Does your house have a lawn? If so, what do you see in it? Grass? Flowers? Trees? Most likely, it’ll be lots of grass, a few flowers, and maybe one tree. Grass might look pretty and green, but it’s actually a huge waste of space; grass can’t support any insects or any other species of creatures except humans, and that’s just for decoration.
In the United States of America alone, people use around 9 billion pounds of water each day to water their yards and lawns. This is a big problem, especially in places with droughts. In California and Florida people can’t water their lawns as much as they like, and sometimes, although their lawns won’t die, they won’t look green, either.
Brooke Moffis, graduate student at the University of Florida in Gainesville,, works with assistant professor in forest resources and conservation Basil Iannone in the university’s lab to learn about the environmental science of lawns.
“One of the ultimate goals of Brooke’s work stems from the need to conserve water,” Iannone said. To conserve water, you could fill your lawn with plants native to the homeland and focus on the plants that grow in dry places.
When you see a lawn that only includes grass, you don’t really think much. A monoculture is a lawn that only includes grass or one type of plant.
“[But] we don’t need it to be a monoculture to serve the function of a lawn,” Iannone says.
A grassy lawn doesn’t feed only bugs. It doesn’t do much, actually, to species of animals that eat/drink nectar, honey, or pollen. But a lawn with native plants has much more use!
Filling a lawn with grass might reduce weeds from growing, but there’s not such thing as a weed. People tend to think of weeds as a pest that steals water and makes someone’s lawn look overgrown and messy. But think about it; weeds need less water than other plants, and you don’t have to put up signs that warn people about going on the grass because of the chemicals used to get rid of weeds.
“You’re creating a healthier environment where people can walk without worrying,” said Iannone. Lannone and his partner Moffis decided to change the way people think about plant pests, like weeds.
They made a pamphlet that tells people about the benefits of weeds that grew up in that state. They are also learning about the ecologic welfare lawns have with flowers that most people would think of as weeds.
Lannone and Moffis had found out that lawns with more native plants covered up the ground better and also attracted more species of pollinators, while the plants held moisture, so they needed less water to live.
A third of our food probably wouldn’t exist without pollinators. From the tomato ketchup in your kitchen to the alfalfa cattle are fed to make ice cream, these are all thanks to pollinators.
Lots of pollinators need to migrate long distances, such as the butterfly, and they need lawns to stop by to eat. Think of it as a road trip, and you need to stop by fast food restaurants to fill up. Lawns are like fast food restaurants to butterflies.
Sheryl Hosler, a graduate student from the University of Illinois Chicago in urban ecology, noted that lawns are like dining rooms to pollinators.
“For a long time, cities were treated as biological deserts,” she says. “But there are lots of things living in the city besides people.” Hosler wanted to know if lawns will be affected by the pollinators that pass by. She went from door to door to ask people if they would mind her studying their yards.
“Backyards have not been studied that much,” she said. She also said they probably look very different.
Hosler wrote down the types of plants in backyards and tallied their flowers, both the number of blooms and the number of flowering species. She recorded the bees that came into the garden, including bumblebee and honeybees and a bunch of other native bees. Hosler placed pots with cucumber plants in each yard she studies. When pollinators move pollen from a male plant to a female plant, the cumbers make more seeds. Holer would then measure how well the pollinators were making seeds.
“Cucumber plants literally cannot make seeds without the help of insect pollinators,” Hosler said.
“I can collect the fruits, scoop out all the seeds and count them,” she said. “The number of seeds created by the cucumber plants in each site gives me an idea of how good the bees were at moving pollen around.”
“The higher the diversity [of bees], the higher the number of seeds,” she explained, “That tells us how good those bees are at doing a good job moving pollen between the flowers.”
Lawns with many plants can have welfare other than pollinators. Ladybugs and lacewings eat aphids, which can hurt a lot of plants, while a garden that supports big-eyed bugs can keep cinch bugs under control. No more chemicals!
“If you’re making a nice habitat for birds, then [those birds are] going to also help out by doing what a lot of these songbirds do best—which is eating just a ton of insects,” Man Garfinkle, ecologist, said. She works like Moffis at the University of Illinois Chicago. She says that secret is to make enough food for birds to eat if insects are at a low number.
Even though grassy lawns won’t change overnight, ecologists hopes we’ll start to change our lawns to plant more native plants.
