Golf Courses May Protect Wetland Animals

Sept. 3, 2009 -- Given the volume of pesticides and fertilizers needed to maintain their lush, manicured green grass, golf courses hardly seem like a hospitable place for amphibians and other wetland creatures.

However, a new study suggests that golf course ponds can sustain wildlife just as well as nature reserves, and in some cases, even better.

The research examined golf course ponds in Stockholm, Sweden, comparing the species living there with those in ponds in nearby nature reserves and parks.

The team found no difference between the two groups in the species composition of invertebrates, including insects like dragonflies. Indeed, one type of dragonfly was found only in golf course ponds.

For amphibians, the golf course ponds may even be a better habitat than park ponds, the researchers reported. Some species were more prevalent in golf course ponds than elsewhere.

"The great crested newt was significantly associated with golf ponds," said study author Johan Colding of the Stockholm Resilience Center. The great crested newt is a protected species throughout Europe.

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Golf course ponds may be good places for newts because the ponds often lack fish and are kept clear of water-clogging plants -- ideal conditions for these critters, according to Colding.

But golf courses also are more "natural" than many people give them credit for, according to Ray Semlitsch of the University of Missouri. Semlitsch has done related studies of U.S. golf courses.

"There is a lot more non-play area with natural habitat on these golf courses than you would expect," Semlitsch said. "About 70 percent is non-play habitat. In urban areas where there may not be much habitat left, golf courses are really one of the few recreational areas that are embedded in these urban areas. In some cases they are little oases."

The study shows that golf courses can play an important role for conservation in cities and other impacted areas, but that doesn't mean courses harbor as much wildlife as natural settings.

"You do have to stand back a little bit," said Semlitch, "and say that the golf course ponds -- and probably all of the ponds they sampled -- probably lack some of the species that they would find in preserves."

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