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LLNF Science Pub - Yard Futures Project

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The Yard Futures Project: The science behind yard management to increase plant, insect, and bird biodiversity

Originally recorded Monday, February 8th, 2021.

A growing number of ecological field studies of residential yards show that promoting landscaping characteristics such as increased tree cover, reduced mowing and higher proportions of native plants create urban food webs that support diverse and abundant insect and bird communities. Drs. Desiree Narango and Chris Neill participate in a national research project that studies the effects of different yard management styles across six US cities, including Boston. This project measures how microclimates, soils, and, plant, insect and bird communities vary under intensive ("lawn-centric"), passive, and wildlife-friendly yard management across all the cities. Narango and Neill will present findings from this study and discuss how this new science can be translated into biodiversity-promoting practices by homeowners in individual yards.
Desiree Narango is a conservation biologist who studies plant-animal interactions and the ecology of plants, insects, and birds in highly human-dominated urban and agricultural ecosystems. She is currently a Smith Conservation Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Chris Neill is an ecosystem ecologist who studies land use change, land use effects on water quality, and the dynamics of plant communities in grassland, wetlands, and urban ecosystems. He is a Senior Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Falmouth.
Category
ATLANTIC ROAD
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