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Lawn gone! : low-maintenance, sustainable, attractive alternatives for your yard
Homeowners spend billions of hours--and dollars--watering, mowing, and maintaining their lawns. Free yourself with this colorful, accessible guide to the basics of replacing a traditional lawn with a wide variety of easy-care, no-mow, low-water, money-saving options--P. [4] of cover.
Book
Make money! Do yard work
\"Through trial and error and a few humorous mistakes, a boy learns how to do simple outside chores, get repeat customers, and create a successful yard work business to earn enough money to buy a digital music player\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Lawns in Cities: From a Globalised Urban Green Space Phenomenon to Sustainable Nature-Based Solutions
This opinion paper discusses urban lawns, the most common part of open green spaces and urban green infrastructures. It highlights both the ecosystem services and also disservices provided by urban lawns based on the authors’ experience of working within interdisciplinary research projects on lawns in different cities of Europe (Germany, Sweden and Russia), New Zealand (Christchurch), USA (Syracuse, NY) and Australia (Perth). It complements this experience with a detailed literature review based on the most recent studies of different biophysical, social, planning and design aspects of lawns. We also used an international workshop as an important part of the research methodology. We argue that although lawns of Europe and the United States of America are now relatively well studied, other parts of the world still underestimate the importance of researching lawns as a complex ecological and social phenomenon. One of the core objectives of this paper is to share a paradigm of nature-based solutions in the context of lawns, which can be an important step towards finding resilient sustainable alternatives for urban green spaces in the time of growing urbanisation, increased urban land use competition, various user demands and related societal challenges of the urban environment. We hypothesise that these solutions may be found in urban ecosystems and various local native plant communities that are rich in species and able to withstand harsh conditions such as heavy trampling and droughts. To support the theoretical hypothesis of the relevance of nature-based solutions for lawns we also suggest and discuss the concept of two natures—different approaches to the vision of urban nature, including the understanding and appreciation of lawns. This will help to increase the awareness of existing local ecological approaches as well as an importance of introducing innovative landscape architecture practices. This article suggests that there is a potential for future transdisciplinary international research that might aid our understanding of lawns in different climatic and socio-cultural conditions as well as develop locally adapted (to environmental conditions, social needs and management policies) and accepted nature-based solutions.
Journal Article
Girls standing on lawns
\"Combining vintage photographs from MoMA's collection, original paintings by Kalman inspired by these photographs, and text by Handler, Girls standing on lawns puts on display the creators' shared fascination with anonymous snapshots and the rich lives, memories, and stories they evoke.\"--P. [4] of cover.
Book
Ecological and economic benefits of low-intensity urban lawn management
Intensive management of urban lawns is globally widespread, predominantly for aesthetic reasons. However, a growing body of knowledge demonstrates negative ecological and environmental effects of this practice. We present a meta‐analysis of North American and European studies from 2004 to 2019, which incorporates three previously unpublished datasets from eastern Canada, to investigate how mowing intensity impacts the ecology of urban lawns. The meta‐analysis provides aggregated evidence that invertebrate and plant diversity is lower in urban lawns under increased mowing intensity. This decline is independent of the level of contrast between mowing ‘treatment’ and ‘control’ (e.g. height or frequency of mowing), which differed considerably between studies. Intensive mowing also increases the occurrence of pest species (e.g. herbivorous beetle larvae and allergenic plants), though studies in this group were limited to northern environments. Changes in ecosystem‐level variables (soil temperature, soil moisture deficit and carbon deficit) were less evident and suggest changes in abiotic processes may take longer to become apparent. An economic case study of the mowing costs in Trois‐Rivières, Canada, suggests that cost savings of 36% may be possible with a modest reduction of mowing frequency. Synthesis and Applications. Increasing urban biodiversity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions are strong motivators for reducing lawn management intensity. We also suggest that the benefits of reducing pest species while saving lawn management costs may provide additional social and economic incentives for decision makers to review urban greenspace management practices. Increasing urban biodiversity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions are strong motivators for reducing lawn management intensity. We also suggest that the benefits of reducing pest species while saving lawn management costs may provide additional social and economic incentives for decision makers to review urban greenspace management practices.
Journal Article
Economist video. Are Britain's lawns dying out?
English lawns are legendary and so is English passion for them. But is that changing?
