Today's featured pollinator is the hummingbird. This creature feature video was created by Friends University student Abby Gates. Abby also created a pollinator word search. You can download it by clicking on the icon below.
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As part of today's creature feature, Friends University student Sarah Yokley interviewed Zack Cordes from Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, And Tourism (KDWPT) to learn more about bats.
SY: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your interest in bats? ZC: I am a non-game biologist with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, And Tourism. My first experience working with bats was assisting with hibernacula cave surveys in the Red Hills. Since then, I have continued to assist with data collection at several caves, set ultrasonic microphones which can detect bat echolocation, and mist net for bats while collecting guano and tissue samples. SY: Why are pollinators in general important? ZC: Not only are pollinators good for the environment, but almost 80% of crops grown across the world are pollinated by animals. Over 150 food crops in the U.S alone benefit from pollinators. Even those that can be wind pollinated, such as tomatoes, increase yield when assisted by pollinators. SY: Why are bats as pollinators important? What makes them different? ZC: Bats assist in pollinating or exclusively pollinate several resources used by people. For example, avocados, bananas, coconuts, and agave are all pollinated by bats. Not only are bats a necessary part of a larger functioning system, they have several commercial benefits to us. One difference is they are nocturnal. It is easy to think of pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and birds because that is what we see, but bats and moths work the night shift. SY: Why should we care about bats as pollinators in other areas of the country, like the desert? ZC: All 15 species of Kansas bats are insectivorous. The two pollinating bat species found in our deserts are the only pollinator bat species found in the U.S. The Lesser Long-nosed bat pollinates the Saguaro Cactus, an iconic species that many of us picture when we think of the desert. This cactus is also a keystone species endemic to the Sonoran Desert, providing food, habitat, shade, and water to animals in the region. SY: Do all bats migrate to pollinate certain plants like the Mexican long-nosed bat does? ZC: In the United States yes. The Lesser Long-nosed Bat, the other pollinator species found in the U.S., migrates to pollinate as well. This migration is driven by food availability. As you get into tropical regions with consistent flower production there may not be the need. SY: What are some risks that bats are facing? ZC: Bats face a number of issues. One concern is a disease, White-nose Syndrome (WNS), which has killed nearly 7 million bats in the United States and Canada. The disease is caused by a non-native fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which affects hibernating bats. Since its discovery in the U.S. in 2006, WNS has been confirmed in 13 species, sometimes resulting the death of 90 to 100% of the bats at infected hibernacula. Persecution of bats due fear and misunderstanding is also a concern. Many instances have been documented across the world, including Kansas, of bat colonies being purposely destroyed by people. More recently, misinformation surrounding Covid-19 has resulted in the culling of bats. Other risks include habitat loss due to development, agriculture conversion, and climate change. SY: What would happen if we lost bats as pollinators? ZC: Studies have shown bat pollination increases the quality and yield of some cash crops. Loss of bats would reduce income for farmers in those regions. Aside from fruit, products such as wood, fiber, and oils are used from plants pollinated by bats. These products are shipped around the world. Socioeconomic benefits from bats are just part of what they provide. Pollination and seed dispersal promote biodiversity, genetic diversity, and support ecosystem health. SY: If it came to this, could another organism take the place of bats as pollinators? ZC: No, bats are well adapted to their environment. Some exclusion studies have shown yield reduction in the absence of bats. Even though other pollinators were able to access the flowing plants, other pollinators were not as efficient as bats. This may not be the case with every plant, but it has been shown in some. SY: If the preferred plants of bats were to go extinct, could they adapt to pollinating new plants? ZC: This is most likely dependent on the degree to which bats rely on those particular plants. Generalists may be able to survive, but specialists may struggle in a quickly changing environment. SY: What can we do to help bats? ZC: The first thing someone can do is learn about them. Many myths surround bats and cause irrational fears. Be a steward for bats and share what you have learned with others. They provide many benefits. Learn how to safely remove and exclude bats from your home. If you are interested in bat houses, learn how to correctly place and paint them to encourage use. Reduce pesticides and promote water quality to help minimize impacts to their water and foraging areas. SY: What can we do to help the plants that bats pollinate? ZC: This might be a tough one in Kansas and since we lack pollinating bats, but you can still help other pollinators by reducing pesticide and herbicides, increasing plant diversity in your yard rather than encouraging monocultures, planting native wildflower gardens, and providing bee nests. Our first featured pollinator for Stewardship Week is the Mexican long-nosed bat. Please click HERE to view today's creature feature video by Friends University student Sarah Yokley. 65 years ago, the National Association of Conservation Districts began a nation-wide initiative to encourage Americans to focus on stewardship. Stewardship Week is officially celebrated from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in May. It is one of the world’s largest conservation-related observances.
