How Native Landscaping Makes a Difference

Across the United States hundreds of organizations and governmental groups promote the use of native landscaping by homeowners as a way of providing habitat to urban wildlife. Many of these efforts and programs are branded with claims of "restoring habitat" or "helping pollinators''. Yet, despite how common these programs are, there has been little investigation into whether these programs are working as intended. My lab partnered with St. Louis Audubon Society to assess the effectiveness of their Bring Conservation Home (BCH) program. BCH certifies yards to one of three levels based on meeting certain habitat requirements. We sampled birds, bees, and mosquitoes in houses in each of the categories, as well as houses that are enrolled but have not met the requirements to meet the lowest certification tier. Preliminary results indicate that BCH certification level is correlated to an increase in bird and bee diversity, and a decrease in harmful mosquito abundance. However, the pattern varies in urban, suburban, and exurban neighborhoods.