Establishment of Wildflower Islands to Enhance Roadside Health, Ecological Value, and Aesthetics - Phase II

A previous study completed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) in collaboration with Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) has shown that wildflowers compose less than 10% of the botanical composition of highway roadsides 10 years following seeding. More recently in 2016, UNL/NDOT launched a new project to test the use of wildflower islands as a means of increasing the establishment and persistence of wildflowers on roadsides (phase I). These islands varied in size and consisted of segregated stands of diverse mixtures of wildflowers within grass-dominated roadsides. From this two-year study, the research team demonstrated that islands promoted higher bee abundance and richness than conventionally seeded plots following current NDOT practices.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $171,275.00
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Nebraska Department of Transportation

  1500 Nebraska 2
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68502
• Project Managers:

  Halsey, Lieska

• Principal Investigators:

  Wu-Smart, Judy

  Guretzky, John

  Weissling, Tom

• Start Date: 20200701
• Expected Completion Date: 20230531
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Insects; Landscape design; Roadside flora; Seeding; Wildflowers
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01735892
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Nebraska Department of Transportation
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Apr 7 2020 9:58AM