Best-Practice Guidelines for Pollinator Gardens: Linking Ecology and Practice

Synthesize the existing literature to generate best-practice guidelines for pollinator gardening

We will conduct an up-to-date literature review to collate the most frequently recommended guidelines for pollinator gardens and to evaluate their effectiveness based on existing literature. Our aim with this review is to translate the best-practice guidelines identified into practical, accessible resources for scientists and practitioners.

Develop a framework for how scientists and practitioners can work together to evaluate the effectiveness of gardens

At present, it is challenging to evaluate the effectiveness of pollinator gardens due to a lack of clear goals. We will develop a novel goal-oriented conservation framework that can be implemented through collaboration between scientists and practitioners of pollinator gardening. Our framework will be developed, in part, through a week-long working group that brings together different perspectives on pollinator gardening.

Evaluate the conservation potential of horticultural cultivars

Cultivars are widely planted within ornamental and pollinator gardens, but their ability to support plant-pollinator interactions remains unclear. We will synthesize existing community science data on pollinator visitation to horticultural cultivars to evaluate their conservation potential. Results will be disseminated to practitioners through accessible publications.