Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Institute of Agriculture, Knoxville, TN, United States of America.
Biology Department, Penn State University, University Park, PA, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Jan 6;16(1):e0245146. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245146. eCollection 2021.
Loss in the availability of early successional habitat is a threat to pollinator populations. Given that powerline rights-of-way (ROW) must be managed to maintain early successional habitat, preventing vegetation from interfering with electrical lines, they have the potential to provide conservation benefits for wild pollinators. Moreover, it is possible to provide conservation benefits with no additional cost to land managers. We surveyed flower-visiting insects over two years in different vegetation management treatments in a long-term research ROW to determine which best promoted pollinator abundance and species richness. We found that the ROW had stabilized in an early successional state soon after its establishment and that this early successional state could be maintained with low levels of periodic maintenance. We collected a high diversity of flower-visiting insects (126 bee species and 179 non-bee morphospecies) in six ROW plots. Higher levels of herbicide application had a negative effect on bee species richness, but low levels of herbicide application were compatible with a high abundance and species richness of flower-visiting insects, including several rare species. Moreover, this effect was seen only in the bee community, and not in non-bee flower-visiting insects. Our results suggest further research into the conservation value of ROW for pollinators is warranted. We demonstrate that there is substantial potential for pollinator conservation in ROW, compatible with low-cost vegetation management.
早期演替生境的丧失会威胁到传粉者种群。鉴于输电线通道（ROW）必须加以管理以维持早期演替生境，防止植被干扰电线，因此它们有可能为野生传粉媒介提供保护效益。此外，有可能在不增加土地管理者成本的情况下提供保护效益。我们在长期研究 ROW 的不同植被管理处理中进行了为期两年的访花昆虫调查，以确定哪种方法最能促进传粉者的丰富度和物种多样性。我们发现，ROW 在建立后不久就稳定在早期演替状态，并且这种早期演替状态可以通过低水平的定期维护来维持。我们在六个 ROW 样地中收集了大量的访花昆虫（126 种蜜蜂和 179 种非蜜蜂形态种）。较高水平的除草剂应用对蜜蜂物种丰富度有负面影响，但低水平的除草剂应用与访花昆虫的丰富度和物种多样性兼容，包括几种稀有物种。此外，这种影响仅见于蜜蜂群落，而不在非蜜蜂访花昆虫中出现。我们的研究结果表明，进一步研究 ROW 对传粉者的保护价值是有必要的。我们证明，ROW 具有很大的传粉媒介保护潜力，与低成本的植被管理兼容。
