Pollinator conservation and access to pollinators on an urban-rural gradient

Pollinators support global food security and provide important opportunities for people to interact with nature. These benefits are especially valuable in urban areas where city residents often rely on gardening as a supplemental source of food and income and where access to biodiversity and green space is often limited. Unfortunately, these benefits are threatened due to global declines in pollinators as well as inequities in access to urban biodiversity. This dissertation explores strategies that can be used to support pollinator conservation in urban areas and to increase city dwellers’ access to the benefits provided by pollinators. My results reveal that access to pollinators along an urban-rural gradient in Illinois, USA may be limited by racial inequities. Fewer pollinators were observed in neighborhoods where more people of color live than in predominantly white neighborhoods. Additionally, I identify barriers to participation in pollinator-focused environmental education and volunteering that further limit opportunities to interact with pollinators. However, my results also suggest that conservation and management strategies that increase the availability of floral resources may also increase the abundance of pollinators along an urban-rural gradient. Bee abundance was found to be higher in registered pollinator gardens than in other types of urban green spaces. By implementing pollinator conservation strategies such as these, focusing on the accessibility of environmental education and volunteering, and addressing factors like systemic racism that lead to environmental inequities, we may be able to increase access to the many benefits provided by pollinators.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Natural Res & Env Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Lynch, Lauren R.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Miller, James R
• Schooley, Robert L
• Dolezal, Adam G
• Hug, Barbara
• Minor, Emily S

• Urban Ecology
• Pollinators
• Bees
• Pollinator Gardens
• Community Science
• Citizen Science
• Environmental Justice

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Lauren Lynch

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/116251

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F116251