Your Lawn’s Ecosystem Services
(HIT) - Ecosystem services is a term that we will hear more of in the future. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines ecosystem services as the many life-sustaining benefits we receive from nature. We receive many ecosystem services from our lawns as they:
- Cool the air
- Produce oxygen
- Filter air and reduce pollution
- Capture and suppress dust
- Recharge and filter groundwater supply
- Reduce storm water runoff
- Control soil erosion
- Retain and sequester carbon
- Assist decomposition of pollutants
- Restore soil quality
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Turfgrass has long been a “green cleaner.” Photo: Jim Novak |
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Turfgrass has long been a green cleaner. For example, it traps pollutants and removes carbon dioxide, ozone, hydrogen fluoride and perosyzacetyle nitrate from the air. In fact, the Texas Agricultural Extension Service has reported that turfgrass removes about six tons of carbon dioxide per acre per year from the atmosphere. Turfgrass helps filter oil and debris from highways and streets, and therefore, is also helpful in cleaning the roadside environment.
With its network of leaves, shoots and stems, turfgrass removes dust and dirt from the air. The University of California-Riverside Turfgrass Research Facility reports that perennial turfgrasses offer one of the most-cost effective methods to control wind erosion of soil, thus reducing dust around homes, schools and businesses.
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| Photo courtesy of Jim Novak |
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While lawns are criticized because of grass clippings that are disposed in landfills, you need not remove grass clippings from your lawn because they biodegrade quickly when returned to lawns after mowing. This is assuming that you regularly mow your lawns and not cut more than one-third of the leaf blades, reports the University of Illinois Extension’s Lawn Challenge publication (http://urbanext.illinois.edu/lawnchallenge/lesson5.html).
Moreover, when appropriate rates of fertilizers and pesticides are applied to a dense stand of grass, there is very little runoff or leaching. University of Minnesota studies indicate that nitrogen carried in runoff from turf areas is very low. This is because turf is comprised of many closely spaced plants forming a relatively closed canopy over the soil surface.
Turfgrass also helps reduce flooding. It is frequently used in storm water retention areas to sow the rate of runoff. Sod-covered aeas absorb rainfall droplet energy and reduce the velocity of runoff flow at the soil surface.
These are just some of your lawn’s ecosystem services. To learn more, visit www.thelawninstitute.org.
Courtesy: Home Improvement News and Information Center
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