Evaluating the context dependencies of floral provisioning for beneficial arthropods

Beneficial arthropods provide essential services to agricultural crops, however their population has come under threat globally because of intensive agricultural practices and habitat reduction. Designing diverse agricultural landscapes has the potential to improve crop pollination and pest regulation. In our study, we assessed the effects of three commercial wildflower mixes, landscape context and irrigation on beneficial arthropod populations and flower production over two growing seasons, 2016 and 2017. Flower mixes were sown in 19 plots in Tifton, Georgia, in four landscape treatments: irrigated vs. non-irrigated, combined with adjacent to agricultural fields vs. woodland. The arthropod communities were sampled visually and with a suction sampler. Floral resources were quantified manually and also from aerial images of the flower plots captured with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A positive relationship between the density of floral resources and pollinator visits was observed during both years. Our results indicate that incorporating native floral resources would highly benefit the pollinator communities in the agricultural ecosystems