Cover Crop Impacts on Wildlife, Birds and Pollinators

COVER CROP

TRAINING MODULE

Developed by

Joe LaRose, University of Missouri

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Reviewed by

Barry Fisher (NRCS-retired), Ray McCormick (producer) and Dr. Rob Myers (U of MO)

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Funded by

Walton Family Foundation

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These training modules are being made available by free use of other educators through University of Missouri and the Midwest Cover Crops Council, which participated in the WFF project supporting development of these modules and provided many of the technical reviewers.

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Cover crops impact a wide range of wildlife, birds and invertebrates

• Mammals
• Songbirds, raptors, and game birds
• Herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians)
• Pollinators and beneficial insects
• What’s good for invertebrates is good for everything else – key part of the food chain

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Matthew Wyche

MDC

MDC

Cover crops impact invertebrates

Food

• Supports earthworms with detritus and by protecting soil (and the earthworms are a food source for some birds and mammals)
• Decomposing invertebrates enrich the soil

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Habitat

• Ground cover is critical for overwintering insects

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Sjoerd Duiker

Invertebrates are a key part of the food chain

• Invertebrates: insects, spiders, mites, earthworms, snails, etc.
• Beneficial insects: insects that provide some service to people (pollinators, predators/parasitoids, nutrient cyclers)
• Natural enemies: invertebrate predators and parasitoids that help control pest insects
• Spiders, insect predators, millipedes, etc.

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• The base of the food chain: invertebrates feed birds, reptiles, bats, and other mammals

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Invertebrate impacts

• Flowering cover crops provide nectar and pollen to pollinators and natural enemies

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• Cover crop supports diverse plant-feeding insects that support predators until cash crop planting

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• Spraying insecticide eliminates predators

Ansel Oommen, Bugwood.org

Ryan Stocwell

Other invertebrate impacts

• Nectar and pollen year for late-emerging insects

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• Maintain natural enemy populations

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• Reproductive habitat
• Insects that oviposit in plants

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NRCS Montanta

Rob Myers

Cover crops as habitat

• Cover crops can help wildlife bridge the green gap between harvest and planting in Midwestern corn-soy rotations

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• Huge conservation potential given the percentage of land in row-crop agriculture, over 250 million acres

Rob Myers

Rob Myers

Rob Myers

Bird impacts of cover crops: winter

Food and protective cover

• Resident birds benefit
• Quail
• Turkey
• Pheasant
• Songbirds

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MDC

Birds: �Winter impacts

Food and cover for migratory birds

• Waterfowl
• Songbirds

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Ryan Stockwell

Birds: spring impacts

• Nesting habitat
• Protection from predators
• Could save grassland species like dicksissel and eastern meadowlark

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• Food
• Insects very important for bird diets in the spring
• Quail may benefit from cover crops both from more insects to eat as well as cover/habitat

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U of Missouri Extension

NRCS

NRCS

Birds:�Summer impacts

• Potentially the greatest benefits for grassland birds come in the summer
• Brood-rearing cover
• Late nesters
• Gold-finches
• Food
• Seeds
• Insects
• Stocking up for fall migrations

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U of Missouri Extension

Mammals:�Winter impacts

• Forage
• Food plot mixes often contain the same plant species as cover crop mixes

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• Food and cover for voles, rabbits and furbearers

Small mammals

Mammals: Spring�and summer impacts

• Deer
• Fawning and bedding habitat
• Potential for diverse diet
• Voles and rabbits have potential to reach damaging populations

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U of Missouri Extension

Herpetofauna

• Understudied
• Cover crops probably offer overwintering habitat and protection from predators
• Cover cropped areas can provide protection for moving between breeding ponds or other breeding locations

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Rob Myers

Predators

Raptors

• More food from small mammals and herpetiles
• Hunting may be more difficult in tall cover crop but also more game to hunt
• Raptors benefit from places to perch

Predators

• Benefit from cover and greater prey populations
• Raptors, coyotes foxes, and other predators consume potential crop pests

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Cover crops as habitat

• Cover crops can help wildlife bridge the green gap between harvest and planting in Midwestern corn-soy rotations

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• Huge conservation potential given the percentage of land in row-crop agriculture

Rob Myers

Managing cover crops for wildlife � – try more than just cereal rye

• Plant mixes
• Include flowering species that bloom at different times

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• Let cover crops grow through peak bloom
• Supports insects (particularly pollinators and natural enemies)
• Nesting birds switching to an insect-based diet

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Combining cover crops with other conservation practices: No-till impacts

Invertebrates

Protects overwintering invertebrates from fall tillage

Allows natural enemies to better move from cover crops to cash crops in the spring

Birds

Protects bird nests. Tillage destroys 100% of nests, no-till planting only 70-90%

Reptiles, amphibians, and mammals

Protects them from being killed by tillage

Maintains insect food source

Predators

Tillage eliminates most of prey base during critical breeding periods in the spring

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Cover crops combined with contour buffer strips

Photo credit: Edwin Remsburg

Other conservation practices

• Perennial wildflower strips
• Windbreaks
• Beetle banks
• Riparian buffers
• Edge feathering

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• NRCS and state funding options are available

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Rob Myers

Cover crops can be a key part of a diversified farm landscape

• Cover crops in row crop fields can help tie together natural habitat areas that would otherwise be too small to sustain certain populations of animals, birds, and invertebrates
• Also, many indirect but still important benefits to wildlife like better water quality, reduced impacts from ag chemicals, etc.

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