Ecology

Bringing back the wild

Danny Stoner
Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve

(7/2022) When driving through town or walking through a development, there are beautifully manicured lawns that were cut to perfection, fertilized, and watered. There is a competition to see whose lawn is best kept, "No pesky weeds are going to ruin my lawn." With a beautiful lawn comes the eerie silence when no kids are out play. What is missing in this beautiful landscape? It’s the wild! There is no humming of bees, sweet songs sung by birds, croaking of frogs, or rustling of leaf litter. Why is there an absence of these sounds in our pedicured lawns? Well, what seems beautiful to us is far from beautiful to our nature friends. Without those "weeds" or other plants the absence of animals is guaranteed. Just like us, food is a requirement to survive and almost all food starts with a plant.

You might have learned about the food chain or food web as a young child from a favorite teacher or from a nature program like the ones at Strawberry Hill’s. Therefore, you know that the first thing on the list are the plants, or primary producers. They create energy from the sun through photosynthesis. However, for that energy to get passed on to other animals they must eat a part of the plant. Unfortunately, our pristine lawns are not on the menu for most animals. Therefore, our priority of competing for best looking lawn is taking away critical habitat for even the smallest of critters. With development increasing and natural areas decreasing some of those critters are becoming threatened or endangered.

This scenario has become all too real for what used to be one of Pennsylvania’s bumble bee species. The Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee (Bombus affinis), the first insect to become endangered in North America, has not been seen in Pennsylvania in over seven years. One might ask, "why does it matter that one bee species as become endangered or any species for that matter?" The Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee, just like another endangered bee species the American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus), are generalists. This means that they feed on, and therefore pollinate, a large variety of flowering plants. When generalist start to struggle other related species are soon to follow, and bees are critical to the reproduction of wildflowers, trees, and the fruits and vegetables we eat.

Bees are not the only species that has become endangered or threatened because of the loss of habitat in Pennsylvania, nor are they the only animals that help pollinate and keep our food chain going. There are bird species, such as the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and mammals, like the Small-footed Bat or the Northern Flying Squirrel. Each one of these species needs a particular type of environment to thrive, whether it be full of native flowers, grasses, or trees to start as our primary producers. Some species can use more types of plants, or they can live off the animals that are feeding off those plants, while others are more particular in what they want to eat. Therefore, to bring back the wild, we need to bring back the plants and build a habitat that supports insects and other animals all the way to our tertiary consumers, the top of the food chain. There are many plants that you can use to build a habitat and each one brings in a variety of animals.

Maybe you have an interest in all varieties of pollinators like bees, flies, and hummingbirds. Well then you would want to plant a large variety of flowers that are different colors and have different flower types. These could include Hairy Beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus), Hoary Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum), Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), Joe Pie Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum), Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma), Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), Goldenrod species (Solidago spp.), or New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae). Most of these flowers are mid to late summer bloomers, but you would want other plants to bloom periodically from spring to fall to give the animals a food source throughout that time.

What if you wanted to create a habitat good for birds? Well, it would depend on the bird species. Birds use different types of habitats from grasslands to thick woods. If you wanted to create a habitat for species like Grasshopper Sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum), Dickcissel (Spiza americana), or the American Kestrel you would want an open space to plant a native grassland full of Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardi), Sweet Grass (Hierochloe odorata), Tussock Sedge, or Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans). Maybe you want to have plants that produce seeds or berries for the birds Like the American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) or Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) to eat. These plants could include Field Thistle (Cirsium discolor), Yellow Thistle (Cirsium horridulum), Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum), Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra), Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), or American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana).

However, almost all songbirds would benefit by planting native tree species. A majority of songbird species use caterpillars to feed their young, and a lot of butterflies and moths use trees for their host plants. A host plant is the plant species that the caterpillar uses to feed on. Not every tree is the same though. Some trees are hosts for hundreds of different species, while others only host a hand full. Some tree species such as the American Beech (Fagus grandifolia), Hickory species (Carya spp.), or Pine species (Pinus spp.) can host 100 to 200 different butterfly or moth species. An even better tree to plant would be the Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), who hosts 456 different species and produces berries for the birds and other animals to feed on. However, the most important tree to plant in your yard would be the oak tree (Quercus spp.). These trees host 534 different species and their acorns feed a variety of animals such as deer, fox, raccoons, squirrel and mice. If you were to only plant one tree, you should plant an oak.

If you do not what to plant an oak tree that is okay. There are so many things that you can do to bring back your wildlife that does not involve a large garden or forest. It can be as simple as leaving a patch of your lawn unmown or not mulching your leaves before winter. However, it is important that we give back in some type of way.