Say No to a Manicured Yard
This past week my local environmental club and I visited two different parks to compare plant diversity. One was in a protected prairie field, and the other was a local park surrounding a playground. We found that the prairie had more plant diversity than the other. You would call the prairie a mosaic type of yard because it has a variety of plant species compared to a manicured yard that has one or two types of grasses and flowers.
Based on the data collected, the prairie had more species evenness. Species evenness means that there was large variety of different plant species, and those different species grew in larger numbers. Since the prairie had more plant diversity it was a more complex ecosystem. The more complex an ecosystem, the more stable it will be to external changes. With climate change and more harmful interactions between humans and ecosystems, we need more complex ecosystems. This prairie is a model for the local children’s park should be. Even though they have different plant species, they should both have more plant diversity.
While the prairie had been overrun with invasive species, we have recently started weeding and protecting our prairie from more harm. For example, people are…
