Ecology of urban lawns under three common management programs

Abstract

Turfgrass lawns are a central part of urban and suburban landscapes throughout North America and are often managed using repeated applications of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These inputs are expensive and may negatively affect ecological processes in lawns. Therefore, we evaluated the influence of three most common lawn care programs on ecological characteristics of turfgrass lawns. Twenty-eight home lawns, separated into 3 groups based on the lawn care program (professional, do-it-yourself [DIY], and no-input), were studied. Data on lawn quality, weed and insect infestation, disease incidence, soil nematode community, soil nitrogen pools, microbial biomass (MBN), and soil organic matter (SOM) were collected. Results indicated that professional lawn care resulted in the highest aesthetic lawn quality mainly due to better weed control, compared to DIY and no-input programs. However, professional and DIY programs negatively affected MBN and SOM pools and enhanced disease (rust) severity. No significant differences in soil nematode population and nematode community indices across the three programs were found, indicating no differences in net ecosystem productivity among the three programs. Overall, soil nematode food web in turfgrass lawns represented a disturbed food web compared to natural grasslands and forest ecosystems, irrespective of the lawn care program used.