Creating Harmonious Gardens for Beneficial Insects

By Ansel Oommen
Guest Writer for Wake Up World

Insects and other invertebrates account for over 90% of all living species, building the basis for most ecosystems. In fact, they often dominate their landscapes through both sheer number and volume, providing many key services, either directly or obliquely, as pollinators, recyclers, pest control and as food for a host of animals.

Due to the effects of dramatic changes in climate, habitat loss, and pesticides, insect populations are declining worldwide. Honeybees, for example, have attracted media attention since 2006, with their death tolls linked to neonicotinoids and a lack of supportive flora. The monarch butterfly, whose population once reached 900 million in 1995, now sits precariously at a meager 56.5 million- a 95% drop, placing it within risk of extinction.

Keeping this in mind, the role of the urban gardener is now more important than ever before.