Plant Native Plants to Support Local Environment, Wildlife
アースデイを祝って、世界中の人々が在来植物を植えるなど、地球の健康を改善する活動に参加しています。 これらの植物は鳥や昆虫などの地元の野生動物を支えていますが、野生動物は外来植物を食べ物として認識できないことが多く、「食の砂漠」を引き起こしています。 ダグ・タラミー教授は、植物の選択が環境と食物連鎖に影響を与える可能性があることを強調します。 生物圏の維持に不可欠な昆虫は、在来の植物で繁栄し、手入れもあまり必要とせず、庭師と花粉媒介者の両方に利益をもたらします。(English) Observing Earth Day, people worldwide engage in activities to improve the planet's health, including planting native plants. These plants support local wildlife, such as birds and insects, which often cannot recognize non-native plants as food, leading to "food deserts". Professor Doug Tallamy emphasizes that plant choice can impact the environment and food chain. Insects, crucial for maintaining the biosphere, thrive on native plants, which also require less care, benefiting both gardeners and pollinators.
Plant Native Plants to Support Local Environment, Wildlife
1)
Earth Day is April 22. Every year, people around the world observe the day by helping to care for the environment. They carry out all kinds of activities in an effort to better the planet's health.
One way to support this goal is to grow plants native to your area. This helps wildlife like birds and insects that evolved alongside native plants. For many of these animals, plant pollen is their food.
2)
Native pollinators often cannot recognize non-native plants as food. This means they do not collect pollen or spread plants' seeds.
Planting non-native species creates so-called "food deserts" for pollinators, including bees, birds, bats, butterflies and more.
3)
Doug Tallamy is a professor of entomology at the University of Delaware. Entomology is the study of insects. He found that non-native plant species can harm the natural food chain, which can lead to a collapse of the environment.
"Plant choice matters," he said. "The plants we choose to landscape our properties (with) should be determined by how much life can live there."
4)
Humans depend strongly on insects. Without them, we would have no flowering plants, which would harm the food web that supports important animals. Birds, for example, depend on plants for food and spread their seeds while keeping the populations of harmful insects down.
5)
Insects support plants that provide oxygen, clean our water, capture carbon and add nutrients to the soil. That builds topsoil and prevents flooding. Without insects, the biosphere – the living parts of the Earth – would rot because of the loss of insect decomposers. Humans simply could not survive that, Tallamy said.
6)
In addition to providing food and habitat for insects and other wildlife, native plants are able to grow easily and do not require much care. That means less watering and less fertilizing. The situation is a win-win for gardeners and pollinators.
Plant Native Plants to Support Local Environment, Wildlife
Add info No1)
Every year, April 22 is called "Earth Day" to think about the global environment, and April is called "Earth Month" as a month to think about the global climate. What does the 2023 theme "Invest In Our Planet" mean?
Earth Day they originated from the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. On April 22, 1970, US Senator and environmental activist Gaylord Nelson held a debate meeting to advocate the importance of clean air and water resources.
https://www.vogue.co.jp/lifestyle/article/everything-you-need-to-know-about-earth-day
Add info No2)
The rise and fall of pampas grass and goldenrod
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/kuma9320/e/81071c0f7ea3b808c28dc582b9f71e46
Walking along the riverbeds and open fields at this time of year, you will notice the battle for space between the native white pampas grass and the exotic yellow goldenrod.
When I was a child, I thought I knew only pampas grass.
The yellow flowers of Solidago canadensis would grow in clusters on riverbeds and vacant lots. I remember it was about 20 to 30 years ago.
Solidago canadensis was initially introduced as an ornamental plant for cut flowers in the Meiji period (1868-1912).
By releasing an allelopathy (chemical substance) from the roots that suppress the growth of surrounding plants, it outcompetes other native plants, such as pampas grass. It fills riverbeds and vacant lots with dark yellow flowers in autumn. It grows in colonies and reproduces in large numbers.
As a result, it is listed as an alien species requiring particular attention under the Alien Species Act. The Ecological Society of Japan lists it as one of Japan's 100 worst invasive alien species.
As a result, the goldenrod that used to flourish in the spring of our world is becoming less and less showy, and many of them are not very tall.
In the land where Solidago canadensis has lost its momentum, Pampas grass is regaining its place. Native plants are regaining their strength.
The saying "It has been a long time since the Taira clan was proud of the world's prosperity and decline" can be applied to the human and natural worlds.