DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Effects of suburbanization on multispecies plant-animal interactions

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

Investigators

Abstract

Urban areas within the United States have rapidly expanded over the past 50 years, increasing the extent of suburban development. Such change in land use has been proposed as a dominant factor in the decline of native bee pollinators, raising concern over the integrity of pollination services in suburban areas. However, many factors likely determine how suburbanization affects bees and the plants that depend on them for pollination. The goal of this study is to determine how suburbanization changes interactions between plants, their bee pollinators, and other insects that consume flowers. Previous research has documented that suburban forests actually harbor more bees than natural forests, but that plants growing in suburban forests are also more likely to have flowers damaged by floral herbivores, which could make plants less attractive to bee pollinators. This research will determine 1) how damage to flowers affects pollination of native plants, and 2) how this relationship varies between suburban and natural forests. This research is novel because few studies have addressed how suburbanization affects pollination indirectly through changes in interactions between beneficial bees and detrimental flower feeding insects. Pollination is of great ecological and economic importance ? pollinators are essential for the reproduction of most flowering plants, and the value of pollination for global food production is estimated to exceed $200 billion annually. In addition, growing concern over declines in native pollinators and the sustainability of their pollination services underscores the need for research on factors driving changes in plant-pollinator interactions. The results of this study will provide ecological insight into how human development affects pollination and could produce recommendations for the conservation of pollination services in developing and developed areas. In addition, this research fosters public interest in and awareness of the importance of pollination through interactions with public and private land owners, cooperation with suburban home owners associations, and communication with individual homeowners. As public interest and involvement are integral to the dissemination of scientific research, an informational pamphlet, including the findings from this and previous research, will be developed and distributed to all cooperating landowners, homeowners, and public agencies.