Janique Goff: Preserving biodiversity in gardens

Janique Goff Photo credit: http://blog.green-space.org.uk

Ecologists like Janique Goff had time and again emphasized the importance of biodiversity to the wellbeing of the balance of life in the planet. Understanding this concept can prove to be beneficial for backyard vegetable growers, whose gardens can then augment both the continued survival of many different varieties of plants and a bountiful and sustainable harvest for years to come.

Biodiversity is important to human agriculture in many ways. Like in natural ecosystems, biodiversity holds the key to ecological resilience; the decline of one species would not necessarily affect the others. In this case, the failure of one crop would not cause the failure of the whole harvest.

Janique Goff Photo credit: http://environment.tau.ac.il

And much like how the lack of biodiversity can lead to ecological disasters, the prevalence of monocultures is cited by environmentalists like Janique Goff as the underlying cause of history’s great agricultural catastrophes like the Irish Potato famine of 1846.

Janique Goff Photo credit: http://seedourfuture.org

In addition, a mix of crops can help provide a means of natural pest control; by planting a few species of plants together, the pest repellant properties of one would help protect the other. Coupled with the introduction of other biological means of pest control like ladybird beetles and other carnivorous insects, the garden can play host to an ecosystem that would provide a home for native species—a form of reconciliation ecology.  

Go to this Janique Goff’s Facebook.for links to articles on ecology and environmental protection.