Taking a fresh look at water quality management, a University of
Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR)
research team is studying how the replacement of urban lawns
with more diverse vegetation can help protect the environment
and make our landscapes more sustainable. The researchers have
been awarded a $595,000 grant by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) and will be working at the Winterthur Gardens
on their project. Shreeram Inamdar, CANR associate professor of
plant and soil sciences, is the principal investigator and the
research team includes Doug Tallamy, chair of the Department of
Entomology and Wildlife Ecology; Susan Barton, associate
professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences and a
Cooperative Extension specialist; Jules Bruck, assistant
professor of landscape horticulture and design; and Joshua Duke,
professor in the Department of Food and Resource Economics. One
of the main goals of the three-year study, funded through the
USDA’s National Institute of Food