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Celebrate Earth Day by Protecting Biodiversity in the Landscape
By Jill Odom, NALP Senior Content Manager
Landscape professionals are stewards of the environment but just like anything else in life, there is always room for improvement. As we celebrate another Earth Day( Tuesday, April 22, 2025), one facet of sustainability you can examine in your operations is your efforts to increase biodiversity in your clients’ properties.
Biodiversity is the number and variety of species in an area, typically pertaining to an ecosystem. Landscapes with biodiversity tend to be more resilient and more productive at ecosystem services like cleaning water, cleaning air and nutrient cycling.
Currently, animal populations worldwide have declined by 69 % over the last 50 years due to urbanization and population growth.
The Benefits of Biodiversity
Biodiversity plays an important role in ecosystem stability and resilience. For instance, salt marsh plants and microbes stabilize and bind soil together. These ecosystems can provide better resistance to soil erosion. Salt marshes and mudflats also serve as an important aspect of flood prevention for coastal communities.
Adding bioswales, wildlife nesting boxes and even simply preserving certain sections of the property to be left wild can all help enhance biodiversity on your commercial clients’ landscapes.
Healthy soil has a diversity of microbes that break down organic matter. They also play a huge role in water purification. Wetland ecosystems are also responsible for removing 20 to 60 % of metals in water.( continued on page 5)