PEV sites a boon for plant and insect habitats

[Laconian]

https://phys.org/news/2024-01-insect-populations-flourish-habitats-solar.html

The two studied solar sites were planted with native grasses and flowering plants in early 2018. From August 2018 through August 2022, the researchers conducted 358 observational surveys for flowering vegetation and insect communities. They evaluated changes in plant and insect abundance and diversity with each visit.

"The effort to obtain these data was considerable, returning to each site four times per summer to record pollinator counts," said Heidi Hartmann, manager of the Land Resources and Energy Policy Program in Argonne's Environmental Sciences division, and one of the study's co-authors. "Over time we saw the numbers and types of flowering plants increase as the habitat matured. Measuring the corresponding positive impact for pollinators was very gratifying."

By the end of the field campaign, the team had observed increases for all habitat and biodiversity metrics. There was an increase in native plant species diversity and flower abundance. In addition, the team observed increases in the abundance and diversity of native insect pollinators and agriculturally beneficial insects, which included honeybees, native bees, wasps, hornets, hoverflies, other flies, moths, butterflies and beetles.

Flowers and flowering plant species increased as well. Total insect abundance tripled, while native bees showed a 20-fold increase in numbers. The most numerous insect groups observed were beetles, flies and moths.

In an added benefit, the researchers found that pollinators from the solar sites also visited soybean flowers in adjacent crop fields, providing additional pollination services.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Everyscape needs more native flora.

[Morris Minor]

Good to see, and I get to learn a new word, agrivoltaics. 🙂
The Aussies are building out lots of these solar farms & plumbing them into the grid.

[GoCougs]

Isn't artificially more of a thing just as disruptive of artificially too less a thing - esp. both put together (less birds and critters + more bugs and flowers, etc., etc.)?

[Eye of the Tiger]

Isn't artificially more of a thing just as disruptive of artificially too less a thing - esp. both put together (less birds and critters + more bugs and flowers, etc., etc.)?

Maybe they should just put the solar panels under the ground.

[Laconian]

Isn't artificially more of a thing just as disruptive of artificially too less a thing - esp. both put together (less birds and critters + more bugs and flowers, etc., etc.)?

It sounds like there is a thriving ecosystem which IMO is evidence of success. The sterile and homogeneous second-growth forests in the PNW would be an example of a practice to avoid, but the story points to an abundance of happy bugs and birds...

[Morris Minor]

It sounds like there is a thriving ecosystem which IMO is evidence of success. The sterile and homogeneous second-growth forests in the PNW would be an example of a practice to avoid, but the story points to an abundance of happy bugs and birds...

There are a couple of zones in this community that are designated as managed meadowlands, and planted with native grasses & wildflowers. The wildlife is amazing: insects & birds, reptiles, small mammals.

(When they mow it at the beginning of winter every year, the Women of Facebook have whingeing fits.)