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In addition to planting 29 species of native trees and shrubs, the Centennial Park Restoration Project also planted over 31 species of smaller understory plants, including native grasses, forbs and wildflowers.  Although it is easy to see how the acorns, berries and seeds produced by trees and shrubs provide food for larger birds and animals (like scrub jays, acorn woodpeckers, racoons, and coyotes), smaller understory plants, particularly flowering forbs and wildflowers, also provide resources for insects, some of our most important animals.

_{Pacific aster is covered with flowers in late summer and early fall, providing bees with an abundance of pollen and nectar at a time when most flowers have dried up.  Photo credit: Katherine Holmes}

Although people are often squeamish about insects, they are an integral component of our natural world.  There are more species of insects than all other forms of life (both animal and plant) combined, with over a million species currently identified and described by science. 

Insects are a critical food source for many birds and other animals, forming the base of terrestrial food webs. Insects are eaten by small birds and animals, who are in turn eaten by larger birds and animals. Entire ecosystems would collapse without insects!

_{Dragonflies are an important food source for many birds and bat and other wetland animals.  Photo credit: © David Davies}

Insects also provide irreplaceable economic services to humans.  Although some insects are agricultural pests, it is estimated that beneficial insects contribute far than the losses inflicted by pest insects.  For example, most of our fruits and many of our vegetables are pollinated by honey bees as well as native wild bees. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that these pollination services are worth up to $577 billion every year.  Other insects, like lace wings and ladybugs, are voracious predators and they help reduce populations of aphids and other insects that damage agricultural crops.

   
_{Ladybug adults (Left photo) and larvae (Right photo) are predators that help control aphids and other pest insects.  Photo credits:  Left photo (adult ladybug): ©2009 Kay Loughman (CC BY-NC 3.0); Right photo (ladybug larvae): ©2011 Luigi Rignanese (CC BY-NC 3.0).}

Finally, insects also play important roles as decomposers, breaking down dung, carrion and dead plants and converting them into basic nutrients and other soil-like elements.  Essentially, insects (along with fungi and bacteria) are responsible for the world-wide recycling of dead biomass into the building blocks of life.  Without these decomposers, we would be up to our ears in dead organic matter!

Unfortunately, insects are currently experiencing a dramatic world-wide reduction in numbers. Recently studies have found that insect populations all over the world have dropped 30-80% since the 1980s. Given insects’ important role in life on earth as we know it, this precipitous drop has many scientists very worried. Although no single reason has emerged to explain the loss, climate change, habitat fragmentation, and pesticide use are all known to contribute to insect declines.

Residents can help create havens for insects (and other wildlife) by minimizing their use of insecticides, leaving some areas in their yards undisturbed and unmown, and planting a diverse variety of native flowering plants.  Click on this link for a list of the California native plants used here in the Centennial Park Restoration Project, all of which do well in the greater Vacaville area.

This information has been provided by the City of Vacaville in partnership with the Solano Resource Conservation District.  It was last updated on May 26, 2020.