Determining the plant-pollinator network in a culturally significant food and medicine garden in the Great Lakes region

Abstract

Understanding the interactions between plants and pollinators within a system can provide information about pollination requirements and the degree to which species contribute to floral reproductive success. Past research has focused largely on interactions within monocultured agricultural systems and only somewhat on wild pollination networks. This study focuses on the culturally significant Three Sisters Garden, which has been grown and tended by many Indigenous peoples for generations in the Great Lakes Region. Here, the plant-pollinator network of the traditional Three Sisters Garden with the inclusion of some additional culturally significant plants was mapped. Important visitors in this system included the common eastern bumble bee, Bombus impatiens Cresson (Hymenoptera: Apidae), and the hoary squash bee, Xenoglossa pruinosa (Say) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), as determined by their abundances and pollinator service index (PSI) values. Understanding the key pollinators in the Three Sisters Garden links biological diversity to cultural diversity through the pollination of culturally significant plants. Further, this information could be of use in supporting Indigenous food sovereignty by providing knowledge about which wild pollinators could be supported to increase fruit and seed set within the Three Sisters Garden. Our findings can also lead to more effective conservation of important wild pollinator species.