Urban Greening in Legacy Cities
As urbanization increases globally, the need to incorporate green spaces and features in cities is more crucial than ever. Efforts towards urban greening are often challenging though, especially in legacy cities that lack the time, money, and resources necessary for successful urban greening projects.
Our lab works collaboratively with multiple legacy cities in Ohio to address imbalances in urban greening planning and provide marginalized communities with data and management tactics to create a more sustainable future.
Insect biodiversity and conservation
Insect and arthropod diversity is threatened by many landscape and local changes, particularly in urban zones, but cities offer myriad resources for conservation (Gardiner et al. 2013, Gardiner et al. 2014). We focus on varied but specific arthropod taxa (recently Lepidopterans, Coleoptera: Coccinelldiae, Hymenoptera, and Diptera: Syrphidae) and their conservation, ecosystem services and community composition.
We aim to produce publications, scientific presentations and extension/outreach materials and events which further the cause of insect conservation in green spaces with special focus on equity.
Community engaged research
Learning from some of our past mistakes (Turo & Gardiner 2019, Turo & Gardiner 2020) and successes (Gardiner et al. 2021), the Gardiner Lab has brought in new collaborators and perspectives to engage with communities throughout the research process.
Our levels of engagement vary, from surveys of resident opinions on greening, to selecting research sites with residents, to sampling in homeowner backyards. Regardless of the level of engagement from stakeholders, we are concerned with research equity and aware that urban environments necessarily bring human risks, variables, and concerns into ecology research.