This research will explore the motivations for and outcomes associated with the stewardship of sustainable yard practices and design, with "sustainable yards" being those that more closely mimic natural processes and vegetation composition and configuration. The research will be guided by a conceptual framework that focuses on the poorly understood linkages between the motivation for urban stewardship of sustainable yards, and the ecological outcomes from yard management. The project will investigate perspectives on the aesthetic and ecological functions of residential yards through targeted interviews and focus groups with scientists, practitioners and homeowners. A landscape intervention study will also be conducted to test how various lawn mowing regimes in private yards influence pollinator diversity.
As our world becomes increasingly urbanized, identifying ways to reconcile urban development with ecological integrity remains a challenge. Despite the benefits of sustainable yards for improving urban biodiversity and hence, reconnecting urban dwellers with nature, sustainable yards are not implemented at a scale that impacts local or regional sustainability. This research, and associated outreach and education activities, will contribute to our understanding of how to maximize the benefits provided by residential yards for people, biodiversity, and ecosystem processes. Residential yards provide an opportunity for urban dwellers to put into practice the reality that "sustainability begins at home" and to make individual household-level yard management decisions that can scale up and improve city-level sustainability for people and wildlife.
This project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions that lead to environmental, energy and societal sustainability while creating the necessary workforce to address these challenges. With SEES Fellows support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish themselves in an independent research career related to sustainability.
