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ARS Home » Plains Area » Sidney, Montana » Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory » Pest Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #421974
Research Project: Biological Control and Habitat Restoration for Invasive Weed Management

Location: Pest Management Research

Title: Seed production and pollinator dependence in native wildflowers: Guiding species selection for conservation plantings

Author
item ABBATE, ANTHONY - Auburn University
item Campbell, Joshua
item CUMINALE, ANTHONY - Auburn University
item West, Natalie
item WILLIAMS, GEOFFREY - Auburn University

Submitted to: Ecology and Evolution
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/29/2025
Publication Date: 9/22/2025
Citation: Abbate, A.P., Campbell, J.W., Cuminale, A.W., West, N.M., Williams, G.R. 2025. Seed production and pollinator dependence in native wildflowers: Guiding species selection for conservation plantings. Ecology and Evolution. 15(9). Article e72127. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72127.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72127

Interpretive Summary: It is well known that bees often utilize native wildflower species for nectar and pollen. However, how bees contribute to the pollination success of wildflowers has rarely been evaluated. We grew 9 species of native wildflowers and conducted an insect exclusion study on a subset of flowers. We found that most wildflower species, the number of seeds and seed weight per flower head were significantly greater for flowers that insects were allowed to visit compared to those in which insects were excluded. These results suggest that most of the wildflower species we examined depend on insect pollinators to optimize the number and size of seeds produced to complete their life cycles.

Technical Abstract: The diversity of plants and their animal pollinators are in decline due to human activities. It is estimated that 78% of all angiosperms rely on an animal vector for pollination, yet knowledge of the pollination biology of many common native wildflower species is lacking. Here, we assessed the pollination biology of nine wildflower species native to the southeastern United States that included: Bidens laevis, Desmanthus illinoensis, Desmodium floridanum, Echinacea purpurea, Eryngium yuccifolium, Gaillardia pulchella, Monarda punctata, Verbesina alternifolia, and Verbesina virginica. These wildflower species are currently recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture – Natural Resource Conservation Service USDA-NRCS or the Xerces Society to enhance native pollinator habitat. We evaluated each species’ degree of pollinator dependence by performing an insect exclusion study and documented the common insect floral visitors of each wildflower species through sweep netting surveys. For most wildflower species, the mean number of seeds and mean seed weight per flower head were significantly greater for open-pollinated flowers compared to those in which insects were excluded. These results suggest that most of the wildflower species we examined depend on insect pollinators to optimize the number and size of seeds produced to complete their life cycles.