Urban conservation gardening in the decade of restoration

Segar, Josiane; Callaghan, Corey T.; Ladouceur, Emma; Meya, Jasper N.; Pereira, Henrique M.; Perino, Andrea; Staude, Ingmar R.

doi:10.1038/s41893-022-00882-z

Cited by 25 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Do ecosystems with novel species assemblages have less value than native assemblages (Hobbs et al, 2009; Schlaepfer, 2018)? Is it ok to plant endangered species in urban gardens to protect the species from extinction (Segar et al, 2022), and in doing so are we degrading the species' value? Is it desirable or undesirable to discover that non‐native species make up a large fraction of a given community?…”

Section: Embracing Novelty and Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conserving biodiversity in the face of rapid climate change requires a shift in priorities

Schlaepfer

Lawler

2022

WIREs Climate Change

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The field of conservation aims to protect biodiversity-the diversity of life on earth in all its forms. Traditional conservation objectives and measures have already been expanded and modified in response to shifting social values and climate-related challenges. As climate change progresses, we argue that these changes will need to be accelerated. First, an even greater fraction of conservation objectives will need to prioritize the basic well-being of humans, especially in areas where humans are strongly dependent on their natural surroundings.For example, urban biodiversity and low-impact forms of agriculture and forestry that reconcile biodiversity and contributions to humans should increasingly be viewed as compatible with conservation objectives. Second, more conservation measures will need to allow for, and even foster, changes in biodiversity. Indeed, changing species' characteristics and biotic community composition are not only adaptive responses to inevitable climate change but will, in many instances, also be necessary to maintain functioning ecosystems. Conversely, attempts to maintain biodiversity in a historical state will likely become increasingly difficult, expensive, and possibly counterproductive.Finally, in addition to continuing climate adaptation work, conservation efforts will need to focus more on reducing atmospheric carbon concentrations. We explore how collectively these changes are transforming the field of conservation and how they have the potential to lead to a more just and sustainable world despite impending climate change.

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Section: Embracing Novelty and Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conserving biodiversity in the face of rapid climate change requires a shift in priorities

Schlaepfer

Lawler

2022

WIREs Climate Change

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“…Production and gardening of declining native species can facilitate dispersal, thereby bolstering these species populations (der Lippe & Kowarik, 2008; Ismail et al, 2021;Rudd et al, 2002). Increased demand for such species could furthermore create an economic market, thereby increasing private revenue streams for declining native plant production and conservation (Segar et al, 2022). Moreover, at times of alarming declines in insect populations, CG could also promote insect biodiversity; especially of those insects that are specialized on declining native plants and are co-declining (Berthon et al, 2021;Biesmeijer et al, 2006; Gri ths-Lee et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the most pressing hurdles is a lack of practical know-how, namely integration of information pertaining to which plants are declining, which of these plants are amenable to CG and where these species can be purchased (Segar et al, 2022). Practical advice is indeed one of the most effective ways to promote CG amongst previously unengaged actors (Shaw & Miller, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst protected areas are and will remain the most important asset for nature conservation, there have been increasing calls for complementary and more participatory forms of conservation. One such form is conservation gardening (CG) (Segar et al, 2022). In an increasingly urban world, urban green spaces can provide vast opportunities to engage the public in biodiversity conservation and leverage powerful social and economic mechanisms to address the biodiversity crisis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Putting conservation gardening into practice

Munschek

Witt²,

Kaltofen³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Conservation gardening (CG) is the widespread planting of urban green spaces with declining native plant species and the transformation of the gardening industry into a socio-ecological conservation tool. However, information on which plants are amenable, what conditions they require, and where they can be purchased remains scarce and not readily available. Using Germany as an example, we demonstrate a workflow that synthesizes such data. We synthesized the Red Lists of all 16 federal states in Germany, and text-mined a comprehensive platform for garden plants, as well as multiple German producers of native plants. We summarize all available data via a user-friendly app (https://conservation-gardening.shinyapps.io/app-en/), allowing gardeners to retrieve region-specific lists of CG plants, as well as corresponding planting and purchasing advice. We found that a median of 845 plant species are red-listed across federal states (ranging from 515 to 1,123), with a median of 41% of species amenable to CG (ranging from 29–53%), totalling in 988 CG species. 650 (66%) of these are already available for purchase. We found that many CG plants are drought-tolerant and require less fertilizer on average, with implications for long-term urban planning and climate adaptation. Together with gardening experts, we present purchasable CG balcony plants for each federal state, highlighting that CG can happen now and also for people without gardens. Our analysis suggests plant extinction risk could potentially be reduced by a median of 29% across Germany if CG were widely implemented. Our study highlights a considerable potential for CG to initiate transformative change to help bend the curve of biodiversity loss.

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“…These symbols would not succeed if the species they depict did not resonate with people. Importantly, an abundance of native species in the areas where people live is important for expanding the public's understanding of biodiversity and strengthening societal licence and commitment to biodiversity conservation (Segar et al, 2022). The corollary is that because increasing urbanisation is driving declines in native biodiversity (Larson et al, 2022) and the majority of species within lived-in environments are often alien imports, people are becoming increasingly disconnected from natural ecosystems (McKinney, 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

Calling time on alien plantscapes

Gillman

2023

Global Change Biology

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Both urban and rural environments around the globe have become dominated by alien plant species to the extent that plantscapes from one region or country have become difficult to distinguish from many others. This process of plant community homogenisation comes at a cost to cultural identity and undermines people's sense of place. Although invasive alien plant species have received considerable attention in recent decades, issues with non‐invasive alien plant species have largely been ignored, and yet they contribute significantly to biotic homogeneity and impose an ever accumulating invasion debt: a debt that increases in proportion with their population sizes. By contrast, an abundance of native species in the places where people live is important for strengthening commitment to biodiversity conservation. Is there therefore sufficient evidence of harm from increasing numbers of non‐invasive alien plants to justify local and central governments introducing measures to substantially reduce the proportion of non‐invasive aliens in both urban and rural environments?

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Urban conservation gardening in the decade of restoration

Cited by 25 publications

References 61 publications

Conserving biodiversity in the face of rapid climate change requires a shift in priorities

Conserving biodiversity in the face of rapid climate change requires a shift in priorities

Putting conservation gardening into practice

Calling time on alien plantscapes

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