Fall Flowers

I am planning on using the Guerin Creek area of the Thompson Rivers University campus in Kamloops, BC (see figure 1). I explored this region and found that it varies drastically in access to water sources, and I thought I could examine how the vegetation and pollinators differ as the proximity to the creek varies. Kamloops is a desert climate and it is currently the end of summer/beginning of fall. As I explored my area of interest I noticed all of these brilliant yellow flowers blooming. Rabbitbrush is a late flowering plant that supports a lot of pollinators through the fall season. They bloom from September-October, so I thought they could be the perfect topic for my field experiment. There are also wild yellow sunflowers blooming, and from my research so far it seems like they actually might be from the same genus as the rabbitbrush.

The vegetation includes sagebrush, wildflowers, and drought resistant grasses. It is a creek, so there is a fairly steep elevation grade difference as the proximity to the creek changes (see figure 2). I am thinking I could compare both vegetation at higher elevations and lower elevations both near water sources and farther from water sources. In the map, you can see the blue region near the creek, and the pink area further from the creek. I will look at blooming vegetation and pollinators in both areas.

I will keep my observations during the day, between 10-2 and ensure that it isn’t too windy for the pollinators to collect and fly. I will also only observe on days where it isn’t overcast or raining.

A few questions about this area:

1. How do the number and type of rabbitbrush pollinators vary closer to and farther from water sources?
2. How do the pollinator types vary between the wild sunflowers and the rabbitbrush?
3. How does elevation affect the pollinators of rabbitbrush?