Pollinators and Flowering Resources in Louisville Urban Green Spaces
Submission Type
Poster
Abstract
Urban Greenspaces can appear in many different forms such as parks, urban orchards, and community gardens. These spaces provide important ecosystem services such as enhanced biodiversity, improved soil health, and increased carbon sequestration. Greenspaces such as parks and community gardens have been relatively well studied in the last few decades compared to urban orchards, despite the multitude of ecosystem services that can be provided or enhanced by these orchards. We hypothesize that urban orchards will provide the optimal conditions for pollinator communities because urban orchards normally have the greatest variety of vegetation and flowering resources, which is positively correlated with pollinator abundance.
In this study, we assessed nine sites across three types of urban greenspaces (community gardens, urban orchards, and parks) in Louisville, Kentucky May through June 2022. We measured flowering plant species richness and pollinator abundance. We conducted monthly observations on sunny windless days using a 1 m2 quadrat located in ten random locations at each site. We used three sets of yellow, white, and blue bowl traps with three bowls per color, nine bowls per site. Caught insects were collected at 5pm of the sampling day, drained through a strainer, put in labeled plastic bags, stored in freezer, and identified to the order.
For flowering resources, the highest diversity was recorded in May in community gardens. For pollinators the maximum number was recorded in community gardens in June. Based on these results of community gardens supporting the highest diversity and pollinator abundance, we reject our hypothesis. Urban orchards still provide at least an average amount of flowering resources for pollinator abundance. They have a great potential to amplify ecosystem services throughout the rest of the summer season.
Pollinators and Flowering Resources in Louisville Urban Green Spaces
Urban Greenspaces can appear in many different forms such as parks, urban orchards, and community gardens. These spaces provide important ecosystem services such as enhanced biodiversity, improved soil health, and increased carbon sequestration. Greenspaces such as parks and community gardens have been relatively well studied in the last few decades compared to urban orchards, despite the multitude of ecosystem services that can be provided or enhanced by these orchards. We hypothesize that urban orchards will provide the optimal conditions for pollinator communities because urban orchards normally have the greatest variety of vegetation and flowering resources, which is positively correlated with pollinator abundance.
In this study, we assessed nine sites across three types of urban greenspaces (community gardens, urban orchards, and parks) in Louisville, Kentucky May through June 2022. We measured flowering plant species richness and pollinator abundance. We conducted monthly observations on sunny windless days using a 1 m2 quadrat located in ten random locations at each site. We used three sets of yellow, white, and blue bowl traps with three bowls per color, nine bowls per site. Caught insects were collected at 5pm of the sampling day, drained through a strainer, put in labeled plastic bags, stored in freezer, and identified to the order.
For flowering resources, the highest diversity was recorded in May in community gardens. For pollinators the maximum number was recorded in community gardens in June. Based on these results of community gardens supporting the highest diversity and pollinator abundance, we reject our hypothesis. Urban orchards still provide at least an average amount of flowering resources for pollinator abundance. They have a great potential to amplify ecosystem services throughout the rest of the summer season.
Comments
Dr. Sarah Emery, Professor and Dept. Director of Graduate Studies Biology Department, University of Louisville
Julia Kachanova, University of Louisville PhD student