How Urban Gardens Are Good For Ecosystems And Humans

Traditionally, food crops have been thought to cause biodiversity loss and negative impacts on the ecosystem. However, scientists from several universities, including the University of Texas at Austin, refute this hypothesis, showing that community gardens and urban farms have a positive impact on biodiversity, local ecosystems and the well-being of the people who work. they their He

The study, published in the journal Ecology Letters , examined 28 public urban gardens in California over five years and quantified plant and animal biodiversity and ecosystem functions such as pollination, carbon sequestration, food production, pest control and human well-being. - Maybe .

"We wanted to determine if there is a trade-off in terms of impact on biodiversity or ecosystem function," says Shalin Jha, assistant professor of integrative biology and lead author of the paper. “We found that these gardens, which provide excellent food sources and improve the well-being of gardeners, support an incredibly high biodiversity of plants and animals. It's a win-win situation."

Scientists' previous assumptions about the negative impact of food production on biodiversity were based almost entirely on intensive, often large-scale agriculture, usually growing only one or two types of crops. Public urban gardens, private gardens, urban farms and gardens grow more types of plants in smaller areas. This new study is the first to examine the impact of urban gardens on a range of biodiversity conservation measures and ecosystem services.

"By 2030 it is estimated that around 60% of the world's population will live in cities," said Jha. “And urban farms and orchards now provide 15-20% of our food supply, so they're important to addressing nutritional inequities. We see that urban gardens offer a decisive opportunity to support biodiversity and local food production.'

The research also showed that the choices gardeners make can have a big impact on the local ecosystem. For example, planting trees away from agricultural land can increase carbon sequestration without limiting pollinators or reducing food production due to excessive shade. And only mulching agricultural land can help improve soil carbon services, avoiding negative impacts on pests and pollinators.

The study was co-authored by Monica Egerer, Peter Bichier, Hamutal Cohen, Stacey M. Philpott and Azucena Lukatero of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Heidi Liere of Seattle University, and Brenda Lin of CSIRO Land. Water flag in Australia.

For more information: Shalene Jha et al., Synergy of multiple ecosystem services and landscape mediation of biodiversity in urban agricultural ecosystems, Ecology Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1111/ele.14146

Citation : How urban gardens are good for ecosystems and people (February 7, 2023) Retrieved February 16, 2023, from https://phys.org/news/2023-02-urban-gardens-good-ecosystems-humans.html.

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