Thesis
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi - plant - pollinator interactions in the context of a tallgrass prairie restoration
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
05/2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000004277
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/125125
Abstract
Restoring tallgrass prairie ecosystems entails utilizing novel techniques to ensure the success of both below and aboveground communities. Plant communities interact with soil organisms including arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and terrestrial organisms such as invertebrate pollinators. Most grassland plant species form symbiotic associations with AM fungi, which can alter plant characteristics (e.g., flowering stem number) through improved nutrient and water uptake that may influence pollinator visitation. In this study we used an established tallgrass prairie restoration originally designed to test the effect of two site preparation techniques, soil solarization and overseeding (non-solarized) and inoculating plots with either AM fungi or remnant prairie soil on native plant survival and growth. To determine whether site preparation techniques and soil inoculations influence pollinator visitation or the flowering stem number of plant species three years after plots were established, surveys were conducted every other week from June-August 2019. Pollinator visits of key groups including, Bombus (bumble bees), Apocrita (bees not belonging to Bombus), Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), Coleoptera (beetles), Syrphidae (hover flies), Nematocera (slender-bodied flies), and Brachycera (non-Syrphidae wide-bodied flies) and flowering stem number of five focal native plant species (Penstemon digitalis, Verbesina alternifolia. Monarda fistulosa, Silphium integrifolium, and Rudbeckia subtomentosa) were recorded. Here we show that pollinator visits were higher in solarized relative to non-solarized plots due to increased floral resources. Soil inocula uniquely affected flowering stem number of P. digitalis, while V. alternifolia. M. fistulosa, and S. integrifolium remained unaffected. There was no detectable effect of AM fungi or remnant prairie soil inocula on pollinator visits at the sub-plot level, likely due to the low dependence of early and mid-successional plants on AM fungi that were prevalent in the site. However, soil inoculation increased pollinator visitations to Rudbeckia subtomentosa. Taken together, this study shows that the site preparation technique of solarization improved habitat and floral resources for pollinators and that soil inoculation treatment did not appear to have a detectable impact on the number of pollinator visits, at least at this young restoration site.
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Details
- Title
- Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi - plant - pollinator interactions in the context of a tallgrass prairie restoration
- Creators
- Gunner Elliot Davies
- Contributors
- Tanya E Cheeke (Advisor) - Washington State University, Biological Sciences, School of
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Biological Sciences, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Identifiers
- 99900896413601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis