Bringing Nature Home is a recent book by Dr. Douglas Tallamy, a Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. One of his major research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. He has published over 72 research articles on related topics.

This is a well-written, inspiring book that describes the various roles of insects in ecological systems, mostly focusing on their conversion of solar energy, by eating plants, into the protein source that is the basis of all terrestrial food webs. The roles of insects in pollinating our food crops, as well as native plants, has been receiving substantial press lately; add to that pest predation and we start to realize how under appreciated are our six-legged friends.

Bringing Nature Home translates the results found by many biological field researchers into a big-picture call-to-action regarding how we manage the land in our care to encourage biodiversity. While there is awareness that nectar-producing flowers sustain pollinators for part of the year, insects eat the leaves and other plant parts for a substantial portion of their diet. Due to their shared evolutionary history, native plants support much greater insect diversity than introduced plant species. That insects consume parts of plants is not to be feared, but instead encouraged as a sign of a healthy functioning ecosystem. Tallamy includes chapters describing common insect families and some native plant genera that support high insect species diversity (please see the accompanying table.) While most of the research and examples of species in the book center on the Mid-Atlantic bioregion, the ecological concepts are pertinent wherever we live.

Within many of the tree and shrub genera listed by Professor Tallamy, here in the Pacific Northwest, we have our own native species that support insect diversity. In addition, there are more great native perennials that serve insects including species in the genera Allium, Anaphalis, Delphinium, Dodecatheon, Erigeron, Heracleum, Lomatium, Sedum, and Urtica (from Pollinator Conservation Handbook, The Xerces Society.) More excellent native plant choices largely from the Northwest can be found in the rest of our catalog. Providing food for native insects by planting native plants is an important first step in sustaining the food and natural resource web that includes us.

Besides food sources, insects also need appropriate nesting and overwintering habitat that is free of insecticides. The choice of native plants is also crucial here. Many butterflies will lay eggs exclusively on certain host plants. If native species of caterpillars are eating what you plant then you’ve achieved the intended goal. Some cavity nesting insects benefit by growing plants with pithy stems such as those found in Heracleum, Sambucus, Cornus, Rubus, and Rhus. Ground nesters require undisturbed ground and others benefit from standing dead trees or woody debris in the landscape. For more ideas on creating habitat to sustain biodiversity, check out www.xerces.org and http://bringingnaturehome.net for information and books on the subject.