DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Understanding how land use alters ecosystem function and population dynamics of key pollinator species

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Cotton is the world's most widely-grown and economically important non-food crop, with a yearly harvest worth nearly $25 billion in the United States. Before cotton?s fluffy heads ("bolls") emerge, the plant produces large white flowers that attract insects, which visit the flowers to collect food (nectar and pollen) and to act as pollinators, moving pollen between flowers. While cotton plants can produce marketable bolls without the help of pollinating insects, pollinators greatly increase the size of bolls, with larger bolls producing greater yields and higher profits for growers. However, as human activities transform cotton-growing landscapes, there is concern that cotton fields are becoming are inhospitable to pollinators, preventing them from moving between fields in search of food and sites to reproduce. If this is happening, pollinators may disappear along with their valuable pollination services. The first steps in conserving cotton pollinators and the services they provide are to identify which insects are the best pollinators, and which human activities may be preventing them from persisting in rapidly-changing landscapes. This project will accomplish these first steps.Using the tools of landscape genetics and ecology, this research looks for ways to restore and maintain pollinators in agricultural landscapes. Through behavioral observation, single visit pollen deposition, pollen load analysis, and the estimation of visitation frequency, researchers will determine the efficacy of all cotton pollinators. They will then use next generation genetic sequencing techniques to determine the population dynamics of the three most effective pollinator species as a function of landscape composition. The goal is to identify specific landscape barriers that may hamper pollinator dispersal and colonization. This research will develop genomic resources to investigate pollinator dispersal, migration, and colonization, which will in turn offer an opportunity to increase crop yields and profits while also benefiting the environment. Additionally, the project will provide research experience and mentoring for an early-career ecologist.