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How to build biodiversity in your yard

As the population density of our urban areas increases and spreads outward, natural resources like open space and wildlife habitat continue to diminish. And as author Doug Tallamy explained recently in Portland at this year's Urban and Community Forestry Conference, when we shrink a habitat, we lose niche space. In our increasingly urbanized environment, only tiny populations can exist in these tiny habitats - and tiny populations are vulnerable to extinction.

Almost all North American land birds feed their young with insects. But when non-native plants out-compete native plants, many creepy-crawlies simply can't eat them. Today, says author and University of Delaware Entomology Chair Tallamy, our yards support very little biodiversity.

How can we raise the carrying capacity of our neighborhoods so they can be healthy, functioning ecosystems?

Source: Portland Tribune