Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Biodiversity and direct ecosystem service regulation in the community gardens of Los Angeles, CA

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Context

Urban community gardens are globally prevalent urban agricultural areas and have the potential to fulfill human needs in impoverished neighborhoods, such as food security and access to open space. Despite these benefits, little research has been conducted evaluating environmental and socioeconomic factors influencing community garden plant biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES).

Objective

Our study investigated the drivers of managed plant richness, abundance, and ES production in community gardens across Los Angeles County, CA from 2010 to 2012 at regional, garden, and plot scales.

Methods

Fourteen community gardens were visited in the summers of 2010–2012 for comprehensive species surveys across regional, garden, and plot scales. We compared biodiversity to household income, plot size, and gardener ethnicity.

Results

In total, 707 managed plant species were recorded in summer surveys over a 3-year period. Ornamental plant richness increased with neighborhood income, while edible and medicinal richness increased with size of garden plots. Gardener ethnicity also influenced the composition of managed species, especially edible species.

Conclusions

We explain these patterns through a hierarchy of needs framework; gardeners preferentially plant species progressively less connected to human need. Ornamental plant increases in high-income regions may be explained by their requirement for financial investment and maintenance time. Cultural and provisioning ES are important for immigrant populations, resulting in ethnically distinct crop assemblages. Finally, distinct species–area relationships imply high demand for food abundance and biodiversity. Our quantitative results indicate that community gardens contribute to a biologically diverse urban ecosystem and provide valued ecosystem services in food insecure regions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alaimo K, Packnett E, Miles RA, Kruger DJ (2008) Fruit and vegetable intake among urban community gardeners. J Nutr Educ Behav 40:94–101

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Albuquerque UP, Andrade LHC, Caballero J (2005) Structure and floristics of homegardens in Northeastern Brazil. J Arid Environ 62:491–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson AJB (1971) Ordination methods in ecology. J Ecol 59:713–772

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson MJ, Crist TO, Chase JM, Vellend M, Inouye BD, Freestone AL, Sanders NJ, Cornell HV, Comita LS, Davies KF, Harrison SP, Kraft NJ, Stegen JC, Swenson NG (2011) Navigating the multiple meanings of beta diversity: a roadmap for the practicing ecologist. Ecol Lett 14:19–28

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Austin MP (2005) Vegetation and environment: discontinuities and continuities. In: van der Maarel E (ed) Vegetation ecology. Blackwell Publishing, Ltd, Oxford, pp 52–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Azuma AM, Gilliland S, Vallianatos M, Gottlieb R (2010) Food access, availability, and affordability in 3 Los Angeles communities, Project CAFE, 2004–2006. Prev Chronic Dis 7:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthel S, Folke C, Colding J (2010) Social–ecological memory in urban gardens—retaining the capacity for management of ecosystem services. Glob Environ Change 20:255–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanckaert I, Vancraeynest K, Swennen RL, Espinosa-Garcia FJ, Piñero D, Lira-Saade R (2007) Non-crop resources and the role of indigenous knowledge in semi-arid production of Mexico. Agric Ecosyst Environ 119:39–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boone CG, Cadenasso ML, Grove JM, Schwarz K, Buckley GL (2010) Landscape, vegetation characteristics, and group identity in an urban and suburban watershed: why the 60s matter. Urban Ecosyst 13:255–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chappell MJ, LaValle LA (2011) Food security and biodiversity: can we have both? An agroecological analysis. Agric Hum Values 28:3–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cilliers S, Cilliers J, Lubbe R, Siebert S (2012) Ecosystem services of urban green spaces in African countries—perspectives and challenges. Urban Ecosyst 16:681–702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke LW, Jenerette GD, Davila A (2013) The luxury of vegetation and the legacy of tree biodiversity in Los Angeles, CA. Landsc Urban Plan 116:48–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke LW, Jenerette GD, Bain DJ (2014a) Urban legacies and soil management affect the concentration and speciation of trace metals in Los Angeles community garden soils. Environ Pollut. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2014.11.015

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke LW, Li L, Jenerette GD, Yu Z (2014b) Drivers of plant biodiversity and ecosystem service production in home gardens across the Beijing Municipality of China. Urban Ecosyst 17:741–760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cocks M (2006) Biocultural diversity: moving beyond the realm of ‘indigenous’ and ‘local’ people. Hum Ecol 34:185–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colding J, Lundberg J, Folke C (2006) Incorporating green area user groups in urban ecosystem management. Ambio 35:237–244

