Grazing occurs on about 6 million acres of rangelands in the United States, but current grazing management practices aimed at limiting rangeland degradation promote uniform utilization. This is potentially harmful to pollinator populations because the landscape lacks the diverse floral resources they rely on. With recent pollinator declines worldwide, it is important to understand how these grazing practices affect native bee and butterfly populations. We evaluated bee and butterfly abundance and diversity in the Sheyenne National Grasslands in eastern North Dakota in response to four different grazing management practices. We observed 727 butterflies from 25 different species and recorded 422 bee-flower interactions amongst 33 different flower species in 2015. Bee and butterfly diversity and abundance were similar across all grazing treatments. We attribute our initial results to the lack of contrast among vegetation structure and composition across treatments driven by an unusually wet spring, and the first of three years of treatment application. We expect contrast between treatments to increase over time and have a greater influence on bee and butterfly communities. Future results from our study will be useful in guiding rangeland management practices that promote pollinator populations and the ecological services they provide.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.