During the summer and fall of 2024, the VCE plant ecotype team planted approximately 1,100 perennial flowering plants in six public common gardens across the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire. These plants, sourced from three distinct ecoregions, were planted to generate data on the relationship between plant ecotypes and beneficial insects. We ended up with a surplus of about 1,200 individual plants.
Our solution? Expand the experiment.
Community scientists (what we call volunteers) from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts were invited to adopt and plant one of the extra plants in their own gardens. By collecting data on plant growth and insect activity throughout the year, these volunteers are helping us gather more conclusive evidence on the relationship between plant ecotype and pollinator support.
Project Goals and Objectives:
- Compare plant growth and insect use among local and non-local provenances across larger spatial scales and environmental conditions
- Engage new community scientists by providing an easy entry point to do science in their own backyard.
