Appreciating non-natives

Since I do a lot of my botanizing in an urban setting, a large number of my observations are for non-native species. Since I also work with invasive species data, it's easy to dismiss all non-natives as "bad" species. But documenting them through iNaturalist has started to change my perspective.

In view of my office is a grassy verge between two roads. It's covered in flowers right now, but probably only 2 or 3 of those are natives. Still, there are lots of bees, white-crowned sparrows, and ants, and it's pretty to look at. Would it be better if everything there were native? Sure. Should the one plant there that is listed as a noxious weed be controlled? Sure, and it has been. But for those plants that have been naturalized here, in some cases going on hundreds of years, I find my tolerance and appreciation has grown in the past few months.

These plants are not going to disappear from our urban landscape. If our native birds and bees can adapt and find the benefits of these non-invasive species, so can I. There is beauty in these, they are after all successful, living organisms, and I've enjoyed learning about them.

Publicado el 21 de mayo de 2015 a las 05:48 PM por wisel