Is biodiversity important?

Update of 02/19/2019:My book on the subject is born! I invite you to discover "My garden at the service of balanced biodiversity" published by Editions Jouvence.

—–

Biodiversity. Here is a word that has been ringing in our ears with increasing intensity over the past few years. Especially when biodiversity is undermined. Hundreds of animal and plant species leave us regularly, and even that the phenomenon is growing.

I will not enter here into the sterile debate against the wearers of blinders affirming that the disappearances of living species are not today, and that if the wolf no longer haunts the alpine villages, it is only better !… Here is a very dangerous shortcut.

But what exactly is this biodiversity? , why is it so important and – this is the question of the day – how do I preserve it in my garden ?

A few definitions:

1. Population :group of individuals of the same species, living in a given place, at a given time
2. The biocenosis :set of all populations gathered at a given location
3. The biotope :the environment where the species live, but without these species. The biotope includes soil and climate
4. The ecosystem :it is a community (biocenosis) considered with its environment (biotope). It is the set of interactions between a biotope and a biocenosis.
5. Biodiversity :diversity of populations (animal and plant) and their interactions

The importance of biodiversity:

Let's take a simple example:your garden is infested with aphids. Whose fault is it?

1. To the ladybugs who ignore my space, and who prefer to take it easy in the field next door, those lazy people!
   Ladybugs, like all the little – and bigger – beasties, need to be feed, reproduce and find shelter for future climatic hazards. If we destroy aphids and weeds by mowing or manual weeding and/or chemical treatment, we deprive our spotted insects of shelter and food. (In the absence of aphids to nibble on, ladybugs gorge themselves on pollen). So the aphids are happy. Because they will never be 100% destroyed and will proliferate.
2. And if we removed the plants from the garden, there would be no more aphids?
   No more plant diversity is larger, the animal population is important. From this follows the obvious, animal populations self-regulate and there is less risk of one population taking precedence over another.

What can you do in your garden to preserve or even promote biodiversity?

Plant varied! And let what wants to come by itself grow!

Plants with flowers, fruits, seeds, herbaceous and woody, bushy and tall, deciduous and evergreen, annuals and perennials, warm and cold colors, summer, spring or winter flowering… Plant varied!

Let whatever wants to establish itself in your garden grow. If the aerial parts really upset you because it hurts your sense of aesthetics – and you have the right, a garden must look beautiful to you, and beauty is so subjective… – then cut the aerial parts and leave the roots in the ground who will bring food and shelter (shelter and food if you prefer) to the inhabitants of the ground.

Don't let that stop you from asking yourself the following question:Why? (ah! man and his favorite question) Why does this animal or plant species bother me… sorry, cause me some trouble. The answer is simple:there is imbalance .

Food imbalance and plants can no longer defend themselves, imbalances in populations and one of them takes an important part in your garden.

In fact, we ask ourselves these questions when the emerging population interferes with our need for aesthetics or harvest. A dandelion invasion in the prairie is beautiful. The same yellow flowers in the roses, it can be messy.

People live where they find what they need . Lodging and cutlery. Especially if the predators are on vacation.

But your sense of observation will show you that the undesirables change from year to year. Nature self-regulates its populations. It is still necessary that the man does not play tricks on him from behind, because there, it is the time factor that comes into account...

natural biodiversity:chamomile in meadow

flowering fallow, differentiated management, increase in biodiversity