Plant Prioritizer: A data-driven native plant prioritization tool for insect conservation

Insects are declining in the US, threatening their ecological roles and ecosystem services that humans rely on. Since most insects have specialized relationships with native plants, restoring native habitat–including in urban areas and on private land–can help conserve insect populations. A growing movement towards native plant landscaping has led to an abundance of resources to help the public select native plants that benefit pollinators and other insects. However, there are numerous issues currently limiting their accessibility and ecological relevance, including the fact that plant recommendations are usually not based on empirical species interaction data. Here, we propose a working group for the research and development of an open-source and user-friendly tool that uses a data-driven approach to prioritize native plant species that maximize benefits to insects. Focusing first on California and expanding outward, we will collate plant-insect interaction data, prioritize plants by analyzing interaction networks in a spatiotemporally explicit approach, develop an open-source web application from the results, and conduct surveys to improve user experience. Our research products will be useful to nonprofits and other groups invested in native plant selection tools, and will help urban gardeners and landscapers maximize the ecological benefit of private yards.