E.O. Wilson once said, “if insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos”- and he wasn’t wrong. In fact, our entire food system depends on the energy that tiny bugs transfer to vertebrates. So, what’s the issue? Insects themselves depend on native plants and larger portions of our outdoor spaces have been overtaken by non-native, invasive species and resource-intensive, environmentally futile lawns.
It sounds dire, but there are plenty of solutions according to today’s guest Douglas Tallamy, the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. Dr. Tallamy has dedicated much of his career to raising awareness about the significance of native plants and outlining the simple, common-sense solutions that everyone can use to improve biodiversity in their own backyard. In this conversation, we chat with Doug about the promise of keystone species, the amazing progress he’s made reintroducing native plants on his own Pennsylvania property, and the nonprofit he founded to encourage private landowners to join the movement.