the early spring when...
Animal pollination is critical to plant reproduction in agricultural and wildland ecosystems. Much of the production of seeds and fruits in natural areas, which underlie many food webs, depends on pollination services by insects. The taxon responsible for delivering the bulk of these services in most temperate systems is bees....
Pollination is an essential ecosystem service that sustains functioning ecosystems and aids in food production. In response to recent, widespread declines of managed and native bee populations, many land managers have shown interest in developing conservation and restoration plans for enhancing native bee habitat. However, there is a lack of...
Up to 99.9% of native North American grasslands have been degraded since European settlement, primarily due to agricultural conversion. Today, grasslands are a top priority for restoration as they provide essential habitat for many rare and endangered species; however, the majority of studies in grasslands have focused on vegetation or...
Native bees play an important role as pollinators of natural vegetation and agricultural
crops. Yet many pollinators, including some native bees, are declining in numbers.
Some of the potential causes of these declines are habitat destruction and degradation
by various human land uses, including urban development and sprawl, construction of...
Effectively restoring or conserving bee habitat requires a better understanding of the complex relationship between bees and flowering plants, but information about bee preferences is currently lacking. The purpose of this study was to examine bee-plant associations in a riparian area of Starkey Experimental Forest and Range (Starkey) in eastern...
Prairie-oak ecosystems in the Willamette Valley, Oregon have experienced habitat loss and degradation; most of these ecosystems are fragmented into smaller patches. Prairie-oak butterfly species, in the Willamette Valley, have decreased dramatically due to loss or degradation of habitat. More research is needed on sustaining the populations of butterflies in...
Understanding the effects of disturbance and restoration on a species’ habitat is essential for understanding the demographic rates and population trends observed in a species. Sufficient habitat provides the space and resources required for survival and successful reproduction, such as food availability, access to water, protection from predators, protection from...