As the days get longer and gardeners plan their spring planting, research from the University of British Columbia offers some good news this Earth Day: small, simple changes to urban green spaces can make a big difference for pollinators. The study, published in Ecology Letters, found that reducing lawn mowing and creating pollinator meadows - think of them as 'parks for bugs'- significantly boosts pollinator diversity, creating healthier and more resilient ecosystems.
Two undergraduate UBC work learn students help to collect data on flowers and pollinators in a park with a pollinator meadow. (Photo credit: Jens Ulrich.)
A buzzing success
The three-year study, conducted in collaboration with the City of Vancouver's pollinator meadows program, surveyed pollinators in 18 urban parks across Vancouver, comparing parks where meadows were planted and mowing was restricted with parks that remained as standard turfgrass lawns.