Streaming Video
Ecological engineering through fire-herbivory feedbacks drives the formation of savanna grazing lawns
1. Variation in grass height is beneficial to biodiversity conservation in savanna landscapes. Theory predicts that small fires can promote short-grass areas within savannas. We experimentally assessed the influence of fire season and size on grass height and the resultant response of wild grazer communities and tested three hypotheses: (1) repeated small fires in tall-grass savannas increase short-grass grazer densities in the post-burn environment; (2) increased grazer densities maintain grass height in a short, palatable state and drive feedbacks that exclude fire; and (3) late-dry season burns concentrate grazers more effectively than early dry season burns. 2. We repeatedly applied annual treatments (unburned, early- and late-burns) in 0.25-, 5- and 25-ha plots over a period of 3 years in a tall-grass savanna system in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Dung counts for grazer density and grass height data were collected along 50-m transects. Grass height was measured in paired 1-m² herbivore exclosures on plots before and after applied fires. 3. Dung data indicate that wildebeest occurred most frequently in grass heights below 5 cm. Their preference for plots regardless of fire size or season increased over time with each repeated burn. Zebra and buffalo favoured burns immediately postfire, but buffalo did not actively select for burnt areas over longer time periods. 4. By the second year of treatment, herbivory maintained 28% and 91% of the grass height below 10 cm in the early- and late-season burns respectively. In contrast, herbivory on the unburned treatments had no effect on grass height. 5. Synthesis and applications. Fires less than 25 ha in size attracted sufficient grazing herbivores to shorten grass height. Repetition of the fire treatments resulted in the active selection of these areas in the longer term by wildebeest, impala and, to a lesser degree, zebra. Grazing pressure was high enough to initiate positive feedbacks and maintain lawns after only two seasons of burning and, depending on the season of burn, reduced grass height to a level that excluded repeat fires. Our study demonstrated that theory on grazer use of the post-fire environment can be implemented practically by applying small repeated burns to promote the formation of short-grass areas within savannas.
Journal Article
Nitrogen retention in urban lawns and forests
Lawns are a dominant cover type in urban ecosystems, and there is concern about their impacts on water quality. However, recent watershed-level studies suggest that these pervious areas might be net sinks, rather than sources, for nitrogen (N) in the urban environment. A ¹⁵N pulse-labeling experiment was performed on lawn and forest plots in the Baltimore (Maryland, USA) metropolitan area to test the hypothesis that lawns are a net sink for atmospheric-N deposition and to compare and contrast mechanisms of N retention in these vegetation types. A pulse of $^{{\\rm{15}}} {\\rm{N - NO}}_{\\rm{3}} ^ - $, simulating a precipitation event, was followed through mineral soils, roots, Oi-layer/thatch, aboveground biomass, microbial biomass, inorganic N, and evolved N₂ gas over a one-year period. The ¹⁵N label was undetectable in gaseous samples, but enrichment of other pools was high. Gross rates of production and consumption of NO₃⁻ and NH₄⁺ were measured to assess differences in internal N cycling under lawns and forests. Rates of N retention were similar during the first five days of the experiment, with lawns showing higher N retention than forests after 10, 70, and 365 days. Lawns had larger pools of available NO₃⁻ and NH₄⁺; however, gross rates of mineralization and nitrification were also higher, leading to no net differences in NO₃⁻ and NH₄⁺ turnover times between the two systems. Levels of ¹⁵N remained steady in forest mineral soils from day 70 to 365 (at 23% of applied ¹⁵N), but continued to accumulate in lawn mineral soils over this same time period, increasing from 20% to 33% of applied ¹⁵N. The dominant sink for N in lawn plots changed over time. Immobilization in mineral soils dominated immediately (one day) after tracer application (42% of recovered ¹⁵N); plant biomass dominated the short term (10 days; 51%); thatch and mineral-soil pools together dominated the medium term (70 days; 28% and 36%, respectively); and the mineral-soil pool alone dominated long-term retention (one year; 70% of recovered ¹⁵N). These findings illustrate the mechanisms whereby urban and suburban lawns under low to moderate management intensities are an important sink for atmospheric-N deposition.
Journal Article
Soil Black Carbon Increases Under Urban Trees with Road Density and Time: Opportunity Hotspots for Carbon Storage in Urban Ecosystems
Black carbon (BC) can comprise a significant fraction of the soil carbon pool in cities. However, vegetation cover and human activity influence the spatial distribution of urban soil BC. We quantified soil total carbon (TC), soil organic carbon (SOC), BC, and total nitrogen (TN) in a medium-sized city in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Soils were sampled to 20 cm depth from underneath 16 paired
Quercus stellata
(post oak) trees and open lawns. Effects of vegetation cover, road density, and building age (a proxy for time since development) on soil C and N were analyzed. Soil OC concentrations were higher under post oak trees (5.5%) compared to open lawns (3.6%) at 0–10 cm, but not at 10–20 cm depth. In contrast, soil BC and TN did not differ by vegetation cover. There were significant interaction effects between vegetation cover and road density and vegetation cover and building age on soil BC. At 0–10 cm, soil BC concentrations, stock, and BC/SOC ratios increased more with road density under trees than lawns, indicating enhanced atmospheric BC deposition to tree canopies. Black carbon in tree soils also increased with building age as compared to lawn soils, likely due to higher BC retention under trees, enhanced BC losses under lawns, or both. Our findings show that urban tree soils are localized opportunity hotspots for BC storage in areas with elevated emissions and longer time since development. Conserving and planting urban trees above permeable surfaces and soils could contribute to long-term carbon storage in urban ecosystems.
Journal Article