“If we could get people to start seeing the beauty in these sort of wilder-looking yards,” said Garfinkle, “that would be a really good first step.
In the United States of America alone, people use around 9 billion pounds of water each day to water their yards and lawns. This is a big problem, especially in places with droughts. In California and Florida people can’t water their lawns as much as they like, and sometimes, although their lawns won’t die, they won’t look green, either.
Brooke Moffis, graduate student at the University of Florida in Gainesville,, works with assistant professor in forest resources and conservation Basil Iannone in the university’s lab to learn about the environmental science of lawns.
“One of the ultimate goals of Brooke’s work stems from the need to conserve water,” Iannone said. To conserve water, you could fill your lawn with plants native to the homeland and focus on the plants that grow in dry places.
When you see a lawn that only includes grass, you don’t really think much. A monoculture is a lawn that only includes grass or one type of plant.
“[But] we don’t need it to be a monoculture to serve the function of a lawn,” Iannone says.
A grassy lawn doesn’t feed only bugs. It doesn’t do much, actually, to species of animals that eat/drink nectar, honey, or pollen. But a lawn with native plants has much more use!
Filling a lawn with grass might reduce weeds from growing, but there’s not such thing as a weed. People tend to think of weeds as a pest that steals water and makes someone’s lawn look overgrown and messy. But think about it; weeds need less water than other plants, and you don’t have to put up signs that warn people about going on the grass because of the chemicals used to get rid of weeds.
“You’re creating a healthier environment where people can walk without worrying,” said Iannone. Lannone and his partner Moffis decided to change the way people think about plant pests, like weeds.
They made a pamphlet that tells people about the benefits of weeds that grew up in that state. They are also learning about the ecologic welfare lawns have with flowers that most people would think of as weeds.
Lannone and Moffis had found out that lawns with more native plants covered up the ground better and also attracted more species of pollinators, while the plants held moisture, so they needed less water to live.
A third of our food probably wouldn’t exist without pollinators. From the tomato ketchup in your kitchen to the alfalfa cattle are fed to make ice cream, these are all thanks to pollinators.
Lots of pollinators need to migrate long distances, such as the butterfly, and they need lawns to stop by to eat. Think of it as a road trip, and you need to stop by fast food restaurants to fill up. Lawns are like fast food restaurants to butterflies.
Sheryl Hosler, a graduate student from the University of Illinois Chicago in urban ecology, noted that lawns are like dining rooms to pollinators.
“For a long time, cities were treated as biological deserts,” she says. “But there are lots of things living in the city besides people.” Hosler wanted to know if lawns will be affected by the pollinators that pass by. She went from door to door to ask people if they would mind her studying their yards.
“Backyards have not been studied that much,” she said. She also said they probably look very different.
Hosler wrote down the types of plants in backyards and tallied their flowers, both the number of blooms and the number of flowering species. She recorded the bees that came into the garden, including bumblebee and honeybees and a bunch of other native bees. Hosler placed pots with cucumber plants in each yard she studies. When pollinators move pollen from a male plant to a female plant, the cumbers make more seeds. Holer would then measure how well the pollinators were making seeds.
“Cucumber plants literally cannot make seeds without the help of insect pollinators,” Hosler said.
“I can collect the fruits, scoop out all the seeds and count them,” she said. “The number of seeds created by the cucumber plants in each site gives me an idea of how good the bees were at moving pollen around.”
“The higher the diversity [of bees], the higher the number of seeds,” she explained, “That tells us how good those bees are at doing a good job moving pollen between the flowers.”
Lawns with many plants can have welfare other than pollinators. Ladybugs and lacewings eat aphids, which can hurt a lot of plants, while a garden that supports big-eyed bugs can keep cinch bugs under control. No more chemicals!
“If you’re making a nice habitat for birds, then [those birds are] going to also help out by doing what a lot of these songbirds do best—which is eating just a ton of insects,” Man Garfinkle, ecologist, said. She works like Moffis at the University of Illinois Chicago. She says that secret is to make enough food for birds to eat if insects are at a low number.
Even though grassy lawns won’t change overnight, ecologists hopes we’ll start to change our lawns to plant more native plants.
“If we could get people to start seeing the beauty in these sort of wilder-looking yards,” said Garfinkle, “that would be a really good first step.
