Garcia et al. 2025. Autumn afternoon pollinator-flower trysts: diversity and resource use of the four major insect orders in the Purchase native plant garden
by Luna Garcia, Chelsea Asemota, Thomas Casey, Robert Nelson, Kevin O’Brien, and Dr. Allyson K. Jackson
Abstract
The intricate relationships between our local pollinators and native flowering plants establish the foundation for conservation sites designed to preserve and promote native biodiversity. To track and improve our restoration efforts in the SUNY Purchase Native Plant Garden, we monitored interactions between the four major pollinator insect orders—Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera—and nine native flowering plant species during late-season bloom in August. We found that Hymenoptera comprised more than half of our total observations. Bombus impatiens accounted for 21% of native bee observations, demonstrating the supergeneralist nature of native wild bees. The invasive European honeybee (Apis mellifera) competed with native bee species, being responsible for a significant amount of bee observations. Hesperiidae was most abundant in Lepidoptera, likely due to differences in active hours between diurnal butterflies and nocturnal moths. Diptera and Coleoptera had few identical floral preferences, suggesting resource partitioning among the two orders. The plant species Agastache foeniculum and Euthamia graminifolia boasted the highest pollinator richness. Our results provide reassurance about the Purchase College Native Plant Garden’s positive impact on native pollinator diversity, especially during a time of great environmental concern. These findings will help guide ecological restoration efforts for other urban native plant gardens.