Abstract
The long-term health of pollinators is a critical issue for the functioning of natural habitats and for agricultural production. In response to widespread public concern about the future of these ecologically and economically important animals, in 2015 the US Government released a national strategy to support pollinators, including research priorities, directives for funding, and timelines for achieving three overarching goals. Five years after this strategic plan was released, we evaluate progress toward the national targets for improved honey bee (Apis mellifera) overwintering survival, expanded pollinator habitat, and larger monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) populations, and find that the three goals of the plan have not yet been reached. Our research and extension programs to improve the health of honey bees, wild bees, and monarch butterflies in the US state of Michigan are described, providing opportunities to contribute to the national pollinator goals.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 84-92 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 The Authors. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.
Funding
We thank M Vaughan for assistance with manuscript development. DAL and NLH also acknowledge support from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (award DE‐SC0018409), by the US National Science Foundation Long‐term Ecological Research Program (DEB 1832042) at the Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University (MSU) Department of Entomology, and MSU AgBioResearch. All authors acknowledge support from the US Department of Agriculture NIFA grant number 2017‐68004‐26323. We thank The Bee Informed Partnership for allowing us to use their data. We acknowledge that MSU occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg‐Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. The University resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold MSU more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples. : RI conceived the manuscript; EHB led manuscript preparation and produced descriptions of national patterns; KKG, NLH, ARH, MOM, and RI authored individual sections; ZS, LJG, DAL, JKW, GMQ, and YZ contributed to the development of themes used in, provided feedback on, and edited the manuscript. Author contributions
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Department of Entomology | |
| Kellogg Biological Station | |
| US Department of Agriculture NIFA | 2017‐68004‐26323 |
| National Science Foundation (NSF) | DEB 1832042 |
| Michigan State University-U.S. Department of Energy (MSU-DOE) Plant Research Laboratory | |
| Office of Science Programs | |
| Biological and Environmental Research | DE‐SC0018409 |
| Michigan State University | |
| Michigan State University AgBioResearch | |
| Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Ecology
