Harnessing diversity in gardens through individual decision makers
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-22, 00:51authored byDavid Kendal, Williams, NSG, Williams, KJH
Goddard et al.’s [1] review is a welcome contribution to the study of the ecological effects of urban gardens in western developed countries. However, we disagree with their proposition that gardens should be ‘managed collectively’ to enhance native urban biodiversity. This may in fact be counterproductive as the very high vegetation diversity observed in gardens is the result of many individual decision makers. Instead, we argue that the key to biodiversity conservation in urban gardens is developing a greater understanding of the factors driving both the positive (high diversity) and negative (low proportion of native plants) ecological outcomes of peoples’ gardening practices. Both research and practice should focus on understanding and harnessing the extraordinarily high species and structural diversity that result from current gardening practices in ways that enhance broader ecological functioning.
History
Publication title
Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Volume
25
Issue
4
Pagination
201-202
ISSN
0169-5347
Department/School
School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences