A review of pollinator conservation and management on infrastructure supporting rights-of-way
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2012)5Abstract
Early successional landscapes along or adjacent to infrastructure installations have been highlighted as potential pollinator conservation zones that provide environmental benefits and ameliorate some of the negative impacts of wildland conversion. Habitat development and management initiatives in this field are active, but vetted support for particular techniques and strategies is lacking and technical information is diffuse. We reviewed the current scientific and technical literature relating to right-of-way and roadside management to produce an overview. Surveys and comparative studies dominate the literature, with limited manipulative experimentation and limited tests of best management practices. Local floristic diversity is shown to be a determinant of butterfly, bee, and fly patterns but data is almost entirely lacking on vertebrate pollinators. The degree to which these linear landscape corridors can promote movement and connectivity is also not well addressed, yet there is a focus in the conservation community to promote migrations and movement. Contrasting results are reported for the impact of disturbance regimes associated with management (mowing and herbicide use), and there is also only minimal attention given to the potential negative impacts that are experienced by pollinators on rights-of-way. Even with the limited literary accounts of pollinator management in these landscapes we believe infrastructure landscapes can provide substantial benefits to pollinator species and ecosystem services and encourage further management-based investigations.
Please find supplementary files to this article in the menu on the left side.
References
Angold PG, Sadler JP, Hill MO, Pullin A, Rushton S, Austin K, Small E, Wood B, Wadsworth R, Sanderson R, Thompson K (2006) Biodiversity in urban habitat patches. Science of the Total Environment 360:196-204. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.08.035
Ashman TL, King EA (2005) Are flower-visiting ants mutualists or antagonists? A study in a gynodioecious wild strawberry. American Journal of Botany 92(5):891-895. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.92.5.891
Berlanga H, Kennedy JA, Rich TD, Arizmendi MC, Beardmore CJ, Blancher PJ, Butcher GS, Couturier AR, Dayer AA, Demarest DW, Easton WE, Gustafson M, Iñigo-Elias E, Krebs EA, Panjabi AO, Rodriguez Contreras V, Rosenberg KV, Ruth JM, Santana Castell E, Ma Vidal R, Will T (2010) Saving Our Shared Birds: Partners in Flight Tri-National Vision for Landbird Conservation Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Ithaca, NY.
Bhattacharya M, Primack RB, Gerwein J (2003) Are roads and railroads barriers to bumblebee movement in a temperate suburban conservation area? Biological Conservation 109:37-45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(02)00130-1
Bramble WC, Yahner RH, Byrnes WR (1999) Effect of herbicide maintenance of an electric transmission line right-of-way on butterfly populations. Journal of Arboriculture 25(6):302-310. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.1999.040
Brower LP, Fink LS, Walford P (2006) Fueling the fall migration of the monarch butterfly. Integrative and Comparative Biology 46:1123-1142. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icl029
Buchmann S, Nabhan GP (1996) The Forgotten Pollinators. Island Press, New York.
Buchmann S, Kunzmann MR, Donovan AJ, Hobbs RJ. 1999. Gap Analysis of Pollinator (bats, bees, hummingbirds) Species Richness in Arizona: Implications for Conservation Biology. [online] URL: http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/ proc99/proceed/papers/pap530/p530.htm
(accessed December 2011).
Buchmann SL, Ascher JS (2005) The plight of pollinating bees. Bee World 86: 71-74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0005772X.2005.11417316
Cane JH, Minckley RL, Kervin L, Roulston TH (2005) Temporally persistent patters of incidence and abundance in a pollinator guild at annual and decadal scales: The bees of Larrea tridentate. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 85:319-329. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2005.00502.x
Carter CI, Anderson MA (1987) Research information note 126: Enhancement of lowland forest ridesides and roadsides to benefit wild lands and butterflies. UK Forestry Commission Research Division, Surrey. Booklet.
Champagne N, Bourassa JP (2000) Entomological communities of three landscapes along highway rights-of-way of southern Quebec: effect of mowing frequency on insects abundance and diversity 7th International Symposium on Environmental Concerns in Rights-of-Way Management [online] URL: http://www.rights-of-way.org/17symp.htm (accessed September 2011).
Dramstad WE, Olson JD, Forman RTT (1996) Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and Land-Use Planning. Island Press, Cambridge.
