How species-rich is your garden?

If they are designed in a biodiversity-friendly way, private gardens can provide a habitat for plants, insects, birds and other animals. By incorporating near-natural features such as ponds, wildflower meadows, shrubs and deadwood, gardens can play a significant role in preserving biodiversity and improving the urban climate. As the loss of suitable habitats is a major problem for many species, gardens can provide valuable alternative refuges. Even if a single garden appears small, many together form a large networked area, with the individual gardens functioning like stepping stones.

Garden owners can now use the biodiversity index to test the extent to which their garden contributes to biodiversity. “This is the first test to use scientific findings in a simple, user-friendly format,” explains first author Esther Felgentreff. She conducts her research alongside Markus Bernhardt-Römermann at the University of Jena, iDiv, and the Senckenberg Institute for Plant Form and Function (SIP). “The Garden Biodiversity Index is designed so that even laypeople can carry it out independently, without specialist knowledge — they just need to visually inspect their own garden.”
The index, developed by the researchers, evaluates 15 clearly defined and easily recognisable garden features, from hedges to open sandy areas, and weighs them according to their contribution to biodiversity. This results in the ‘biodiversity score’. At the same time, the test offers concrete tips on how to enhance areas ecologically. The test is available online free of charge as part of the “gARTENreich” project materials.