Bloom count data associated with Eastern Shore pollinator studies in 2018

All data were collected from 20 farms located in the Eastern Shore region of Virginia and Maryland and Virginia Beach. Ten farms had wildflower meadows sown either in 2015 (N=1 farm) or 2016(N=9 farms) which were planted following NRCS guidelines for the creation of pollinator refuges. The bloom counts recorded in this dataset were taken weeks of May 7, 2018, and July 2, 2018 with a m2 quadrat at 10-m intervals along a 50-m transect. Bloom transects were conducted within wildflower fields on farms with previously sown meadows (N=10 farms), or in unmanaged field edges at farms without wildflower meadows (N=10). Transects were initiated from random starting points by throwing the quadrat into the meadow or unmanaged field edge, proceeding toward the middle of the habitat. Blooming plants were identified to genus and species when possible. Blooms were quantified as the number of individual stems with open inflorescences. Composites and umbels were considered one flower: for example, multiple blooms on an unbranched stem (e.g., partridge pea, sunflower) were considered one flower while multiple blooming branches off of a stem (e.g., coreopsis) were individually counted. Bloom counts in the spreadsheet represent the total number summed across the 5-m2 transects taken per farm per date, or the total number of blooms counted within the total 5-m2 area surveyed at the farm on that date. Please see the following publications for more details regarding the study sites and research carried out at these farms with and without wildflower meadows:-Angelella, G.M., & M.E. O'Rourke. 2017. Pollinator habitat establishment after organic and no-till seedbed preparation methods. HortScience 52(10): 1349-1355.-McCullough, C., G. Angelella, & M. O'Rourke. 2020. Conservation wildflower plantings do not enhance on-farm abundance of Amblyomma americanum (Ixodida: Ixodidae). Insects 11(9): 617.-McCullough, C.T., G.M. Angelella, & M.E. O'Rourke. 2021. Landscape context influences the bee conservation value of wildflower plantings. Environmental Entomology 50(4): 821-831.-Angelella, G.M., McCullough, C.T., & O'Rourke, M.E. 2021. Honey bee hives decrease wild bee abundance, species richness, and fruit count on farms regardless of wildflower strips. Scientific Reports 11(1): 3202.-McCullough, C.T., H. Grab, G. Angelella, S. Karpanty, J. Samtani, E.M. Olimpi, & M. O'Rourke. 2022. Diverse landscapes but not wildflower plantings increase marketable crop yield. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 339: 108120.-Angelella, G.M., C.T. McCullough, & M.E. O'Rourke. 2025. On-farm wildflower plantings generate opposing reproductive outcomes for solitary and bumble bee species. Environmental Entomology 54(3): 623-631.

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