DOI: 10.5061/dryad.s4mw6m96s
title: Herbaceous perennial ornamental plants can support complex pollinator communities

description: Human-designed landscapes can host diverse pollinator communities, and the
 availability of floral resources is central to supporting insect
 biodiversity in highly modified environments. However, some urban
 landscapes have relatively few pollinator-attractive plant species and
 management in urban environments rarely considers the function of these
 plants in generating and supporting a stable ecological community.
 Evaluations of 25 cultivars within five commercially popular herbaceous
 perennial ornamental plant genera (Agastache, Echinacea, Nepeta,
 Rudbeckia, and Salvia) revealed variation in the total and proportional
 abundance of visitors attracted. These varieties supported multiple
 pollinator functional groups, however bees were the primary visitors to in
 this system. Cultivars were assessed according to their function within a
 plant-pollinator network. Comparisons of artificial networks created with
 the six most attractive and six least attractive cultivars demonstrated
 that a planting scheme using the most attractive cultivars would attract
 nearly four times as many bee species, including several specialists and
 rare species. Plant diversity in the landscape was correlated with
 abundance and diversity of pollinator visitors, demonstrating that
 community context shapes a plant’s relative attractiveness to pollinators.
 We conclude that herbaceous perennial cultivars can support an abundance
 and diversity of pollinator visitors, however, planting schemes should
 take into consideration the effects of cultivar, landscape plant
 diversity, floral phenology, floral area, and contribution to a stable
 ecological community.
description: This data was collected
 at two sites at the Penn State Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research in
 Pine Grove Furnace, PA (Site 1 = 40.704634, -77.973045, Site 2 =
 40.712329, -77.933609). At both sites, plants were arranged in a
 randomized complete block design with four blocks per
 site and one replicate of each cultivar per block, for a total of 100 plants at each site. Blocks were separated by 1.5m borders; plants within blocks were spaced 1m apart. In 2018, plants were placed directly in the ground at Sites 1 and 2. In 2019, plants were in pots at Site 1. Pollinator visitation was recorded by two observers (R. Kaneshiki and E. Erickson) in 2018 and one observer (E. Erickson) in 2019. To account for variation in daily pollinator activity cycles the order of observations was randomized for each data collection session. All plants were observed weekly in sets of four for 10 minutes once between the hours of 9:00 and 13:00 (AM) and once between 13:01 and 17:00 (PM). Observations were recorded throughout the duration of bloom from June 7 to September 12, 2018 and May 21 to September 11, 2019. Each pollinating insect that visited the focal plant during the observation period was identified to morphotaxa 
description: NA indicates a plant was not flowering and thus was not
 observed. Please disregard 'Week' variable in
 all but the GDD dataset, you will see we account for this in the
 code. Cultivar codes: 
 <strong>AGA = Agastache</strong>
 ABA = 'Black Adder' ABF = 'Blue
 Fortune' AFOEN = 'Foeniculum'
 ASG = 'Summer Glow' AHEAT =
 'Heatwave' <strong>ECH =
 Echinacea</strong> EOS = 'Orange
 Skipper' EPB = 'Pica Bella'
 EMAG = 'Magnus' EPWW = 'Pow Wow
 White' EBSS = 'Big Sky
 Sundown' <strong>NEP =
 Nepeta</strong> NFAAS =
 'Faassenni' NSNO =
 'Snowflake' NWL = 'Walker's
 Low' NJW = 'Jr. Walker'
 NLT = 'Little Titch'
 <strong>RUD = Rudbeckia</strong>
 RFULG = 'Fulgida' RGOLD =
 'Goldsturm' RHERB =
 'Herbstonne' RIS = 'Indian
 Summer' RTRI = 'Triloba'
 <strong>SAL = Salvia</strong> SEF
 = 'East Friesland' SMN = 'May
 Night' SBM = 'Blue Marvel'
 SSNO = 'Snowhill' SCARA =
 'Caradonna' <strong>Site 1 = Diebler;
 Site 2 = Switchgrass</strong>