Protect Biodiversity
In Florida, urban areas are a dominant feature in the landscape, and many
of these urban areas are situated near natural areas or wildlife preserves.
What people do in their daily lives can affect local plants and animals.
Steps can be taken to create and save habitat in urban areas, minimizing
our adverse impact. Plus, creating habitat provides wildlife viewing opportunities
for people in cities and natural recreational areas for people to enjoy.
Tips for Preserving Biodiversity in Natural Areas
- Support your local park system by visiting, donating, or volunteering. We even have an amazing state park right here in Gainesville- Paynes Prairie
- Volunteer for clean-ups to remove garbage and invasive species from natural areas. The Air Potato Round Up and Watershed Action Volunteer clean-ups here in town are just two of myriad opportunities.
- Think
about where your products come from: The harvest of raw
materials and manufacture of products in other
placesmay have negative
impacts on their unique ecosystems. Thinking about
what we buy, and looking for things like less packaging, less
toxins, more durability,
and recycled
content is one of the biggest ways we can help our
planet.
Ten Tips for Landscaping for Wildlife
All these tips are of value to wildlife, so they are presented in random order.
- Limit the Amount of Lawn: Grass offers very little food or cover for wildlife. By reducing the amount of mowed lawn around your house, especially in areas of low traffic, you will be creating shelter and food for many animal species.
- Increase Vertical Layering: Increasing plant structure between the ground and the tree canopy is called "vertical layering." Planting a variety of vegetation in different sizes and heights provides more cover and feeding opportunities for wildlife species. Clumps (or islands) of native vegetation with plants of different heights are best.
- Provide Snags and Brush Piles: As trees become diseased or die, consider leaving them standing as "snags" for wildlife that use them for feeding and nesting, such as woodpeckers.
- Provide Water: Water is an essential part of productive wildlife habitats and wildlife will benefit from any water source you provide, such as a birdbath or small pond.
- Plant Native Vegetation: Use NATIVE plant species in your yard whenever possible. Landscaping with plants that are native to Florida provides better food and cover for native wildlife than do non-natives, and require less care and resources to maintain. Information on where you can purchase native Florida plants can be found at the Association of Florida Native Nurseries. Also, be sure that plants you choose are low maintenance and require little water once they are established.
- Provide Bird/Bat Houses and Bird Feeders: Adding birdfeeders of different designs or with different seeds may increase the diversity of birds you can attract to your yard. Adding birdhouses (nest boxes) and bat houses in your yard will provide nesting and roosting shelter for widlife.
- Remove Invasive Exotic Plants: Invasive-exotic plants aggressively take over natural habitats and can replace all the native vegetation. What we do in our individual yards can affect areas far beyond our yards. Once established, these non-native plants destroy wildlife habitat, resulting in areas with fewer plant species and fewer feeding and cover opportunities for wildlife.
- Manage Pets: Both cats and dogs can drastically impact wildlife. Cats are extremely good hunters and it is estimated they kill millions of birds and small mammals each year and can be especially problematic if you are attracting wildlife to your yard.
- Reduce Pesticide Use: Anything you can do to reduce pesticide use in your yard will benefit wildlife. Most pesticides do not target one species or pest, but anything that comes into contact with it.
- Expand the Scale of Habitat: The required habitat for many species is much larger than what you could provide within your yard. Consider speaking with your neighbors about creating larger wildlife habitat patches by landscaping together to provide food plants and other features that wildlife seek.
Content By: Mark E. Hostetler, Gregg Klowden, Sarah Webb Miller, Kara N. Youngentob
For More Information:
Gainesville’s Nature Operations Division provides informational services including newsletters, press releases, brochures, and special fliers which provide the public with details regarding schedules, programs and special events involving nature.
UF Florida Wildlife Extension has more information on promoting biodiversity and landscaping for wildlife.
EDIS is
the searchable Electronic Data Information Source of UF/IFAS
Extension, a collection of information on topics relevant to sustainability.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/index.html