The 2020 Stewardship Week theme is "Where would we BEE without pollinators?" A team of five conservation biology students from Friends University were collaborating with the Conservation District to host a panel discussion and kids' activities to celebrate pollinators; however, the event was converted to a stay-at-home format due to the current pandemic. Over the next week, we will be posting interviews and daily Creature Features created by the students. The Creature Features will highlight different pollinators, the plants they pollinate, and things we can do to promote their survival. We will also include kid-friendly activities related to each pollinator. Happy Stewardship Week! Each year, the Sedgwick County Conservation District administers cost-share funds provided by the Kansas Department of Agriculture through appropriation from the Kansas Water Plan Fund. Funding helps landowners in this county implement conservation practices that benefit all of us by providing cleaner water, more productive crop and grazing lands, and improved wildlife habitat.
Beginning July 1, 2019, the Sedgwick County Conservation District received allocations for two programs: $19,697.00 for the Water Resources Cost-Share Program (WR) and $13,290.00 for the Non-Point Source Pollution Control Program (NPS). All funding received through these programs goes directly to area landowners. None of this funding is used for Conservation District administrative expenses. Since July, $13,452.24 in WR funding has been placed under contract with area landowners. This leaves $6,244.76 available for additional projects. Conservation practices implemented under this program include gradient terraces, grassed waterways, and grade stabilization structures. $12,000 in NPS funding is under contract, leaving $1,290 for additional applications. NPS funding helps landowners replace failing septic systems and plug abandoned wells. These projects protect groundwater quality. Please contact the Conservation District to apply for cost-share funding from the WR or NPS programs. Any cost-share money not under contract by November 30, 2019 will be cancelled. These are “use it or lose it” programs! Yesterday I visited Jacob Farms & Cattle and met with Ryan Speer, one of the co-owners of the Farm and a National Association of Conservation Districts Soil Health Champion. Speer is known for successfully implementing no-till and cover crop practices. He commented that ten years ago cover crops were rare in this area; however, now they are much more popular. For example, planting rye as a cover before soybeans has become a common practice. Speer’s goal is to maintain a living root in the soil 365 days a year. This supports soil biology and helps retain moisture. As we toured some of Speer’s fields, the benefit of the water retention was visible – his dryland crops were not as stressed as crops in nearby fields that had been tilled and not cover cropped. Speer explained that because his soils are holding water, his crops have a bigger window of time to capture rain. Could they eventually succumb to heat and drought stress? Yes, but not as quickly as crops that do not have the benefit of standing residue and covers in the system. I asked Speer about the impact of rainfall quantity on cover crops. He stated that rainfall dictates which covers to use. In areas with lower rainfall, it is important to utilize covers to capture what little water is received – to take advantage of it. One would use a seed mix that requires minimal water in these settings. An additional aspect of Speer’s system is to incorporate grazing of cover crops. He has been doing this for the last five years and now offers custom grazing – grazing for other livestock owners’ cattle. Speer uses four to ten species in his cover crop mixes, depending on the grazing plan. “So how do you know that what you are doing is working?” I asked. Speer replied that he has observed a significant increase in water infiltration rates. Organic matter is improving slowly, roughly 0.1 to 0.2% per year. In the last 10 years, Speer has seen a total increase of organic matter of 1.5%. He estimates that weed control is 60-70% better with utilization of cover crops, thus requiring fewer chemical inputs. This leads to financial savings. Speer advised that practices such as no-till and cover crops should be regarded as part of an overall system. Farmers who switch to no-till and cover crops may have to wait five years to see economic benefits. Tillage comes at a cost when you factor in labor, depreciation of equipment, and fuel cost. Similarly, without cover crops, the input costs can be higher – for weed control and fertilizer. In the Jacob Farms system a cover crop that includes legumes decreases the need for nitrogen application the following year. Speer summarized the benefits of his system this way, “we are growing way more crop with less chemicals and fertilizer than previously.”