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Corlett JL, Dean EA, Grivetti LE (2003) Hmong gardens: botanical diversity in an urban setting. Econ Bot 57:365–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corrigan MP (2011) Growing what you eat: developing community gardens in Baltimore, Maryland. Appl Geogr 31:1232–1241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis JN, Ventura EE, Cook LT, Gyllenhammer LE, Gatto NM (2011) LA Sprouts: a gardening, nutrition, and cooking intervention for Latino youth improves diet and reduces obesity. J Am Diet Assoc 111:1224–1230

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Draper C, Freedman D (2010) Review and analysis of the benefits, purposes, and motivations associated with community gardening in the United States. J Commun Pract 18:458–492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fedick SL (ed) (1996) The managed mosaic: ancient Maya agriculture and resource use. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser EDG, Kenney WA (2000) Cultural background and landscape history as factors affecting perceptions of the urban forest. J Arboric 26:106–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu Y, Guo H, Chen A, Cui J (2006) Household differentiation and on-farm conservation of biodiversity by indigenous households in Xishuangbanna, China. Biodivers Conserv 15:2687–2703

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galluzzi G (2012) Agrobiodiversity and protected areas: another approach to synergies between conservation and use? On-farm conservation of neglected and underutilized species: status, trends and novel approaches to cope with climate change—Proceedings of the international conference, Friedrichsdorf, Frankfurt, pp 14–16

  • Galluzzi G, Eyzaguirre P, Negri V (2010) Home gardens: neglected hotspots of agro- biodiversity and cultural diversity. Biodivers Conserv 19:3635–3654

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaston KJ, Gaston S (2011) Urban gardens and biodiversity. In: Douglas I, Goode D, Houck MC, Wang R (eds) The Routledge handbook of urban ecology. Routledge, London, pp 450–458

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottlieb R (2006) Reinventing Los Angeles; nature and community in the global city. The MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Grimm NB, Faeth SH, Golubiewski NE, Redman CL, Wu J, Bai X, Briggs JM (2008) Global change and the ecology of cities. Science 319:756–760

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guitart D, Pickering C, Byrne J (2012) Past results and future directions in urban community gardens research. Urban For Urban Green 11:364–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hale J, Knapp C, Bardwell L, Buchenau M, Marshall J, Sancar F, Litt JS (2011) Connecting food environments and health through the relational nature of aesthetics: gaining insight through the community gardening experience. Soc Sci Med 72:1853–1863

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hanna AK, Oh P (2000) Rethinking urban poverty: a look at community gardens. Bull Sci Technol Soc 20:207–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heraty JM (2010) Conservation of maize germplasm as a result of food tradition in southern California’s immigrant gardens. Master’s Thesis, UC Davis

  • Hooper DU, Chapin FS, Ewel JJ, Hector A, Inchausti P, Lavorel S, Lawton JH, Lodge DM, Loreau M, Naeem S, Schmid B, Setala H, Symstad AJ, Vandermeer J, Wardle DA (2005) Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge. Ecol Monogr 75:3–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hope D, Gries C, Zhu WX, Fagan WF, Redman CL, Grimm NB, Nelson AL, Martin C, Kinzig A (2003) Socioeconomics drive urban plant diversity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:8788–8792

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huai H, Xu W, Wen G, Bai W (2011) Comparison of the homegardens of eight cultural groups in Jinping County, Southwest China. Econ Bot 65:345–355

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hynes P (1996) Patch of Eden: America’s inner city gardens. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, White River Junction

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson J, Rytel K, Brookover I, Efron N, Hernandez G, Johnson E, Kim Y, Lai W, Navarro M, Pena A, Rehm Z, Yoo H, Zabel Z (2013) Cultivate L.A.; an assessment of urban agriculture in Los Angeles county. University of California Cooperative Extension, Los Angeles. http://www.cultivatelosangeles.org

  • Jansson A, Polasky S (2010) Quantifying biodiversity for building resilience for food security in urban landscapes: getting down to business. Ecol Soc 15(3):20

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenerette GD, Harlan SL, Stefanov W, Martin C (2011) Ecosystem services and urban heat riskscape moderation: water, green spaces, and social inequality in Phoenix, USA. Ecol Appl 21:2637–2651

