Establishing early and late flowering forb species for pollinator habitat
Tallgrass prairie is important for biodiversity maintenance, recreation, and pollinator habitat. Although remnant unplowed prairie is now rare in the Midwest, restored (reconstructed) prairies are widespread and abundant. Although hundreds of prairie plantings have been initiated in the last three decades or so, we lack detailed information on how well they have established (Kaul and Wilsey 2021). Our recent experiment varied establishment mowing, transplanted vs. seeding of forbs, and species richness (1, 3, or 6) in establishing prairie restorations. Plant and insect species diversity are being sampled over time to evaluate how are treatments are affecting prairie restoration success. Adding a larger number of early and late flowering forbs as transplants extended flowering throughout the growing season and led to the highest diversity enhancement (Deever et al. 2023, Soley and Wilsey 2025).