Fahrig L (2003) Effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity. Annual Reviews of Ecology Evolution and Systematics 34:487-515. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.34.011802.132419
Forman RTT (1995) Land Mosaics: The Ecology of Landscapes and Regions Cambridge University Press, Boston. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107050327
Forman RTT, Sperling D, Bissonette JA, Clevenger AP, Cutshall CD, Dale VH, Fahrig L, France RL, Goldman CR, Heanue K, Jones J, Swanson F, Turrentine T, Winter TC (2002) Road Ecology: Science and Solutions. Island Press, Washington D.C.
Forrester J, Leopold DJ, Hafner SD (2005) Maintaining critical habitat in a heavily managed landscape: effects of power line corridor management on Karner Blue Butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) habitat. Restoration Ecology 13(3):488-498. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100X.2005.00061.x
Free JB, Gennard D, Stevenson JH, Williams IN (1975) Beneficial insects present on a motorway verge. Biological Conservation 8:61-72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(75)90079-8
Garland T, Bradley WG (1984) Effects of a highway on Mojave Desert rodent populations. The American Midland Naturalist 111(1):47-56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2425541
Gess SK, Gess FW (2004) Distributions of flower associations of pollen wasps (Vespidae: Masarinae) in southern Africa. Journal of Arid Environments 57(1):17-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-1963(03)00093-4
Getz LL, Cole FR, Gates DL (1978) Interstate roadsides as dispersal routes for Microtus pensylvanicus. Journal of Mammology 59:208-212. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1379900
Goodrich-Mahoney JW, Abrahamson L, Ballard J, Tikalsky S (2008) Environment Concerns in Rights-of-Way Management 8th International Symposium. Elsevier Science, New York.
Greenberg B, Bindokas VP, Gauger JR (1981) Biological effects of a 756-kV transmission line: exposure and thresholds in honeybee colonies. Bioelectromagnetics 2(4):315-328. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/bem.2250020404
Greenleaf SS, Williams N, Winfree R, Kremen C (2007) Bee foraging ranges and their relationship to body size. Oecologia 153:589-596. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0752-9
Harper-Lore B, Wilson M (eds) (2000) Roadside Use of Native Plants. Washington DC: Island Press.
Heinrich B (1979) Bumble bee Economics. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Hilton B, Miller MW (2003) Annual survival and recruitment in a Ruby-throated Hummingbird populations, excluding the effect of transient individuals. Condor 105:54-62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/condor/105.1.54
Hopwood JL, Winkler L, Deal B, Chivvis M (2010) The use of roadside prairie plantings by native bees. Living Roadway Trust Fund [online] URL: http://www.iowalivingroadway.com/ ResearchProjects/90-00-LRTF-011.pdf (accessed November 2011).
Hopwood JL (2008) The contribution of roadside grassland restorations to native bee conservation. Biological Conservation 141 (10):2632-2640. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.07.026
Kearns CA, Inouye DW (1997) Pollinators, Flowering Plants, and Conservation Biology. Bioscience 47(5):297-307. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1313191
Kevan PG (2001) Pollination: a plinth, pedestal, and pillar for terrestrial productivity. The why, how, and where of pollination protection, conservation, and promotion. In: Stubbs C and F Drummond (eds) Bees and Crop Pollination—Crisis, Crossroads, and Conservation. Lanham, MD: Entomological Society of America, pp 7-68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4182/YGSC4283.2001.7
Kevan PG (2002) Flowers, pollination, and the associated diversity of flies. In: JH Skevington and PT Dang (eds) Exploring the Biological and Ecological Diversity of Flies (Diptera). Biodiversity 3(4):16-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14888386.2002.9712613
Kevan PG, Baker HG (1998) Insects on Flowers: Pollination and Floral Visitation. In: CB Huffaker and AP Gutierrez (eds) Ecological Entomology (2nd Edition) Wiley, New York, pp 407-637.
King DI, Byers BE (2002) An evaluation of powerline rights-of-way as habitat for earlv-successional shrubland birds. Wildlife Society Bulletin 30(3):868-874.
Kremen C, Williams NM, Bugg RL, Fay JP, Thorp RW (2004) The area requirements of an ecosystem service: crop pollination by native bee communities in California. Ecology Letters 7:1109-1119. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00662.x
Kremen C, Williams N, Thorp RW (2002) Crop pollination from native bees at risk from agricultural intensification. PNAS 99(26):16812-16816. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.262413599
Lanham JD, Nichols MJ (2000) Butterflies and skippers in utility rights-of-way in the Upper Piedmont of South Carolina 7th International Symposium on Environmental Concerns in Rights-of-Way Management [online] URL: http://www.rights-of-way.org/17symp.htm (accessed September 2011).
