Karley Mathews, Christina Bell, Karley Mathews and Bryan Spence

Abstract:

The “No Mow May” initiative is a growing movement that encourages limited lawn mowing in early spring with the goal of improving local biodiversity by allowing pollinators to take advantage of early season blossoming plants. Pollinators are critical to the survival of all flowering plants and those who depend on them as a food source, including humans. This project aims to implement “No Mow May” in multiple locations on the Siena College campus and educate people about the importance of pollinators and what can be done to protect them through posted signs at each location. This will be done in collaboration with Siena College Facilities, Environmental Club, and the Environmental Science and Studies departments. This project provides an opportunity for students to conduct pollinator research in the future. Our goal is to create a more biodiverse campus by providing habitat for pollinators which therefore would increase pollinators populations. This project’s success will be observed by the comparison of growth of plants in the designated no-mow areas to those outside of them. We hope that this will lead to an increase in pollinator population sizes and diversity.