On a walk down South College Street, the branches of nearby trees can be seen reaching out towards the cemented road, and not far from the road, bees are buzzing around nearby flowering bushes.
Auburn is home to a variety of native species, with Alabama generally ranked as the fourth most biodiverse state.
According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s online Environmental Conservation System, Alabama is number three with the most endangered or most endangered species listed. Additionally, Lee County is home to approximately 37 endangered or endangered species, according to the Alabama Natural Heritage Program Database. However, members of Auburn University and the City of Auburn are working to protect the area’s biodiversity.
Part of the Auburn campus, Donald E. Davis Arboretum, is a collection of native plant species with its outreach and programs related to conservation efforts.
Morgan Pendergrass, director of the arboretum, said the arboretum is part of a larger network through the Alabama Plant Conservation Alliance where they work with gardens in other places like Atlanta and Huntsville to continue the conservation effort.
“It’s a lot of work going on here, but then a lot of work is being done across the state with people who are willing to come out and do it and be the boots on the ground that take care of it. try to protect the species before they blink,” Pendergrass said.
One of the functions of the arboretum through the APCA is safeguarding, that is, the keeping of endangered plants for their further propagation. They are also involved in species monitoring, which involves manually counting native plants in a particular area.
Regarding campus landscaping, Pendergrass said she believes the University is doing its best to use native species where it can. For example, Pendergrass said that outside of Mell’s classrooms, the University uses native grasses and, along with the rocks, and that section is part of stormwater management, which can help reduce the runoff pollution.
Another on-campus resource is the Auburn University Museum of Natural History with part of its mission statement saying it aims to “conduct biodiversity research, preserve and document the biodiversity of our planet. ”, in itself its Web site.
Jonathan Armbruster, Director of the AUMNH, said that every species is part of an ecosystem service and high biodiversity is what keeps the ecosystem functioning.
“If you were interested in fishing, it’s not just the bass that are in the creek that are important,” he said. “That’s all they eat. And so you have to make sure the biodiversity stays high so that there’s a community there for the things you care about to survive.
However, Armbruster said people can help protect aquatic species by reducing water use and sticking to their habits by not leaving trash or litter behind. He said endangered species are not always in a distant place. For example, he said there is an endangered mussel that lives in Chewacla State Park.
Armbruster said good land practices also contribute to biodiversity, because “development and biodiversity don’t have to be antagonistic to each other.”
Wildlife biology and conservation professor Christopher Lepczyk said some good land practices could be what people do with their lawns. Having fewer barriers between lawns can help vegetation grow more regularly. Additionally, people who don’t rake the leaves in the fall can help put nutrients into the soil, and the rotting leaves will provide shelter for insects in the winter. It’s small practices by a group of people that can have an impact, he said.
“If we could imagine in a block you have 10 houses that are side by side. If they all stop putting a lot of pesticides on their property and stop caring about green lawns and all collectively decide to commit in wildlife-positive activities, it would have a very significant effect on local biodiversity,” he said.
Lepczyk said the more people live in urban areas, the more people tend to associate with less biodiversity. However, green spaces, such as parks and cemeteries, can provide patches of biodiversity. The larger the area and the more intertwined the areas are, the higher the biodiversity will be, he said.
“The ability to leverage these spaces on campus or across campus to the city is really important,” Lepczyk said. “So having the ability for organisms to move from place to place really promotes biodiversity. Rather than having isolated green spaces surrounded by urban developments without greenery, it is simply more difficult for plants and animals to move across the landscape to have gene flow to sustain their populations.
Anne Randle, urban forestry specialist at the City of Auburn, said Auburn’s canopy cover is around 55%, which is quite high with national averages hovering around 40-45%. . Randle said that means the city is focused on maintaining coverage.
As Auburn continues to grow, one way to accomplish this is through zoning ordinances that require a certain number of trees on a property. If the trees are already there and can be preserved throughout the construction process, that’s best, but if not, a number of new trees will be planted in its place, Randle said.
Another part is to favor native species over invasive species. The City offers volunteer work days focused on invasive species removal in city parks and along bike paths.
“It’s really more of an education and awareness thing to get community members to take ownership of our green space and take ownership of the larger community ecosystem outside of their own backyards,” a- she declared.
Randle said the city is also removing invasive species on its own municipal property. However, there is also an emphasis on planting native species where they can.
In 2018, they partnered with the Alabama Forestry Commission to document a heat map, which shows them where there is high shade density versus where there isn’t. During the last year of 2021, the City planned 235 native trees.
When it comes to planting native trees, Randle said a few factors need to be considered, such as whether or not the tree can handle urban pollution, heat from city sidewalks during the summer, as well as the location of power lines and water lines.
“We’re not far from the ecosystems we live in,” Randle said. “We are part of it just as much as the fish and the birds and the trees and the soil, the fungi and all those other parts. We like to think we’re far from it, but we’re not. I think it’s part of the job of every person in the community to maintain this healthy ecosystem, to be active in it, and to be responsible for it.
