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Pollinator habitat in solar facilities has potential to support high diversity of bee species

Journal Article · · Environmental Research Communications
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [5];  [6];  [2];  [2];  [4]
  1. Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc., Golden Valley, MN (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  4. University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN (United States)
  5. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Bloomington, MN (United States)
  6. Emory University, Atlanta, GA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Conversion of agricultural and degraded lands to solar energy production provides opportunities to support diverse bee communities—and their pollination services—by creating habitat at solar facilities. Habitat restoration for bees at solar facilities follows the general principle of installing a diverse flowering plant community and assuming bees will come. However, selecting seed mixes for solar facilities is challenging because selected plants need to establish in the unique abiotic conditions of solar facilities and not interfere with solar energy production (tall plants may shade panels). Recent research tested commercially available and bespoke pollinator mixes for establishment success in Minnesota solar facilities and identified 14 forb species that established successfully over three years of the experiment. We ask an important follow-up question: how many native bee species, and which bee species, are these 14 plant species capable of supporting? We used a plant-bee interaction data set from Minnesota to calculate the number of bee species that would be supported by the 14 plant species for the duration of their flight seasons using a published bee species richness function. We found 122 unique bee species (24% of Minnesota diversity) may be supported for their entire flight seasons by the 14 focal plants.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
2564383
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--6A20-92343; MainId:94124; UUID:7609adfb-43ef-40ea-8ece-19c0daaf3717; MainAdminId:76759
Journal Information:
Environmental Research Communications, Journal Name: Environmental Research Communications Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 7; ISSN 2515-7620
Publisher:
IOP ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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If you build it, will they come? Insect community responses to habitat establishment at solar energy facilities in Minnesota, USA
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Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
agrivoltaics
biodiversity
ecosystem services
ecovoltaics
habitat restoration
pollination
renewable energy