Larsen KJ (2010) Impact of roadside prairie plantings on plant and insect communities LRTF Research Final Reports [online] URL: http://www.iowalivingroadway.com/ResearchProjects/90-00-LRTF-800,%20910.pdf (accessed December 2011).
Lee JM, Reiner GL (1983) Transmission line eclectic fields and the possible effects on livestock and honeybees. Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. 83:279-286.
Lowell F, Lounsbury S (2000) Karner Blue Butterfly habitat restoration on pipeline right-of-way in Wisconsin 7th International Symposium on Environmental Concerns in Rights-of-Way Management [online] URL: http://www.rights-of-way.org/17symp.htm (accessed September 2011).
MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967) The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
McFrederick QS, LeBuhn G (2006) Are urban parks refuges for bumblebees Bombus (Hymenoptera: Apidea)? Biological Conservation 123:372-382. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2005.11.004
McGuiness KA (1984) Equations and explanations in the study of species-area curves. Biological Reviews 59:423-440. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.1984.tb00711.x
McHarg I (1969) Design with Nature Natural History Press, Garden City, New York.
McKenna DD, McKenna KM, Berenbaum MR (2001) Mortality of Lepidoptera along roadways in central Illinois. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 55(2):63-65.
Molina-Freaner F, Rojas-Martinez A, Fleming TH, Valiente-Banuet A (2004) Pollination biology of the columnar cactus Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum in north-western Mexico. Journal of Arid Environments 56(1):117-127. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-1963(02)00323-3
Munguria ML, Thomas JA (1992) Use of road verges by butterflies and burnet populations, and the effect of roads on adult dispersal and mortality. Journal of Applied Ecology 29:316-329. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2404501
Murray TE, Kuhlmann M, Potts SG (2009) Conservation ecology of bees: populations, species and communities. Apidologie 40:211-236. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/apido/2009015
Nabhan G (2001) Nectar Trails of Migratory Pollinators. Conservation Magazine 2(1) [online] URL: http://wwwconservationmagazineorg/2008/07/nectar-trails-of-migratory-pollinators/ (accessed October 2011). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4629.2001.tb00002.x
Ney-Nifle M, Mangel M (2000) Habitat loss and changes in the species-area relationship. Conservation Biology 14(3): 893-898. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2000.98163.x
Noordijk J, Delille K, Schaffers AP, Sýkora KV (2009) Optimizing grassland management for flower-visiting insects in roadside verges. Biological Conservation 14:2097-2103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2009.04.009
North American Electrical Reliability Corporation (NERC) – (2009) Reliability Standards for the Bulk Electric Systems of North America [online] URL: http://wwwnerccom/files/Reliability_Standards_Complete_Setpdf (accessed October 2011).
North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) Rights of Way Task Force of (2010) Plight of the Pollinator: Save money, Time and Energy with IVM and Energy Rights-of-way for Wild Pollinators. Brochure.
Ollerton J, Winfree R, Tarrant S (2011) How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals? Oikos 120:321-326. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x
Potts SG, Vulliamy B, Dafni A, Ne’eman G, Willmer P (2003) Linking bees and flowers: how do floral communities structure pollinator communities? Ecology 84(10)2628–2642. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/02-0136
Raemakers IPS, André P, Sýkora KV, Heijerman T (2001) The importance of plant communities in road verges as a habitat for insects. Proceedings of Experimental and Applied Entomology, Nederlandse Entomologische Vereniging, Amsterdam 12:101-106.
Ries L, Debinski DM, Wieland ML (2001) Conservation value of roadside prairie restoration to butterfly communities. Conservation Biology 15(2): 401-411. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.015002401.x
Rogers LE, Warren JT, Hinds NR, Gano KA, Fitzner RE, Piepel GF (1982) Environmental studies of a 1100-kV prototype transmission line: an annual report for the 1981 study period. Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington.
