Native floral enhancement plantings provide native bees and other pollinators with a floral banquet year-round
Lena undertook her PhD at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University as part of the Healthy bee populations for sustainable pollination in horti-culture project. Her work highlights how diverse, locally-sourced seed mixes comprised of predominantly perennial native plant species can improve year-round floral resource supply to pollinators within Australian agroecosystems as part of floral enhancement plantings. Lena’s studies also investigate how key native floral resources will be affected by global warming, particularly in terms of the timing of flowering and nectar production as well as sugar concentrations of nectar available to pollinators. Prior to her PhD, Lena studied how flower visitors respond to floral resource availability and floral trait characteristics within burnt landscapes of the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa.