The Effects of Livestock Grazing and Habitat Type on Plant-Pollinator Communities of British Columbia’S Endangered Shrubsteppe
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The Effects of Livestock Grazing and Habitat Type on Plant-Pollinator Communities of British Columbia’s Endangered Shrubsteppe by Sherri L. Elwell B.Sc. (Hons., Biology), University of Victoria, 2007 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in the Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science Sherri L. Elwell 2012 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2012 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for “Fair Dealing.” Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. Approval Name: Sherri L. Elwell Degree: Master of Science (Biological Sciences) Title of Thesis: The effects of livestock grazing and habitat type on plant-pollinator communities of British Columbia’s endangered shrubsteppe Examining Committee: Chair: Bernard D. Roitberg, Professor Elizabeth Elle Senior Supervisor Associate Professor David J. Green Supervisor Associate Professor Jonathan W. Moore Internal Examiner Assistant Professor Date Defended/Approved: April 16, 2012 ii Partial Copyright Licence iii Abstract Understanding how anthropogenic disturbances affect plant-pollinator communities is important for their conservation. I investigated how plant-pollinator communities of British Columbia’s endangered shrubsteppe are affected by spring livestock grazing. I surveyed vegetation structure and abundance and diversity of flowering plants and pollinators in four paired grazed/ungrazed sites. Grazing increased percent cover of shrubs and bare soil and decreased grass and forb height. However, flowering plant and pollinator abundance, richness and community composition were unaffected by grazing. Instead, floral and pollinator community composition differed between antelope-brush and big sagebrush habitats. I also compared plant-pollinator interaction network structure between habitats, and found that generalization was greater in big sagebrush than the more endangered antelope-brush habitat. Late- flowering-season networks were more asymmetric and had greater plant generalization. These results suggest differences in network resilience to disturbance between habitats and across the flowering season, and so could be used to inform conservation planning in the region. Keywords: Biodiversity; pollinator; livestock grazing; community composition; interaction network; shrubsteppe iv Acknowledgements I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Elizabeth Elle, for her mentorship, support, and encouragement throughout all aspects of my degree. I am also thankful to her for igniting in me what I know will be a lifelong love of bees. I extend a special thank you to David Green for his advice and insight into my research and to Jonathan Moore for his role as public examiner. This research would not have been possible without the assistance of many wonderful people, to whom I am grateful. I thank Jane Pendray and Taylor Holland for their friendship and wonderful assistance in the field. I also extend my sincere thank you to those who helped me with pollinator identification: Elizabeth Elle, Lisa Neame, Terry Griswold and associates at the USDA Bee Biology and Systematics Lab, Jason Gibbs from Cornell University, and Cory Sheffield from York University. Additionally, I thank The Nature Trust of B.C., B.C. Parks, B.C. Ministry of Forest and Range, Canadian Wildlife Service, and Wade Clifton of the Clifton Ranch for allowing me to conduct my research on their properties. I am also thankful to Anne Skinner, from the B.C. Ministry of Forest and Range, for her help with grazing regime information. I was truly fortunate to have shared my time in the Elle lab with some amazing labmates. I thank Grahame Gielens, Lisa Neame, Lindsey Button and Julie Wray for being wonderful colleagues and friends and for providing me with plenty of laughs, support and encouragement. Finally, I wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to my family and Jordy Thomson for their loving support throughout this degree. In particular, I thank my parents, Kathy and Tom Elwell, for showing me the meaning of dedication to both family and profession, and for their friendship, love and unwavering support of my educational goals. v Table of Contents Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii Partial Copyright Licence ............................................................................................... iii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................. viii List of Figures................................................................................................................. ix Chapter 1 General introduction .............................................................................. 1 References ...................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2 Shrubsteppe plant and pollinator communities influenced more by habitat type than by livestock grazing ................................... 8 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 8 Methods ........................................................................................................................ 11 Study area ............................................................................................................ 11 Study sites ............................................................................................................ 11 Vegetation ............................................................................................................ 12 Vegetation structure ..................................................................................... 12 Flowering plant diversity ............................................................................... 12 Pollinator diversity ................................................................................................ 13 Statistical analysis ................................................................................................ 14 Vegetation structure ..................................................................................... 14 Abundance, richness and diversity ............................................................... 14 Community composition ............................................................................... 16 Results .......................................................................................................................... 17 Vegetation structure ............................................................................................. 17 Abundance, richness and diversity ....................................................................... 18 Flowering plants ........................................................................................... 18 Pollinators .................................................................................................... 18 Community composition ....................................................................................... 19 Flowering plants ........................................................................................... 19 Pollinators .................................................................................................... 20 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 21 The effects of livestock grazing ............................................................................ 21 Vegetation structure ..................................................................................... 21 Flowering plants ........................................................................................... 22 Pollinators .................................................................................................... 23 The effects of shrubsteppe type............................................................................ 25 Management implications ..................................................................................... 26 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 27 References .................................................................................................................... 28 Tables ........................................................................................................................... 34 Figures .......................................................................................................................... 37 vi Chapter 3 A comparison of plant-pollinator network structure between British Columbia’s endangered shrubsteppe habitats ...................... 47 Introduction ..................................................................................................................