Native plant development and deployment [Section VII]

Abstract

Native plant materials are needed to create, enhance, or restore pollinator habitat. They provide critical foraging and breeding areas for wild and managed pollinator species, including transnational migratory species such as hummingbirds and monarch butterflies. Although many pollinators and plants are generalists, some have limited, obligate relationships (i.e., one requires the other for survival) (Proctor 1996). While reproduction and propagation information is available for many commercially important plant species, this information is lacking for most native species. Commercially available native plant seed has typically gone through a selection process for particular genetic traits (USDA-NRCS 2014a), often for agricultural and production purposes. Sometimes these selections have been sold and planted across the country without regard to their origin. Today, Federal land-managing agencies are the largest purchasers of native plant seeds (US Government 2014), chiefly for native plant community restoration. Because Federal mandates require consideration of the conservation of native plant communities commensurate with multiuse management (Richards et al. 1998), plant community integrity, function, genetic diversity, and stability are paramount considerations when selecting plant materials for restoration purposes (Johnson et al. 2010). Native plants are adapted to their local conditions, but they can be moved by using seed transfer guidelines with good promise of establishment and persistence (Bower et al. 2014). For most native plant species, however, because we know neither the limits to genetic adaptability nor their specific seed transfer guidelines, provisional zones can be applied until better data are available (Bower et al. 2014).

Citation

Wright, Jessica; Dumroese, Kas; Symstad, Amy; Pitts-Singer, Theresa; Cane, Jim; Krupnick, Gary; Olwell, Peggy; Love, Byron; Sellers, Elizabeth; Englert, John; Wood, Troy. 2015. Native plant development and deployment [Section VII]. In: Pollinator Research Action Plan: Report of the Pollinator Health Task Force. Washington, DC: White House, Office of Science and Technology Policy. p. 35-40. Online: https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/05/18/announcing-new-steps-promote-pollinator-health