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- 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.