Status Updates From Bringing Nature Home: How Y...

We have allowed alien plants to replace natives [everywhere].Our native animals and plants cannot adapt to this gross and completely unnatural manipulation of their environment..Their only hope for a sustainable future is for us to intervene to right the wrongs that we have perpetrated.In order to let nature take its course,we must first recreate nature.
[IMO This was not perpetrated, it happened by accident.]

When it comes to supplying food for other animals, no group of insects surpasses the moths and butterflies..The fat, juicy larvae [caterpillars] are favorites of birds..If we..care for only one group of insects in our..ecosystem, we would do well to choose..Lepidoptera. Fortunately moths and butterflies are not innately repulsive to most people. [I'd say unless they are in our pantries, woolens, tomatoes, peaches..]

These beetles fly to the top of mountains and scan the horizon in search of forest fires [using] specialized heat sensors that can detect infrared radiation emitted by burning trees up to 80 miles away. If they detect a fire, they fly to it and lay their eggs in the weakened trees even before the trees stop burning.

[Wow. I'll never underestimate insects again. And how did scientists figure this out?]

The value of oaks for supporting..wildlife cannot be overstated. Acorns fill the bellies of deer, raccoons, turkeys, mice, black bear, squirrels & even wood ducks. Cavities ..supply vital nesting sites for dozens of species of birds..What we have underappreciated..however, is [that] no other plant supports more species [butterflies & moths (caterpillars)] thus providing more types of bird food, than the mighty oak.

But there's the rub. How do we know which ornamental aliens have the capacity to become invasive?..The fact is, it is very difficult to predict..Most of our worst invasives did not become aggressive for many years.Japanese honeysuckle, for example,was planted as an ornamental for 80 years before it escaped cultivation.No one is sure why this lag time occurs.The..responsible course of action is the most unpopular one.

When I compared natives to aliens [plants] in terms of their production of Lepidoptera (butterflies & moths) [whose caterpillars feed on the leaves] and sawfly caterpillars-the largest diet component of insectivorous birds [and what most birds feed to their nestlings]-I found that the native plants in the study supported a whopping 35 times more caterpillar biomass than the aliens..No wonder our birds are struggling.

The first part of this book offers a very enlightening primer on ecology, recent scientific thought on biodiversity & why it matters: it makes ecosystems more resilient --less likely to collapse -- more productive -- of oxygen, plants, animals, water filtration, weather buffering, carbon sequestration etc. -- and less susceptible to takeover by aggressive introduced species (which DT calls alien invaders).