What is a suburban livable ecosystem? It’s a landscape that takes advantage of natural processes while providing tangible benefits to its owner. When we think of home landscapes as ecosystems, we can start to see the opportunities to produce ecosystem services right in our yards; services such as cleaning water, increasing plant and animal diversity, cooling the environment, saving energy, sequestering carbon, and enjoying landscapes for the pleasure they can provide.

Ecosystem services are goods and services received from natural resources contributing directly and indirectly to human welfare (de Groot, Wilson and Boumans, 2002). This brochure focuses on these services, the benefits they provide and the strategies that can be used in home landscapes to produce them.

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UD Cooperative Extension

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