Gardening To Protect Ecosystems And Promote Biodiversity
Channel: Alex Zorach
Date: 2014-09-04

You can garden in such a way that protects and restores ecosystems, promoting biodiversity.  The three principles I recommend are (1) planting plants native to your area, ideally grown from local seed sources (2) removing non-native plants from your garden, focusing on removing the plants that are most invasive or damaging to the environment, and (3) trying to get as much biodiversity as you can.

I illustrate this in my garden, showing you how native plants are eaten by many different insects, helping to support the whole food web.  I then talk about the benefits of biodiversity, showing how greater diversity leads to greater biomass.

I then talk about non-native plants, how they can damage ecosystems, how they are eaten by fewer insects, and this makes them out-compete native plants, but then weakens the food web.

I then show another benefit of biodiversity, how different plants are adapted to different conditions.