If we continue to landscape predominantly with alien plants that are toxic to insects—the most important herbivores in our suburban ecosystem in terms of passing energy from plants to other animals—we may witness extinction on a scale that exceeds what occurred when a meteor struck the Yucatan peninsula at the end of the Cretaceous period. If instead we use plants that evolved with our local animal communities as the foundation of our landscapes, we may be able to save much of our biodiversity from extinction. In essence, we will for the first time coexist with nature rather than compete with
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