By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Pollinators are in trouble. Bees are the best-known pollinator, but butterflies, moths, birds, bats, and beetles are also included in that group. Eighty percent of the world’s flowering plants need pollinators to reproduce.

It is because of pollinators that we have a wide range of foods to eat, said Mark DeBrock, Ohio biologist with the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

A variety of things have caused problems for pollinators, DeBrock said. One is loss of habitat – pollinators require habitat with certain plants throughout the year and even their lifespan. They need certain habitats for overwintering and hibernation. Also, there is not as much diversity as in the past, with fewer types of plant species.

“Many of those pollinators are very specific to certain plant species; some are more general and pollinate a wide variety of plants,” DeBrock said.
Honeybees, one of the most important pollinators, have had disease problems, including different fungal diseases, mites and Colony Collapse Disorder. Honeybees are not native.

“Many have thought that if the outlook for honeybees is not too rosy, we’re going to need to rely on other native bee species for pollination services,” DeBrock said. “But they are in trouble for the same reasons.”

Pesticide use is a problem in urban-suburban and agricultural areas, whether it is the direct impacts from some insecticides or indirect impact from some herbicides, he said.

“Years ago, later in the summer you’d look over a crop of soybeans or whatever and there would be a lot of other ‘weeds’ coming in – ‘weeds’ from the standpoint of the farmer, nectar or pollen sources from the standpoint of a pollinator,” he said. “Now most of the fields are pretty clean. All those things are working together to create problems for pollinators.”

Through some 2008 farm bill programs, meeting the needs of pollinators is increasingly an option for farmers and landowners. They can be paid for certain enhancements which improve pollinator habitat, such as the creation of pollination patches or food plots, DeBrock said.

“These small patches of land scattered throughout the area that have the appropriate, diverse plants in them for pollinators, that’s an enhancement,” he explained.

The NRCS may suggest at least nine different plant species in one planting, not relying on just one species because various pollinators use different plant species. Also, pollinators need blooms throughout the season.

“We want plants that are going to start blooming early in the growing season all the way to the later blooming plants, the asters and coneflowers that will be blooming until early fall,” DeBrock said. “We’re trying to focus on native plants because with the increased focus on native pollinators, they’re adapted to the use of these native plants and also, they’re suited to the landscape.”

Protecting pollinators is a nationwide effort. NRCS is a partner in the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign with more than 150 other state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and corporations. For more information, visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/pollinators