Pollinators on Whitewater Ranch are not only vital for blueberry crop yields, but also for riparian ecosystem health. As a result, our goals are to track changes in pollinator abundance and diversity on WWR. To monitor pollinators, we walked along four randomly chosen transects within a blueberry field at a slow, steady pace. All the while, we recorded what types and how many pollinators we observed visiting blueberry blooms. Aside from honey bees, we looked for mason bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, flies, and other pollinators such as birds and beetles.
Results: Compared to 2017 and 2018, abundance in mason and honey bees increased slightly in 2019, and the abundance in bumblebees increased noticeably. Fly abundance noticeably declined after 2015, then has remained relatively constant since 2016. Similar to 2018, we recorded no carpenter bees in 2019. Since the beginning of ELP restoration, 2019 illustrates the greatest overall pollinator abundance (see chart below).
