Agricultural pests may threate...( an 10 times as many beetles at the c...)

The researchers also found that in late August, the study site near the corn edge had about three times as many sunflowers with heavy damage (more than 75% of the petals were missing or shriveled). Petal damage can make flowers less attractive to pollinators: previous research has shown that when all the petals are removed from sunflowers, bee visitation decreases by 90%.

Preliminary evidence suggests that the beetles could reduce seed set in sunflowers: seed set was lower in sunflower heads bagged with beetles. The researchers suggest that the beetles might reduce seed set by feeding on pollen.

Because this corn rootworm beetle feeds on many types of flowers, it could also damage other prairie plants that bloom in late summer. Moreover, midwest farmers often rotate corn annually with soybeans, and soybean pests might also invade prairies to feed on native legumes such as prairie clover and leadplant.

To keep agricultural pests from threatening tallgrass prairie remnants, McKone and his colleagues recommend buffering the remnants from agricultural edges. "Areas set aside for nature reserves cannot be considered in isolation, since they are influenced by land use outside reserve boundaries," says McKone.

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Contact: Mark McKone
mmckone@carleton.edu
507-646-4393
Society for Conservation Biology
20-Sep-2001