Geography

A multi-city comparison of front and backyard differences in plant species diversity and nitrogen cycling in residential landscapes

Document Type

Article

Abstract

We hypothesize that lower public visibility of residential backyards reduces households’ desire for social conformity, which alters residential land management and produces differences in ecological composition and function between front and backyards. Using lawn vegetation plots (7 cities) and soil cores (6 cities), we examine plant species richness and evenness and nitrogen cycling of lawns in Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, Los Angeles (LA), and Salt Lake City (SLC). Seven soil nitrogen measures were compared because different irrigation and fertilization practices may vary between front and backyards, which may alter nitrogen cycling in soils. In addition to lawn-only measurements, we collected and analyzed plant species richness for entire yards—cultivated (intentionally planted) and spontaneous (self-regenerating)—for front and backyards in just two cities: LA and SLC. Lawn plant species and soils were not different between front and backyards in our multi-city comparisons. However, entire-yard plant analyses in LA and SLC revealed that frontyards had significantly fewer species than backyards for both cultivated and spontaneous species. These results suggest that there is a need for a more rich and social-ecologically nuanced understanding of potential residential, household behaviors and their ecological consequences.

Publication Title

Landscape and Urban Planning

Publication Date

10-2018

Volume

178

First Page

102

Last Page

111

ISSN

0169-2046

DOI

10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.05.030

Keywords

land management, plant diversity, residential landscapes, urban ecology, urban soils

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