Grantee Research Project Results
2019 Progress Report: Developing Sustainable Pollinator Gardens for Habitat, Water Conservation, and Education
EPA Grant Number: SV839357Title: Developing Sustainable Pollinator Gardens for Habitat, Water Conservation, and Education
Investigators: Maier, Camelia , Elrod, Diana , Sahlin, Claire , Meza, Elizabeth , Dizdarevic, Arnela , Ngo, Nguyen
Current Investigators: Maier, Camelia , Elrod, Diana , Sahlin, Claire , Thallapareddy, Charitha , Floyd, Caitlyn , Matewe, Chelsea , Pisquiy, Sarah , Meza, Elizabeth , Dizdarevic, Arnela , Ngo, Nguyen , Zidermanis, Adina , Mahabub, Rumpa Mafia , Hills, Morgan , Ware, I’Ceyonna
Institution: Texas Woman's University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: II
Project Period: March 1, 2018 through February 29, 2020 (Extended to February 28, 2022)
Project Period Covered by this Report: March 1, 2019 through February 29,2020
Project Amount: $74,932
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet - Phase 2 (2017) Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Awards , P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
The declining bee and butterfly populations are being widely discussed in the literature and pollinator contribution to agriculture and our food supply is well known. Texas Woman’s University, promoting sustainability as a core value in education, has established sustainable pollinator gardens as an academic teaching and learning tool for students’ course work, civic engagement and research. The main objectives of the project are to educate students, partners and surrounding communities on sustainability practices and study the plant-pollinator interactions through research projects that could provide science-based advice to land managers and policy makers for the purpose of crop improvement and biodiversity increase.
Progress Summary:
On the small but highly visible scale of our university campus, we engaged students in planning, developing, maintaining, and promoting pollinator gardens that demonstrate the sustainability of no-fertilizer, low-water, native plant gardens. The phase II garden project transformed the lawn into a wildflower sanctuary that increased the population of pollinators in the area. The project has impacted the greater Denton community, including private gardens, city parks, native plant organizations, and schools. The garden complex continues to be a source of “learn by doing” opportunities for TWU and K-12 students. A second way station for Monarch butterflies was initiated, thus contributing to their population increase, the infrastructure has been completed, and 75% of the garden has been planted. A database of native plant-pollinator interactions, based on student observations, will be made available by the end of the project. Tour visits to the garden and educational activities at the outside classroom have been scheduled. Student leaders contributed to outreach and dissemination of results and sustainability education of community members though presentations, interpretive signage and dissemination of own educational materials. The strategy of developing self-sustaining habitats using native flora could have significant impact on improving the pollinator populations in the area farmlands, using an approach that is inexpensive and low maintenance.
Future Activities:
Our project, seeking sustainable solutions to protect the environment, also strengthens our communities and fosters prosperity. The size of the TWU pollinator garden may be small but with outreach activities in the area for the creation of similar pollinators gardens, it has already an extensive impact addressing pollinator habitat loss. The project already has enhanced the stakeholders’ and general public’s education about sustainability and promoted incentives that encourage sustainable practices, environmental health and social prosperity. The long-term impact of our project comes with significant potential financial impacts for agriculture and therefore on prosperity, through improved pollinator availability and planet-wide impact of food production. We are encouraged that we met the short-term, most medium-term, and even some of the long-term outcomes and we will continue building on them to the end of the project and beyond.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 30 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Sustainability, native garden, pollinator, Monarch butterfly, plant-pollinator interactions, education, outreach, biodiversityRelevant Websites:
TWU, The Dr. Bettye Myers Butterfly Garden Exit
TWU, Biology Department, Herbarium and Butterfly Garden Exit
Facebook, Texas Woman’s University Butterfly Garden Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractP3 Phase I:
Sustainable Pollinator Gardens for Habitat and Education | Final ReportThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.