Abstract
The ecological services of insect pollinators are well established and the documented decline in pollinator biodiversity is of great concern. Baseline data and continued monitoring are essential as we ongoing trends in pollinator communities and evaluate efforts supporting their recovery. Using two survey methods, our study provides pollinator community data at two conservation sites in Northwest Iowa. In September of 2025, we used three colors of pan traps (blue, yellow, and white) to investigate pollinator communities at a small, reconstructed prairie (Buena Vista County Park) and a nearby partially restored native prairie (The Nature Conservancy Glacial Hills Preserve). We also used the Bumble Bee Atlas collection protocol modified to include a nonlethal mark-recapture method to further evaluate bumble bee richness and abundance at each location. Abundance and morphospecies richness in our traps differed significantly between the two locations. The effect of trap color on pollinator abundance and richness in traps varied with location and pollinator taxa. Although we collected numerous pollinators from our pan traps, no bumble bees were recovered. However, we collected four species and 129 "unique" bumble bees during our mark and recapture efforts. We conclude that both survey methods provide useful, but different, baseline data. Pan traps provided us with valuable information about pollinator communities in general and are widely used. However, they did not successfully evaluate bumble bee populations. Given our success using nonlethal mark and recapture surveys to assess bumble bee richness and abundance, we advocate for their inclusion in pollinator surveys.
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Investigation of Northwest Iowa Pollinator Communities Using Two Survey Methods
The ecological services of insect pollinators are well established and the documented decline in pollinator biodiversity is of great concern. Baseline data and continued monitoring are essential as we ongoing trends in pollinator communities and evaluate efforts supporting their recovery. Using two survey methods, our study provides pollinator community data at two conservation sites in Northwest Iowa. In September of 2025, we used three colors of pan traps (blue, yellow, and white) to investigate pollinator communities at a small, reconstructed prairie (Buena Vista County Park) and a nearby partially restored native prairie (The Nature Conservancy Glacial Hills Preserve). We also used the Bumble Bee Atlas collection protocol modified to include a nonlethal mark-recapture method to further evaluate bumble bee richness and abundance at each location. Abundance and morphospecies richness in our traps differed significantly between the two locations. The effect of trap color on pollinator abundance and richness in traps varied with location and pollinator taxa. Although we collected numerous pollinators from our pan traps, no bumble bees were recovered. However, we collected four species and 129 "unique" bumble bees during our mark and recapture efforts. We conclude that both survey methods provide useful, but different, baseline data. Pan traps provided us with valuable information about pollinator communities in general and are widely used. However, they did not successfully evaluate bumble bee populations. Given our success using nonlethal mark and recapture surveys to assess bumble bee richness and abundance, we advocate for their inclusion in pollinator surveys.