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- Bridging biodiversity and gardening: Unravelling the interplay of socio-demographic factors, garden practices, and garden characteristicsPublication . Varga-Szilay, Zsófia; Fetykó, Kinga Gabriela; Szövényi, Gergely; Pozsgai, GaborThe expansion of urban areas threatens biodiversity and disrupts ecological relationships, thereby impeding key ecosystem services. To avert irreversible consequences, there is a focus on improving the biodiversity value of domestic gardens. We employ machine learning and network analysis and examine gardening practices and garden owners’ environmental consciousness in Hungary through a questionnaire-based study to untangle the interplay among socio-demographic factors, garden management and -characteristics. We found that the activities determined as biodiversity-positive were widespread among respondents, but ubiquitous pesticide use (62.14%), lack of undisturbed areas (49.52%), and frequent mowing (32.06%) were also present. Middle-aged respondents demonstrated more biodiversity-supporting activities than those over 55, who had long-term gardening experience and were predominantly conventional gardeners. Respondents of towns showed the least biodiversity-positive activities, whereas those living in cities and the countryside fared better. Additionally, multiple interconnected garden characteristics revealed various types of gardens distinguished by care practices and use, such as gardens for food self-provisioning, ornamental gardens, or those prioritizing biodiversity support. Our results show that garden owners use pesticides independently of socio-demographic parameters, gardening practices, or garden characteristics, suggesting widespread pesticide use in Hungary. Our findings suggest that strategies to promote biodiversity-friendly gardening may not be equally suitable for all gardener owners with different cultural backgrounds, environmental consciousness and gardening habits. Factors like differences between societal groups underscore the preference for in-person programs over online information transfer in several cases, for instance, among the elderly and those living in the countryside. We offer fresh perspectives on the intricate connections between garden diversity, characteristics, and practices, and it lays the groundwork for future research into the sociological drivers of gardening practices in Eastern Europe. Our work emphasises that optimizing gardens for multiple ecosystem services, including biodiversity conservation and enhancing human well-being, requires a nuanced understanding of both ecological and socio-demographic factors.
- Improving biodiversity in Central and Eastern European domestic gardens needs regionally scaled strategiesPublication . Varga-Szilay, Zsófia; Barševskis, Arvids; Benedek, Klára; Bevk, Danilo; Jojczyk, Agata; Kristin, Anton; Růžičková, Jana; Seric Jelaska, Lucija; Veromann, Eve; Vilumets, Silva; Fetykó, Kinga Gabriela; Szövényi, Gergely; Pozsgai, GaborAmid ongoing urbanisation and increasing anthropogenic activities, domestic gardens, while cannot replace natural habitats, play a crucial role in enhancing urban biodiversity by supporting green areas and as parts of ecological corridors. Moreover, these biodiversity-friendly gardens also improve human well-being and foster a connection between nature and people. We circulated an online questionnaire between 2022 and 2023 to investigate how the garden parameters, the gardening motivation of garden owners, and their pesticide use habits depend on each other in nine Central– and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Moreover, we aimed to explore the differences and similarities between gardens and gardening practices with a potential for maintaining high biodiversity. To achieve this, we assessed the ecological value of the gardens, the motivation of garden owners, and their pesticide use habits using an answer-based scoring system. Our findings reveal significant variability both among participating countries and within them on a smaller and larger scale, across all three indices, highlighting the need for region-specific circumstances rather than unified regulations across European countries to maximize the conservation value examined. Our study underscores the potential of domestic gardens in designing eco-networks and informs strategies to optimize their environmental benefits. However, due to the ubiquitous domestic use of pesticides in CEE, informing garden owners about the environmental and human health effects of pesticides would be equally necessary in every area, both urban and rural. Additionally, our findings suggest that effective environmental educational programs and tailored strategies should be developed to meet local needs rather than overarching but too general international targets. At the same time, these programs should provide comprehensive biodiversity-related information, reaching all strata of society. This is especially important in CEE, where such initiatives are currently under-emphasized.
- Improving biodiversity in Central and Eastern European gardens needs regionally scaled strategiesPublication . Varga-Szilay, Zsófia; Barševskis, Arvids; Benedek, Klára; Bevk, Danilo; Jojczyk, Agata; Kristin, Anton; Růžičková, Jana; Seric Jelaska, Lucija; Veromann, Eve; Vilumets, Silva; fetykó, kinga gabriela; Szövényi, GergelyABSTRACT: Amid ongoing urbanisation, gardens are expected to play an increasing role in enhancing urban biodiversity by supplementing green areas and improving landscape connectivity. Biodiversity-friendly gardens also improve human well-being and foster connections between nature and people. To study these benefits, we distributed a questionnaire (n = 5255), and used a scoring system to evaluate gardens’ ecological value (GAR index), gardeners' attitudes (RES index), and pesticide use habits (PES index). We used machine learning to explore how these indices interact and what sociodemographic factors drive them across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Our aim was to explore the ecological values of gardens and gardening practices, identifying characteristics that might contribute to building high biodiversity. We found significant variability within and between countries, with Romania scoring low and Czechia high in all indices. Domestic pesticide use was ubiquitous across CEE and largely unaffected by sociodemographic factors. Increased time spent gardening was associated with the highest pesticide use and a greater potential for fostering high biodiversity. Gardeners aged over 55 tended to uphold longstanding conventional practices and thus lowered both PES and GAR index scores. The local differences highlight the need for regionally tailored biodiversity-friendly gardening guidelines instead of standardised regulations across Europe. Effective environmental education and community programs can be developed based on local biodiversity and the three indices we used. These programs should inform gardeners about the environmental and health impacts of pesticides and provide comprehensive biodiversity-related knowledge. This is especially important in CEE, where such initiatives are currently underrepresented.