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Abstract
Piedmont prairies are among the most diverse communities in Georgia and their presence on the landscape has been declining since European colonization. I studied the occurrence of Piedmont prairies along utility rights-of-way in Georgia’s Eastern Piedmont. Eleven plant species were identified as Piedmont prairie indicators and were used along with a suite of habitat predictors to generate a Maximum Entropy and a level two resource selection function model to identify Piedmont prairies. Validation of the models happened over two field seasons, in the second field seasons additional surveys were conducted to determine the use of some sites by insect pollinators and pollinator association with plant species. Piedmont prairie models were moderately successful, and 13 plant species were found to be associated with pollinators. My results will help land managers in Georgia’s Eastern Piedmont identify Piedmont prairie sites and give insight to the use of those sites by pollinators.