Sagehen Creek Field Station

17 May, 03 AM - 30 Jun, 01 AM

The study proposed monitors pollinator communities in multiple restored, degraded, and remnant meadows to better characterize the response of bee species to these projects. Meadows in the study vary in age from 0-15 years since treatment; where each meadow is used to represent a snap shot time-step at which floral and pollinator communities have re-assembled. Sites identified as ?degraded? are meadows already slated for restoration in the next 18 months with secure funding. Such meadows have incised streambeds, high levels of erosion, and are only connected to their floodplains in 10-year flood events. These sites will be particularly valuable as before and after reference points of pond-and-plug. The Sagehen Creek Field Station, a part of the University of California Natural Reserve System, contains a wet meadow that has been preserved from both human and bovine impacts for the last half century. Wet meadows are naturally a resilient system in part due to ample available water, a large seed bank and low gradients. As such, the release of grazing pressure has allowed the Sagehen wet meadow to return to a natural and healthy state with a hydraulically functioning flood plain and supporting a diverse ecological community. For these reasons this meadow is used as the ideal target community. Methods Pollinator Survey: An observational bee walk that crosses the meadow from edge to edge in a ?W? shaped pattern will be walked twice per sample period (between 8-10am, and then between 12-2pm) for a total of 30 minutes of observing, while covering a 500 m long by 1.5 m wide belt transect. All pollinators (bees, flies, butterflies) observed on flowers recorded using a voice recorder in combination with a hand net. Floral Survey: Floral diversity and abundance will be measured along the 500 m by 1.5 m belt transect once per survey period. The total number of receptive flowers falling within the area surveyed for invertebrates will be counted. This allows us to associated visitation with floral density. The plant community composition is compared between sites to identify patterns of plant succession that may drive insect succession. Pollen Limitation: A study of the level of pollen limitation experienced by five species of plants across the blooming season in each meadow gives a proxy for pollination function. 25 plants per species will receive supplemental hand pollination for the plant species if present Camassia quamash, Sidalcea oregana, Potentilla glandulosa, Triteleia hyacinthina, and Arnica chamissonis.

Visit #26495 @Sagehen Creek Field Station

Approved

Under Project # 24327 | Research

Pollinator community responses to Pond-and-Plug restoration of wet meadows in the Sierra Nevada

graduate_student - University of California, Davis

Reservation Members(s)

Jennifer VanWyk May 17 - Jun 30, 2012 (45 days)

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Day Use 1 May 17 - Jun 30, 2012