Effects of habitat fragmentation on plant-pollinator interactions on tallgrass prairie remnants

Plant-pollinator interactions are considered one of the most common mutualistic relationships. Some species are generalists, pollinating a range of plants or utilizing a range of insect pollinators, while some are specialists, or an intermediate between the two. Habitat fragmentation occurs when natural habitat is destroyed or removed for other uses such as agricultural fields, roads, urban areas, etc. These fragments are of various sizes, quality, and distance from other remnants. To test how habitat fragmentation has affected plant-pollinator interactions on the tallgrass prairie, we monitored four prairie fragments in Clay County, Minnesota, collected and identified the pollinating insects, and compared the diversity of pollinators across the prairie fragments, as well as measured floral patch size, distance to roads, water, and buildings. The diversity, number of insect families, and bee genera present on the different prairie fragments did not differ among fragments. However, in pairwise comparisons, the Regional Science Center was the most diverse and Felton Prairie was the least diverse. The number of insect families and bee genera present did not correlate with floral patch size, distance to roads, water, or buildings. This pilot study indicates that these prairie fragments are similar in health and diversity. However, there were environmental conditions that could not be controlled for that affected the collections from the different sites. More collection seasons are needed to obtain a true representation of the pollinating insects present on the prairie fragments. Until more data is available, preservation is key to keeping these fragmented ecosystems healthy.