Chapters 8 and 9 of the “Rambunctious Garden” offer a different approach to conservation. In previous chapters Marris discussed the process of rewilding according to a specific baseline. However, in these subsequent chapters, she introduces a new term: “designer ecosystems” in which land is conserved based on a specific goal rather than a baseline. Some goals include “nitrogen reduction, sediment capture, or the maintenance of one or a small number of named species” (Marris 125).
Ultimately, this is a better approach than conserving land based on a baseline because according to stream restoration expert, Margaret Palmer the baselines are “arbitrary” because it does not “(take) into account the changing nature of the landscape” (124). Nature undergoes both abiotic changes such as climate, soil chemistry and biotic changes such as extinction of species (128). Therefore, a major fault with conserving nature according to a baseline is that nature is constantly changing and it is difficult to recreate an ecosystem that occurred thousands of years ago because since then there have been changes both in the species composition as well as climate. Replicating this ecosystem requires huge efforts, both monetary and manual labor.
Creating designer ecosystems is a better approach because baselines are too complicated and arbitrary. On the other hand, having a clear goal like nitrogen reduction is more feasible because it is easier to measure the nitrogen content of water than it is to recreate the ecosystem of the Pleistocene era. Goals such as nitrogen reduction and removal of excess sediments will help the ecosystem. For example, in the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico the nitrogen “mostly comes from fertilizer, and boosts the productivity of plankton,” which in turn uses the oxygen in the water and as a result, creates excessive amounts of slimy algae (126). However, even this has to be carefully monitored because nitrogen reduction may also lead to high levels of mercury in fish (126).
In her next chapter Marris returns to her idea of the “rambunctious garden” where conservation happens everywhere. In fact, she even suggests that rather than having a lawn, families should use their backyard to house smaller species or “metapopulations” such as insects, plants and fungi. Hanski, a metapopulations researcher at the University of Helsinki adopted the idea of conservation in his backyard, and according to a biologist, Helsink reported 375 species including 2 endangered species of “’one wasp and one beetle” (Marris 147). However, there are few downsides to this method of conservation; firstly, it is not aesthetically pleasing because in order to house the metapopulations people have to refrain from cutting the lawn and let it grow naturally. Secondly, there is a lack of an “organized mechanism” for the amateur gardener to speak to scientists about what occurs in the piece of nature he/she is taking care of. According to Marris, for there to be a rambunctious garden, society has to change its view of pristine nature and accept “nature that looks a little more lived in than we are used to.”
