This course is designed to allow participants to evaluate plant-insect interactions in gardens from an ecological perspective. For instance, we will be focusing on the importance of maintaining plant and insect pollinator diversity and on the ecological factor that may influence this outcome. Among the factors that will be discussed in this course are the role of disease and pesticides on pollinator’s survival and how these factor could interact with plant species and produce certain outcomes. By the end of this 4-hour course, participants will be able to: provide a rationale as to why species richness and diversity are important to gardens, evaluate the effects of human interventions on pollinators, communicate scientific ideas regarding some of the challenges insect pollinators face in the gardens, and design a garden using an ecological perspective to maximize pollinator species richness and diversity.
