Although revegetation efforts for pollinators can be one of the most expensive types of restoration goals [1], pollinator habitat enhancement can indirectly benefit lots of other ecosystem services [2]. Generally, pollinators require plants that flower at different times during the growing season, which enhances resource availability. Strategic placement of restoration throughout a landscape can also enhance pollinator habitat. For example, since Monarchs in Arizona use riparian areas as movement corridors [3], restoring forbs (when appropriate) to these areas can benefit butterflies directly. Moreover, planting in clumps, rather than a regular, spaced pattern across a landscape can enhance pollinator services [4].
Resources
- About Pollinators | Pollinator Partnership
- Utah Pollinator Habitat Program
- Planting Guides | Pollinator.org
- Best Management Practices for Pollinators on Western Rangelands
- Creating Pollinator Habitats as Part of an Ecological Revitalization Project | EPA
- Pollinator Plants of the Desert Southwest - Native Milkweeds
- Maintaining and Improving Habitat for Hummingbirds in Nevada and Utah
- Utah Pollinator Pursuit
- Gardening for Native Bees in Utah and Beyond
- Plants for Pollinators in the Intermountain West
- Monarch Nectar Plants for Utah
- FHWA Ecoregional Revegetation Application
- Roadside Revegetation: An Integrated Approach to Establishing Native Plants and Pollinator Habitat
- Pollinator Partnership
- Bats as Pollinators
References
[1] Miller JR, Hobbs RJ. Habitat restoration—Do we know what we’re doing? Restoration Ecology. 2007;15(3):382–390. doi:10.1111/j.1526-100X.2007.00234.x
[2] Morandin LA, Kremen C. Hedgerow restoration promotes pollinator populations and exports native bees to adjacent fields. Ecological Applications. 2013;23(4):829–839. doi:10.1890/12-1051.1
[3] Morris GM, Kline C, Morris SM. Status of Danaus plexippus population in Arizona. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society. 2015;69(2):91–107. doi:10.18473/lepi.69i2.a10
[4] McCallum KP, Breed MF, Paton DC, Lowe AJ. Clumped planting arrangements improve seed production in a revegetated eucalypt woodland. Restoration ecology. 2019;27(3):638–646. doi:10.1111/rec.12905