Originally published in the May 2021 Issue of Wildflower News
As humans we tinker and experiment. Those traits led us, in the fertile valleys of the Middle East, the terraced paddies of China, on the slopes of the Andes and throughout valleys in Mesoamerica to domesticate cereal grains, rice, lentils, cotton, potatoes and corn, all of which originated in wild plant stocks. The development of agriculture through plant crosses and breeding allowed humans to expand and increase in all portions of the globe, save the Arctic and Antarctic.
In the process we have forgotten, neglected and overlooked the virtues of native plants. As colonizers of the prairies, and always from somewhere else, there has been a consistent feeling the land inherited needed “improvement”.
Stepping back from our origins in agriculture and the agents of change we have been for landscapes, it’s time to recalibrate our expectations with a better sense of the virtues of native plants.
Here is a short list on the virtues of native plants:
Native plants are adapted to local conditions of climate, soil, slope, aspect, and moisture variability. They were born in place with several thousands of years of trial, error and adaptation that selected the ones with the inherent capabilities to survive and thrive throughout the range of natural variability. Their genetic material has stood the test of time and stands to continue to meet the challenge climate change brings. A native, or indigenous plant is one that occurs within a particular landscape without direct or indirect human actions.
Native plants have adapted to a variety of soil chemistry situations (e.g., high salinity, calcium carbonate) and soil conditions (e.g. anaerobic sites, a variety of soil textures).
The root systems of many native plants grow deep, tapping subsurface moisture at depth. This enables native plants to be resilient to drought conditions. The deep root systems of many native plants, especially trees and shrubs are the
essential “glue” that bind stream and river banks together making them resistant to erosion.
Native plants develop as a team; there is competition for essential resources but competition is minimized to fill niches and to take advantage of the ebb and flow of moisture conditions, seasons and life histories. There is redundancy and overlap in the roles native plants play; this creates ecosystems with resilience to change. Over time, native plants have developed natural defences against many pests and diseases. Native plants attract beneficial insects which prey on other pest insects.
Native plants are soil builders, energy recyclers, moisture conservers and erosion preventers. They work in concert and synergy with soil microbes and invertebrates in many of these tasks, such as transforming atmospheric nitrogen to forms useful to plants. Nitrogen fixation with certain groups of soil micro-organisms, in symbiosis with native plants provides a major part of the nitrogen in circulation on Earth.
Native plants don’t require artificial amendments, like domesticated agricultural species do, to maintain productivity. Over the long haul, over the range of natural variation, native plants are consistently productive and less subject to boom and bust cycles. These plants provide low, or no-cost management.
Native plants are key to maintaining native wildlife species and form the basis of the food chain. The timing of flowering, fruit and seed production is tied to the life cycle of many wildlife species. The structure of native plants is essential to nesting success, survival of young, thermal cover, escape cover and essential winter food.
Native plants are essential habitat for native pollinators, which provide benefits to many adjacent agricultural crops. The mechanism for recovery efforts for species at risk is often the availability, integrity and scale of native landscapes available.
Native plants successfully sequester large amounts of carbon, and assist in moderating the amount of human-caused emissions that are responsible for climate change.
Native plants provide long-term economic and ecological stability. Conventional agriculture replaces free ecosystem services with the requirement for costly,
non-renewable energy to maintain production.
Native plants are an effective tool for land reclamation/restoration providing a long-term solution to issues of erosion, salinity and non-native plant invasion.
Biodiversity, a measure of ecological integrity, is greater on landscapes consisting of native plants.
Late successional plant species (of which most are native species) are more efficient than agronomic species at converting solar energy into biomass.
Native plants provide aesthetic appeal, diversity and beauty. There are heritage, spiritual and cultural values associated with native plants.
Native plants are used in the development of new foods, medicines and industrial products.
Native grasslands and forests supply a number of important ecosystem services, such as forage production, topsoil conservation, water capture, storage and purification, flood control, pollination and carbon storage. These landscapes and the plants that make them up perform these services for free, with appropriate management. Whatever the question is, the answer has to involve native plants!
Lorne Fitch is a Professional Biologist, a retired Fish and Wildlife Biologist and a past Adjunct Professor with the University of Calgary.
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