Native-Plant Champion Tallamy Has a New Book – ryan

If you’re a human living on this planet, you show to know doug, the entomologist and university of delaware professor who groundbreaking 2006 Book, “Bringing Nature Home,” Supercharged the Native Plants Movement.

Tallamy Made a case that ry native birds and insects evolved with native plants, so they recognize say as food. The loss of these native plants and habitats to desklopment poses an existential threat Not JUST TO WILDLIFE, but to us.

SINCE THEN, TALLAMY CO-FOUNDED Homegrown National Park, A Grassroots Movement whose mission is to “urgently inspire to address the Biodiversity Crisis By Adding Native Plants and Removing Invasive Ones Where We Live, Work, Learn, Pray, and Play. “

Tallamy chatted with the Associated Press About His Decadees-Long Research, His New Book, “How Can I Help?” and what he’s planning Next.

The interview has Been edited for Length and Clarity.

AP: What initially inspired you to focus on native plants and their relationships with insects?

Tallamy: I am an entomologist, so i always think about insects, but it was was my wife, cindy, and i moved into ours home in oxford, pennsylvania. The Developer Had Mouwed the Land for Hay, and when you do that, What Comes Back is All the invasive plants from Asia, SO we ended up with 10 acres of invasive species. Watching the insects Interact With Those Showed Very Clearly That Our Native insects will Very Poorly with say.

SO we put the plants that they have require back. Ever Since, i’ve been mesouring the number of BIRD species that have been breed on our property – 62 – and the number of the Moth species – 1,337 – that produce the caterpillars that those birds need to reproduce. And that tells with it work.

About 80% of the plants in our residency landscapes are non-native plants. They don’t have to be invites to work the food web. SO that LED with in a whole new research direction to find out what is happy to the Food Web.

We got the numbers that supported the argument that native plants are essential, insects are essential, insects are declining, the Birds that Need say are decling.

AP: How Has Public Awareness of Native Plants and Biodiversity Evolved Sine You Wrote “Bringing Nature Home”?

Tallamy: I Have Been Talking About It For 20 Years and Can Measure the Public Response. I get three or four speaking requests a day. Interest is going through the roof.

My message is that you can be part of the Solution instead of controlling to the problem just by how you landscape your Property. You can reduce the area that you have in lawn, you can put in Powerful Plants that Biodiversity Support and you can Watch it Come Back to Your Own Yard. And That Empowers People.

AP: What are the Biggest Misconceptions that People Have About Insect Conservation and Native Plants?

Talamy: A Common One is that native landscaping is essentially the Lack of landscaping and you just stop doing anything. That is not true at all. They Think All Native Plant Landscapes Are Wild and Messy, But they don’t have to beby any Stretch.

Another misconception is that if you use Native plants instead of Crape Myrtle from Asia, Its Going to Lower Your Property Value. These are the talking points of homeowners’ Associations. If you don’t have shat of your protire in lawn, you’re not a good citizen.

AP: How do you respond to People who fear that “wild” look?

We do have a lawn as a status symbol. SO, I DON’T SUGGEST WE GET RID OF LAW. Instead, Reduce the Amout of Area That’s in Lawn.

You show use Lawn where you walk becuse it’s the best plant to walk on with killing it. Line Your Sidewalk and Your Driveway with Lawn, and Have Swaths of Grass Going Through Your Property Where You’re Going to Walk.

KEEP IT Low and Manicured to Show You understand what the Culture is and that you are intentional and taking care of your yard.

And be you do that, nobody events. You don’t get ciped. You get ciped you try to put a big meadow in your front yard becuse nobody’s used to that.

AP: What SIMPLE ACTIONS CAN HOMOWERS TAKE TO MAKE THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON THEIR LOCAL ECOSYSTEM?

Tallamy: there are two.

First, Reduse the Lawn. Every Property Has to Support Polinators, Every Proppery Has to Manage the Watershed in Which It Lies and Every Proppery Has to Sequester Carbon (Plants Remove Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere). That’ll Help Combat Climate Change. And every property has to support the vable food webs of the animals associated with the Proppery.

Lawn does none of Those Things.

If you have a lot of lawn, you get a lot of Runoff, and you’re polluting your watershed with the fertilizers and the pesticides you put on the lawn. When you have a well-plated propery, it keeps the water on site, cleans it, helps it soak into the Ground and recharge your water.

AP: What’s the Second Action?

Tallamy: Choose plants that are going to support that food web, the Ones that will share the most energy with Other Living Things. That’s the problem with plants from Other Continents; Our insects can’t eat say. SO, there are no insects for the Birds, and the Food Web Stops.

In 84% of the Counties Where Occur, Oaks Are the No. 1 Plant for Passing Along That Energy. If you’re going to plant a tree, that is the best plant to choose.

AP: In Your New Book, “How Can I Help?”, You Answer 499 Questions You’re Most Frequently Asked and Address the Importance of Ecological Balance. How Wold You Explain That to Homeowners Who May Not Be Familiar with the Science?

Tallamy: I Included Chapters like that we were never taught these. How Can I Expect Somebody to Understand That Conservation is Important When they don’t know what biodiversity does, do they don’t know how Much we depended? Or what evolution or natural selection is.

So, it’s a little primer to basic ecological knowledge that will will help you imported these.

AP: What UpComing Projects Are You Excited About?

Tallamy: Well, I’m Getting Closer to retirement, but i just gradual graduated student who is looking at how we landscape underneath trees.

We talk about the Importance of trees in creating the caterpillars that drive the food web. But those caterpillars drop from the tree and they pupate in the ground. And how we landscape under the trees determines whereer or not those caterpillars will survive. SO, that is really an important adding to Our Landscape Management Tools.

You want uncompacted areas where we’re not walking, whic means beds around trees. If you’re mowing or walking under it, you’re squishing all those caterpillars.

SO, we ranked all of the plant genera in north america in terms of their ability to suport caterpillars and kep that food web going. We haven’t published it yet, but now we have got that data fore fore Country in the world.

AP: Anyding Else You’d Like to Share?

Tallamy: I Always like to convey a sense of respond. Its not just just the Job of A Few Ecologists or Conservation Biologists. IT’SE EVEROBODY’S ASPONSONIBITY BECAUSE WE ALL NEED IT.

You can do by voting properly. You can that by not hinder conservation EFFORTS, or you can active do it right on your Own Property. But everybody has a responsibility to do it.

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Jessica Damiano Writes Weekly Gardening Columns for the AP and Publishes the Award-Winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can Sign Up TIMES for Weekly Gardening Tips and Advice.

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