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kabir ME, Webb EL (2009) Household and homegarden characteristics in southwestern Bangladesh. Agrofor Syst 75:129–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan R, Herbert EJ (1987) Cultural and sub-cultural comparisons in preferences for natural settings. Landsc Urban Plan 14:281–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kinzig AP, Warren P, Martin C, Hope D, Katti M (2005) The effects of human socioeconomic status and cultural characteristics on urban patterns of biodiversity. Ecol Soc 10:23–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Koellner T, Schmitz OJ (2006) Biodiversity, ecosystem function, and investment risk. Bioscience 56:977–985

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larsen L, Harlan SL (2006) Desert dreamscapes: residential landscape preference and behavior. Landsc Urban Plan 78:85–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawson L (2007) Cultural geographies in practice: the South Central Farm: dilemmas in practicing the public. Cult Geogr 14:611–616

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawson L, Drake L (2013) Community Garden Organization Survey, 2011–2012. Commun Green Rev 18:20–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawton JH (1999) Are there general laws in ecology? Oikos 84:177–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu JG, Dietz T, Carpenter SR, Folke C, Alberti M, Redman CL, Schneider SH, Ostrom E, Pell AN, Lubchenco J, Taylor WW, Ouyang ZY, Deadman P, Kratz T, Provencher W (2007) Coupled human and natural systems. Ambio 36:639–649

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Loram A, Warren PH, Gaston KJ (2008) Urban domestic gardens (XIV): the characteristics of gardens in five cities. Environ Manag 42:361–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovell ST, Taylor JR (2013) Supplying urban ecosystem services through multifunctional green infrastructure in the United States. Landscape Ecol 28:1447–1463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowry, JH, Baker, ME, Ramsey, RD (2012). Determinants of urban tree canopy in residential neighborhoods: Household characteristics, urban form, and the geophysical landscape. Urban Ecosyst 15:247–266

  • Lubbe CS, Siebert SJ, Cilliers SS (2011) Socio-economic drivers of plant diversity patterns in domestic gardens of the Tlokwe City Municipality. S Afr J Bot 77:538–539

    Google Scholar 

  • Mack RN, Erneberg M (2002) United States naturalized flora: largely the product of deliberate introductions. Ann Mo Bot Gard 89:176–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manes F, Incerti G, Salvatori E, Vitale M, Ricotta C, Costanza R (2012) Urban ecosystem services: tree diversity and stability of tropospheric ozone removal. Ecol Appl 22:349–360

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marco A, Dutoit T, Deschamps-Cottin M, Mauffrey JF, Vennetier M, Bertaudiere-Montes V (2008) Gardens in urbanizing rural areas reveal an unexpected floral diversity related to housing density. C R Biol 331:452–465

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marco A, Barthelemy C, Dutoit T, Bertaudière-Montes V (2010) Bridging human and natural sciences for a better understanding of urban floral patterns: the role of planting practices in Mediterranean gardens. Ecol Soc 15:2

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathieu R, Freeman C, Aryal J (2007) Mapping private gardens in urban areas using object-oriented techniques and very high-resolution satellite imagery. Landsc Urban Plan 81:179–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matteson KC, Ascher JS, Langellotto GA (2008) Bee richness and abundance in New York city urban gardens. Ann Entomol Soc Am 101:140–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Méndez VE, Lok R, Somarriba E (2001) Interdisciplinary analysis of homegardens in Nicaragua: micro-zonation, plant use and socio-economic importance. Agrofor Syst 51(51):85–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and human well-being: synthesis. Island Press, Washington, DC, pp 0–155

  • Minkoff-Zern LA (2012) Pushing the boundaries of indigeneity and agricultural knowledge: Oaxacan immigrant gardening in California. Agric Hum Values 29:381–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pataki DE, McCarthy HR, Gillespie T, Jenerette GD, Pincetl S (2013) A trait-based ecology of the Los Angeles urban forest. Ecosphere 4(6):72. doi:10.1890/ES13-00017.1

    Google Scholar 

  • Peña D (2005) Farmers feeding families: agroecology in South Central Los Angeles. Lecture presented to the Environmental Science, Policy and Management Colloquium