Thank you to everyone who joined the Sedgwick County Conservation District and the Friends University Conservation Science Program for our viewing of the documentary Living Soil last night. Below are a couple of screenshots from the end of the film. In the discussion afterwards, there were questions asked about the prevalence of cover crops in Kansas or, more specifically, Sedgwick County. I sought answers in the recent report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. It contains 2017 data broken down by county.
I found that in 2017 there were 1360 farms in Sedgwick County:
The total amount of harvested cropland was 378,142 acres in this county in 2017 including:
Celebrate Stewardship Week with us!
Sedgwick County Conservation District and the new Conservation Science program at Friends University are partnering to host a free viewing of the documentary Living Soil. When asked who should come and see the film, I began listing those you might expect: farmers, Biology/Ecology/Geology students, specialty crop producers, FFA students, 4-H groups, and Master Gardeners. Then I realized, "This matters to everyone! We all eat and soil is key to producing food." According to the Soil Health Institute "Our soils support 95 percent of all food production, and by 2060, our soils will be asked to give us as much food as we have consumed in the last 500 years." If that is not compelling enough, consider that soil...
Living Soil was directed by Chelsea Myers of Tiny Attic Productions, and produced by the Soil Health Institute through the generous support of The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) created the Soil Health Champions Network to bring together farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners. Soil Health Champions work with local NRCS and Conservation district staff to educate others about soil health and conservation practices. Specifically, Soil Health Champs have two key responsibilities:
"Our goal is to have a living root in the soil as many days of the year as possible on every acre. Some fields it is 365 days a year or very close. This includes cash crops and cover crops that are planted in between all cash crops. We also do custom grazing on some of these covers in the winter with cow calf operations in the area. We use multispecies winter cover crops but rely heavily on cereal rye for its many good qualities.
Our goal is to provide a fair return to our landowners and improve soil conditions to a state better than we started farming it. This in turn will provide the farm a stable income stream for future generations." I first encountered the book Lentil Underground: Renegade farmers and the future of food in America when I attended Prairie Festival at the Land Institute last fall. I wondered who the folks were wearing the mysterious Lentil Underground ball caps. Then I saw the book in the bookstore and began to understand. Five months later I finally checked Liz Carlisle's book out from the library.
I began reading the book and could not put it down. About halfway through, I was compelled to get up from my glider and go order some lentils from the Timeless Seeds website. I had to experience the famed Black Belugas myself! I was intrigued by the way a small group of farmers in Montana found a way to regenerate their soil and minimize inputs. Why lentils? They are not only drought-tolerant, but also fix nitrogen in the soil. I began dreaming about all the places I might plant lentils in my neighborhood. One of my favorite stories recounted by Carlisle was of a Montana farmer who had a beautiful field of pollinator-filled volunteer buckwheat waving above a crop of specialty chickpeas. The chickpeas were in turn holding water for and protecting the lowest crop, lentils! The lentils were fixing nitrogen in the soil AND discouraging deer and squirrels from decimating the chickpeas. The triple intercrop arrangement functioned like the traditional "three sisters" combination of corn, beans, and squash all working together. Another highlight of the Lentil Underground story was how its success depended on neighbors sharing equipment, land, experiences, and time with each other. Farmers learned from each other and journeyed together as they experimented with new crops and new methods of cultivating them. I recommend this book and the Black Beluga lentils! |