wildflowers

Solar on farmland

June 4, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

New studies have found that devoting a small percentage of U.S. farmland to producing solar power would benefit both the country’s energy system and its farmers.

Currently, about 46,000 square miles of farmland – about the area of Pennsylvania – is being used to grow corn to make ethanol. One study looked at the impact of using some of this land for solar power instead of corn ethanol.

Not much of all this farmland is close enough to electrical transmission lines to be practical for utility solar power. In fact, only about 1,500 square miles fits the bill. But if even this small fraction of the corn growing land was used instead for solar power, it would generate as much energy each year than from all of the farms growing corn for fuel.

Solar installations on farms are helpful for farmers as well. The land beneath the panels can be used to grow wildflowers that attracts the bees, wasps, and other insects needed to pollinate crops in the nearby fields. In addition, the solar arrays provide a steady income stream for farmers.

In some places, farmers can earn substantially more from leasing their land for solar than from growing crops. But a study of farms in California suggests that the best option is to do both. Farmers who both grow crops and host solar arrays can have more financial security than those who do just one or the other. The income from solar arrays is pretty predictable and is paid throughout the year. Income from crops can drop off from, for example, a seasonal drought, or from extreme weather events.

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To Help Growers and the Grid, Build Solar on Farmland, Research Says

Photo, posted June 9, 2016, courtesy of Matt Lavin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Bees and urban wildflowers

May 23, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Post-industrial cities often have large numbers of vacant lots, left behind as people have moved out of the area. Local residents are often tempted to plant wildflowers to make these deserted spaces more attractive.

Wildflowers are an important food source for bees. Pollinators like bees play a vital role in food production and attracting them with food sources is a good idea. However, a study by researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK found that there are dangers associated with planting wildflowers in some urban settings.

Wildflowers growing on land previously used for buildings and factories can accumulate lead, arsenic, and other metal contaminants from the soil. These metals have previously been shown to damage the health of pollinators that ingest the metals in the nectar as they feed.

The Cambridge study was carried out in Cleveland, Ohio, which has nearly 34,000 vacant lots. Cleveland was previously the site of iron and steel production, oil refining, and car manufacturing. The researchers tested the nectar from flowering plants growing on disused land throughout the city. Lead was the contaminant found in the highest concentrations. They also found that different species of plants accumulate different amounts and different types of metals.

The goal of the study was not to discourage the planting of wildflowers in towns and cities. It is to highlight the importance of growing the right species of wildflowers as well as to encourage testing soils for metals before planting wildflowers and to clean up pollution. Wildflowers are important for pollinators, but it is also important that they don’t contribute to the decline of pollinator populations that has already been happening for a number of reasons.

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Growing wildflowers on disused urban land can damage bee health

Photo, posted August 26, 2012, courtesy of RJP via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Bumblebees And Climate Change | Earth Wise

July 26, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Pollinators, such as bees and bats, are vital for global food production. They provide an ecological service that’s necessary for the reproduction of nearly 75% of the world’s flowering plants, including more than two-thirds of global food crops.

Bumblebees are among the most important plant pollinators. They pollinate many food crops, including apples, tomatoes, blueberries and legumes, as well as countless types of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.

According to a new study by researchers from Simon Fraser University in Canada, temperature changes have negatively impacted most bumblebee species during the past 120 years. The research, which was recently published in the journal Biology Letters, found that these changes in temperature had more of a negative impact than other factors such as precipitation or floral resources.

The research team analyzed existing data on 46 bumblebee species across North America between 1900 and 2020. The researchers created two occupancy models – one that was focused on time and the other that focused on environmental factors – to see how climate change and land-use variables impacted species’ occupancy. They found that six bumblebee species decreased through time, 22 increased, and 18 remained stable.

Temperature changes had primarily negative impacts on bumblebees. In fact, 37 of the 46 species studied exhibited declines or less positive occupancy increases under observed changes in temperature when compared with temperatures remaining constant. Approximately half of the bumblebee species were negatively impacted by changes in precipitation or floral resources while the other half were positively impacted.

Bumblebee populations are changing as a consequence of climate change.

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The American Bumblebee

Climate change negatively impacting bumble bees: Study

Photo, posted July 14, 2019, courtesy of Dmitry Grigoriev via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Thoreau And Climate Change

March 27, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Henry David Thoreau was a 19th-century American naturalist, philosopher, poet, essayist, and social reformer. He is best known for “Civil Disobedience,” an essay advocating for the rebellion against an unjust government, and for “Walden,” a book about his experiences living simply in nature. Now, Thoreau’s observations from “Walden” are the foundation of a new study exploring the effects of climate change on tree leaf-out and the emergence of spring wildflowers.

This research, which was recently published in the journal Ecology Letters, relies on Thoreau’s scientific observations gathered during the 1850s when he spent 26 months living in isolation at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. These observations from Thoreau were combined with current research to measure tree and wildflower leaf-out dates for 37 different years between 1852 and 2018. “Leaf out” refers to the time in spring when plants and trees begin producing leaves. An alteration in this timing can have a domino effect throughout an ecosystem.

Over the past century, temperatures in Concord, Massachusetts have warmed five degrees Fahrenheit. As a result, leaf-out dates have changed significantly. According to researchers, wildflowers are leafing out about one week earlier, while trees are leafing out about two weeks earlier than they did 160 years ago.

Ground-dwelling plants like wildflowers have a narrow window to accomplish growth, photosynthesis, and reproduction, before the canopy trees leaf out and block the sunlight. Temperature-driven shifts in the timing of tree leaf-out between Thoreau’s time and now are likely already hindering wildflower abundance and flowering.

As the climate continues to warm, the already small window of time between wildflower emergence and tree leaf-out will likely shorten further.

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Using Thoreau, scientists measure the impact of climate change on wildflowers

Photo, posted August 13, 2008, courtesy of Adam Pieniazek via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bee Friendly Amsterdam

February 11, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Scientists around the world have been sounding the alarm for years about the decline of bees and other pollinators that are crucial to the growth of crops. One place where this trend has been bucked is in Amsterdam. The diversity of wild bee and honeybee species in the Dutch capital has actually increased by 45% since 2000.

The city attributes this success to creating bee-friendly environments including the installation of so-called insect hotels. There has also been a ban on the use of chemical pesticides on public land.

Four years ago, Amsterdam set a goal to convert half of all public green spaces to native plants including species that produce flowers and fruits that provide nourishment for bees. Developers in Amsterdam are encouraged to install green roofs on new buildings which reduce reliance on heating and cooling systems and also create habitat for wildlife.

Residents can request to have a 16-inch strip of pavement adjacent to their homes removed in order to plant shrubs, flowers or climbing vines. When a new highway was built in the area in 2015, local activists planted wildflowers along the sides of the road that otherwise would have been left with only gravel or grass. This practice has spread to other major routes and along dikes and railways and is referred to as the Honey Highway.

All of these efforts seem to be having a positive effect. An initial survey was conducted in 2000 to establish a baseline. A 2015 survey of pollinators found 21 bee species not previously documented in the city. The rest of the Netherlands has not done as well, and the Dutch government has recently introduced a pollinator strategy to revive bees, butterflies and other insects crucial to the country’s food crop.

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Bees are dying at an alarming rate. Amsterdam may have the answer.

Photo, posted December 28, 2006, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Saving Bees With Software

April 11, 2017 By EarthWise

The worldwide decline in the population of bees and other pollinators has impelled farmers to do what they can to encourage and nurture bees on their land. Protecting bees is important because pollinators are essential for growing many foods including coffee, cacao, almonds and many other fruits and vegetables.