  • Peña D (2006) Toward a critical political ecology of Latina/o urbanism. The Acequia Institute. http://www.acequiainstitute.org/researchreports.html

  • Pickett ST, Cadenasso ML, Grove JM, Boone CG, Groffman PM, Irwin E, Kaushal SS, Marshall V, McGrath BP, Nilon CH, Pouyat RV, Szlavecz K, Troy A, Warren P (2011) Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress. J Environ Manag 92:331–362

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz K, Pickett ST, Lathrop RG, Weathers KC, Pouyat RV, Cadenasso ML (2012) The effects of the urban built environment on the spatial distribution of lead in residential soils. Environ Pollut 163:32–39

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer A (2002) The persistence of L.A.’s grocery gap: the need for a new food policy and approach to market development. Center for Food and Justice Report. UEPI, Los Angeles

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharkey JR, Horel S, Han D, Huber JC (2009) Association between neighborhood need and spatial access to food stores and fast food restaurants in neighborhoods of Colonias. Int J Health Geogr 8:9

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith RM, Gaston KJ, Warren PH, Thompson K (2005) Urban domestic gardens (V): relationships between landcover composition, housing and landscape. Landscape Ecol 20:235–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith RM, Thompson K, Hodgson JG, Warren PH, Gaston KJ (2006) Urban domestic gardens (IX): composition and richness of the vascular plant flora, and implications for native biodiversity. Biol Conserv 129:312–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith VM, Greene RB, Silbernagel J (2013) The social and spatial dynamics of community food production: a landscape approach to policy and program development. Landscape Ecol 28:1415–1426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soleri D, Cleveland DA (2004) Farmer selection and conservation of crop varieties. In: Goodman RM (ed) Encyclopedia of plant and crop science. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 433–438

    Google Scholar 

  • Splash CL (2008) How much is that ecosystem in the Window? The one with the bio-diverse trail. Environ Values 17:259–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stark BL, Ossa A (2007) Ancient settlement, urban gardening, and environment in the Gulf Lowlands of Mexico. Lat Am Antiq 18:385–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor JR, Lovell ST (2014) Urban home gardens in the Global North: a mixed methods study of ethnic and migrant home gardens in Chicago, IL. Renew Agric Food Syst. doi:10.1017/S1742170514000180

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2014) World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights. United Nations, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Census Bureau (2010). American FactFinder Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics for Los Angeles County. http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml

  • USDA (2014) Food Access Research Atlas. http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas.aspx

  • van Heezik Y, Freeman C, Porter S, Dickinson KJM (2013) Garden size, householder knowledge, and socio-economic status influence plant and bird diversity at the scale of individual gardens. Ecosystems 16:1442–1454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vavilov NI (1949) The origin, variation, immunity, and breeding of cultivated plants. Chron Bot 13:1–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Wakefield S, Yeudall F, Taron C, Reynolds J, Skinner A (2007) Growing urban health: community gardening in South-East Toronto. Health Promot Int 22:92–101

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walker JS, Grimm NB, Briggs JM, Gries C, Dugan L (2009) Effects of urbanization on plant species diversity in central Arizona. Front Ecol Environ 7:465–470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang H-F, MacGregor-Fors I, López-Pujol J (2012) Warm-temperate, immense, and sprawling: plant diversity drivers in urban Beijing, China. Plant Ecol 213:967–992

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J (2013) Landscape sustainability science: ecosystem services and human well-being in changing landscapes. Landscape Ecol 28:999–1023

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

For field research and data support, we thank Liangtao Li, Cara Fertitta, Lauren Velasco, and members of the Jenerette lab at UC Riverside. We also thank Derick Fay, Edith Allen, Norm Ellstrand, and Exequiel Ezcurra for ongoing research discussion. Finally, we thank UC Riverside herbarium director, Andrew Sanders for extensive aid in species identification and archiving samples. This project was supported by the US National Science Foundation (DEB 0919006), and the University of California, Riverside.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Lorraine Weller Clarke & G. Darrel Jenerette

Authors
  1. Lorraine Weller Clarke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. G. Darrel Jenerette
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lorraine Weller Clarke.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 149 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Clarke, L.W., Jenerette, G.D. Biodiversity and direct ecosystem service regulation in the community gardens of Los Angeles, CA. Landscape Ecol 30, 637–653 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-014-0143-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-014-0143-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation