A recent study has proposed that a nuanced understanding of the correlation between wealth and biodiversity might offer less affluent communities strategies to boost their ecological diversity to match those of the wealthier ones.

For a long time, it’s been recognized that wealthier regions tend to have greater biodiversity, a concept known as the “luxury effect.” Nonetheless, how wealth contributes to biodiversity hasn’t been thoroughly examined, according to Madhusudan Katti, an associate professor of forestry and environmental resources at NC State and the senior author of the study. Katti argues that viewing biodiversity as a luxury belittles the role people play in fostering it.

“Biodiversity is not a luxury, but something we can actively cultivate in cities,” Katti said. “It’s not simply a byproduct of wealth. We aimed to explore the intricate interplay between biodiversity and various societal pressures and systems.”

The researchers started their investigation by studying the common traits of biodiverse regions, which led them to the processes that enhance biodiversity and the societal structures that facilitate these processes. Katti termed this the social-ecological framework, which scrutinizes how human activities within a societal context shape nature.

“Society consists of decision-makers who determine land use and management,” Katti explained. “These decisions, whether they concern city planning or personal choices about backyard landscaping, form part of what we call the POSE framework.”

The POSE framework abandons terms like “luxury” and instead identifies four social factors that can influence biodiversity: power, objectives, social/ecological context, and effort. These factors illustrate how individuals, community groups, or institutions can influence biodiversity and explain the luxury effect. For instance, a wealthy homeowner has more control over their landscape than an apartment dweller. The POSE framework suggests that less affluent communities can focus on resources they have, like collective effort, to foster biodiversity.

Katti believes that the POSE framework can motivate people to work towards healthier landscapes in their communities. “We want people to realize that they can positively impact their environment regardless of their financial status,” Katti said. “Community groups have long been pooling their efforts to compensate for financial shortfalls. Our research is a call to action. Biodiversity is attainable, and people can collectively create it.”

The open-access paper, “Biodiversity is not a luxury: Unpacking wealth and power to accommodate the complexity of urban biodiversity,” is published in the journal Ecosystems. Renata Poulton Kamakura of Duke University is the paper’s first author, and it was co-authored by Jin Bai and Vallari Sheel, Ph.D. students at NC State.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 2139754, and the U.S. Geological Survey Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center.