Guest Blogger: Dr. Rebecca Swab of the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium
“Buttercups” for Butterflies
If you visit the Wilds prairies on a hot summer day in August, you’ll find yourself surrounded by tall grasses that can tower over young children, buzzing bees, brightly colored butterflies, and yellow nodding sunflowers. This flourishing landscape did not happen on accident – it was carefully constructed by choosing native plants that are beneficial to pollinators and other wildlife.
The Wilds, a nearly 10,000 acre conservation facility in Ohio, was built on land that was previously surface mined for coal. After mining, the land was replanted – with trees in some areas and grasses and clover in others. There are few flowers in these areas, and therefore not much habitat for pollinators. To increase butterflies and bees on our landscape, the restoration ecology department at the Wilds has planted over 650 acres of prairie since 1999 with funding from the NRCS. The prairie mixes contain flowers – mostly in the sunflower family that grow well in our compact, disturbed soils. Flowers were chosen carefully to ensure plants are flowering at different, overlapping times, providing continuous flowers for pollinators the whole summer. In addition to flower time, we selected plants filled with high quality pollen and nectar; these plants often provide better food resources than weedy roadsides and abandoned fields. Once planted, prairies are maintained with burns. Ideally, each prairie is burned every three years – mimicking the natural cycle. Burns rejuvenate the prairies, keeping out shrubs, thistles, and other unwanted species while promoting prairie flowers and grasses.
The Wilds prairies are intermixed with forested areas, providing ideal habitat for native bees. Most native bee species are solitary, and nest in cavities in trees. The Wilds mixture of wooded areas and prairies is prime habitat for native bees – having both food and nesting places in a winning combination. Dr. Karen Goodell, a researcher from Ohio State, has been tracking pollinator populations in our prairies for six years. Her research shows that flowers chosen for the prairie are visited more often by pollinators than ‘volunteer’ flowers, which are typically weedy plants common along roadsides. This shows our prairie restoration is a success, providing better food for our pollinators!
One of the first prairies established is named Butterfly Habitat. This 10 acre prairie was planted with an especially high concentration of flowers, which provide important nectar and pollen resources for our bees and butterflies. Here at the Wilds, staff and interns have monitored butterflies weekly between April – September since 2005. This long term data set allows us to track changes in butterfly populations through time. This data is shared with the Ohio Lepidopteran Society, which looks for state wide trends in butterfly populations. Understanding the expected numbers and locations of butterfly species across the state can help us notice when something goes wrong with a species. If declines in a species are noticed quickly enough, action can be taken to reverse the changes.
This spring, the Wilds planted an approximately 90 additional acres of prairie, converting low-diversity grasslands with few flowers into what we hope will be a pollinator heaven in two to three years. We will continue to monitor the success of our plantings – look for more updates in the near future as we monitor the site!
Wondering how you can convert your lawns to a pollinator heaven? In our gift shop, we sell native seeds collected from our prairies so visitors can create a pollinator paradise in their own yard, increasing butterfly and bee populations all over.
-Dr. Rebecca Swab
Director of Restoration and Ecology
the Wilds
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Dr. Swab’s contributed post is part of an ongoing series this summer as part of PGAV Destination’s 2016-2017 PGAVIA Conservation Awareness Campaign, supporting pollinators and the restoration of their habitats.
