Southern High Plains    Pollinators    

Welcome!

​

Pollinators and other anthophilous (i.e. flower-loving) arthropods are vital to  wild communities and agricultural crop production worldwide. Grassland insect communities provide important ecosystem services such as pollination and pest control, in addition to serving as food for other wildlife. In the U.S. Southern High Plains, insect communities rely on the availability of habitat resources, and often these are associated with fragmented grasslands and potentially compromised resources. For pollinators and other anthophilous insects, identifying and enhancing habitat resources for pollinators and other beneficial insects across landscapes is an important conservation action. Conservation actions including new plantings of pollinator-attractive forbs, herbaceous and woody plants and providing or managing nesting resources in above-ground cavities and in soil, are important to protect pollinator biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides.  

In the agriculturally intensive region of the U.S. Southern High Plains, investigations of the pollinator community (with a bee focus) and habitat resources have been conducted across a seven-county region. In selected locations we partnered with landowners/farmers to enhance local resources for pollinators, work supported by a 2015 USDA Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG). This companion website was developed to provide an educational resource for farmers and others interested in wild land conservation and habitat improvements for pollinators. Information is organized by functional insect groups and topics located in the menu at the top of this page, with each page containing a series of captioned photographs. The associated “Pollinator Trail” directs you to a map of our field locations where different pollinator habitat enhancements were established as part of the 2015 CIG.

​

Thank you for visiting and for your interest in pollinators and plants found in  semi-arid U.S. High Plains grasslands.

​

(Photo: Sphecodosoma pratti foraging on a High Plains native plant, Nama hispidum) 

​

​