Botanical gardens and arboreta create important urban wildlife habitat, and their management choices significantly affect the welfare of birds, insects, and small mammals that use them.
Botanical gardens exist in a unique position as curated landscapes that can either support or harm urban wildlife welfare. Gardens that prioritize ornamental exotic plants, maintain manicured lawns, and use systematic pesticide programs provide little welfare benefit to wildlife. Gardens that incorporate native collections, meadow areas, water features, and pesticide-free management become significant urban wildlife refuges. The welfare implications extend from individual insects benefiting from nectar resources to bird populations that depend on insect food webs supported by native plant collections. Management choices in botanical gardens have welfare effects at scale.