Russell KN, Ikerd H, Droege S (2005) The potential conservation value of unmowed powerline strips for native bees. Biological Conservation 124:133-148. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2005.01.022
Saarinen K, Valtonen A, Jantunen J, Saarnio S (2005) Butterflies and diurnal moths along road verges: Does road type affect diversity and abundance? Biological Conservation 123:403-412. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2004.12.012
Schmidt L, Schmidt J, Rao H, Wang W, Xu L (1995) Feeding preference and survival of young worker honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) fed rape, sesame, and sunflower pollen. Journal of Economic Entomology 88(6):1591-1595. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/88.6.1591
Seibert HC, Conover JH (1991) Mortality of vertebrates and invertebrates on an Athens County, Ohio, Highway. Ohio Journal of Science 91(4):163-166.
Sheperd S, Debinski DM(2005) Evaluation of isolated and integrated prairie reconstructions as habitat for prairie butteries. Biological Conservation 126:51-61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2005.04.021
Shepherd M, Buchmann SL, Vaughan M, Black SH (2003) Pollinator Conservation Handbook. Portland: The Xerces Society. [online] URL: www.xerces.org/bookspollinator-conservationhandbook/ (accessed December 2011).
Smallidge PJ, Leopold DJ, Allen CM (1996) Community characteristics and vegetation management of Karner Blue Butterfly (Lycaeidesmelissa samuelis) habitats on rights-of-way in East-Central New York, USA. British Ecological Society 33:1405-1419. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2404780
Smith DE (1993) Ecology of Greenways: Design and Function of Linear Conservation Areas: University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Soulé ME (1991) Land use planning and wildlife maintenance: Guidelines for conserving wildlife in an urban landscape. Journal of the American Planning Association 57(3):313-323. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01944369108975502
Sparks TH, Parish T (1995) Factors affecting the abundance of butterflies in field boundaries in swavesey fens. Cambridgeshire, UK Biological Conservation 73:221-227. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(94)00112-4
Valtonen A, Jantunen J, Saarinen K (2006) Flora and Lepidoptera fauna adversely affected by invasive Lupinus polyphyllus along road verges. Biological Conservation 133: 389-396. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2006.06.015
Von Der Lippe M, Kowarik I (2007) Long-distance dispersal of plants by vehicles as a driver of plant invasions. Conservation Biology 21(4):986-996. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00722.x
Way JM (1969) Road verges - research on management for amenity and wildlife. In: Way JM (ed) Road verges – their function and management. Abbots Ripton, The Nature Conservancy, pp 34-40.
Way JM (1977) Roadside verges and conservation in Britain: A review. Biological Conservation 12:65-74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(77)90058-1
Weber TC, Allen WL (2010) Beyond on-site mitigation: An integrated, multi-scale approach to environmental mitigation and stewardship for transportation projects. Landscape and Urban Planning 96(4):240-256. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.04.003
Wellenstein G (1973) The influence of high-tension lines on honeybee colonies (translation from the original German). Zeitschrift Fur Angewandte Entomologie 74:86-94. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0418.1973.tb01783.x
Wildlife Habitat Council (2005) Wildlife on Rights-of-Way: suggested best management practices. Brochure.
Wildlife Habitat Council and USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (2005) A guide to managing rights-of-way for wildlife habitat. Booklet.
Williams MR (2008) Assessing diversity of diurnal Lepidoptera in habitat fragments: Testing the efficiency of strip transects. Ecological Entomology 37(5):1313-1322. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1603/0046-225X(2008)37[1313:ADODLI]2.0.CO;2
Williams NM, Minckley RL, Silveira FA (2001) Variation in native bee faunas and its implications for detecting community changes. Conservation Ecology 5(1):7 [online] URL: www.consecol.org/vol5/iss1/art7 (accessed November 2011). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-00259-050107
Willyard CJ, Tikalsky SM, Mullins PA (2004) Ecological effects of fragmentation related to transmission line rights-of-way: A review of the state of the science. Wisconsin Focus on Energy Environmental Research Program 1-66.
Winston ML (1992) The biology and management of Africanized honey bees. Annual Reviews of Entomology 37:173-93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ento.37.1.173
Wynhoff I, van Gestel R, van Swaay C, van Langevelde F (2011) Not only the butterflies: managing ants on road verges to benefit Phengaris (Maculinea) butterflies. Journal of Insect Conservation 15:189-206. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-010-9337-8
Xerces Society (2010) Invertebrate Fact Sheet: Pollinators and Roadsides Booklet. Booklet.
Yahner RH (2004) Wildlife response to more then 50 years of vegetation maintenance on a Pennsylvania US, right-of-way. Journal of Arboriculture 30(2):12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.2004.015
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2012 Victoria Agatha Wojcik, Stephen Buchmann
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
