When it comes to finding the best turf suppliers in Las Vegas, one of the most important factors to consider is the quality and variety of grasses they offer. Quality Artificial Grass Las Vegas Nevada. You really don't wanna settle for just any grass, right? After all, the right type can make all the difference in how your lawn looks and feels.
First off, let's talk about quality. Not all grass is created equal! Some suppliers provide top-notch varieties that thrive in the harsh Vegas climate, while others might offer grasses that just can't stand the heat (literally). It's crucial to evaluate whether the grass has been grown in a healthy environment, which can affect its longevity and resilience. If you're looking for something that'll last, you've gotta pay attention to the details!
Now, variety is another biggie. Las Vegas Turf Installers With Financing You might think that all grasses are the same, but you'd be wrong. There are different types that cater to various needs-like shade tolerance, drought resistance, and even how soft or coarse the blades are. A supplier with a wide selection will give you the chance to find the perfect match for your lawn's specific conditions. Whether you want a lush, green carpet or a more rugged, low-maintenance option, having choices is key!
So, what should you do? Start by visiting local suppliers and asking questions! Many will be more than happy to share their knowledge and help you choose the right grass for your needs. Don't forget to look at samples, too. Seeing and feeling the grass can really help you make up your mind.
In conclusion, evaluating the quality and variety of grasses offered by turf suppliers in Las Vegas is essential for achieving that dream lawn. With the right choices, you won't just have a yard that looks good, but one that stands up to the test of time (and heat!). Happy turf hunting!
Customer Reviews and Testimonials from Local Experts
When it comes to finding the best turf suppliers in Las Vegas, customer reviews and testimonials from local experts can be a game-changer! You wouldnt believe how much insight you can gain from folks who've actually used the services. Artificial Grass For Balconies Las Vegas Its not just about the product quality; it's also about the overall experience.
Many people in the area swear by their preferred suppliers, often sharing stories that highlight the pros and cons. For instance, some customers mention how certain suppliers didn't just offer great turf, but also provided exceptional customer service. However, you'll also find reviews that point out where things couldve been better. It's important to take those into account, too.
Local experts, like landscapers or home improvement enthusiasts, often weigh in with their own opinions. They might say something like, "Ive tried several turf suppliers, and I can tell you which ones to avoid!" This kind of insight is invaluable because it cuts through the marketing noise. Plus, it helps potential buyers make informed decisions without falling for flashy ads.
In the end, it's all about finding a balance. You shouldnt just rely on one or two testimonials; instead, consider a variety of opinions. It's amazing how much information is out there, just waiting to be discovered! So, if you're looking to spruce up your yard with some quality turf, take some time to read those reviews-both the good and the bad. They might just lead you to the perfect supplier for your needs!
Service and Support Availability in Las Vegas
When it comes to finding the best turf suppliers in Las Vegas, one crucial aspect that often gets overlooked is service and support availability. You might think that once you've selected your turf, the hard work is done, but that's not really the case! Having access to good support can make all the difference, especially in a place like Las Vegas where the climate can be pretty harsh.
You see, turf isn't just about laying down some green carpet. It's about maintaining it, ensuring it looks good, and lasts long. A reliable turf supplier should offer more than just a sales pitch. They need to provide ongoing support – whether its advice on watering schedules, tips for dealing with pests, or even help with installation. Its a bit surprising how many suppliers out there don't really offer this kind of assistance. You dont wanna find yourself stuck with a patchy lawn and no one to turn to for help!
Moreover, customer service is key. If you've got questions, the last thing you want is to be put on hold forever or to get vague answers. You need someone who understands your concerns and can guide you through any issues. So, when youre checking out turf suppliers, make sure to ask about their service and support options. You'll want to know if they have a team ready to help, or if they just sell and forget.
In conclusion, while selecting the right turf is important, don't underestimate the value of service and support availability. It can save you a lot of headaches down the road! So, do your research and find a supplier who's committed to helping you keep your lawn in top shape. You'll be glad you did!
Competitive Pricing Analysis and Budget-Friendly Options
Okay, so youre looking for the best turf suppliers in Vegas, huh? (Smart move!) But lets be real, nobody wants to break the bank, right? Thats where competitive pricing analysis comes in. Its basically checking whos got the best deals, comparing apples to oranges, yknow? We aint just talking about the initial price, though. What about installation costs? Delivery fees? Dont forget warranties! You gotta factor it all in.
And then theres the ever-important budget-friendly options. Not everyone needs or can afford that super high-end, plush stuff. (I mean, its nice, but...) There are definitely suppliers offering more economical choices. Think about different types of turf – maybe a less dense style, or one with a slightly shorter pile height. You dont necessarily have to sacrifice quality, just make smarter choices! Its all about finding that sweet spot between what you want and what you can comfortably afford. Do your research, shop around--it isnt a waste of time, I promise! Good luck, and hey, find that perfect, affordable lawn!
Best Turf Suppliers in Las Vegas: A Local Guide - Las Vegas Turf Installers With Financing
"Vegas", "Sin City", "City of Lights", "The Gambling Capital of the World",[1] "The Entertainment Capital of the World', "Capital of Second Chances",[2] "The Marriage Capital of the World", "The Silver City", "America's Playground", "Hawaii's Ninth Island"[3][4]
Las Vegas was settled in 1905 and officially incorporated in 1911.[10] At the close of the 20th century, it was the most populated North American city founded within that century. Population growth has accelerated since the 1960s and into the 21st century, and between 1990 and 2000 the population increased by 85.2%.
In 1829, Mexican trader and explorer Antonio Armijo led a group consisting of 60 men and 100 mules along the Old Spanish Trail from modern day New Mexico to California. Along the way, the group stopped in what would become Las Vegas and noted its natural water sources, now referred to as the Las Vegas Springs, which supported extensive vegetation such as grasses and mesquite trees. The springs were a significant natural feature in the valley, with streams that supported a meadow ecosystem. This region served as the winter residence for the Southern Paiute people, who utilized the area's resources before moving to higher elevations during the summer months. The Spanish "las vegas" or "the meadows" (more precisely, lower land near a river) in English, was applied to describe the fertile lowlands near the springs. Over time, the name began to refer to the populated settlement.[17][18][19]
Eleven years later, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chose Las Vegas as the site to build a fort halfway between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, where they would travel to gather supplies. The fort was abandoned several years afterward. The remainder of this Old Mormon Fort can still be seen at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue.
Las Vegas was founded as a city in 1905, when 110 acres (45 ha) of land adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks were auctioned in what would become the downtown area. In 1911, Las Vegas was incorporated as a city.[24]
The year 1931 was pivotal for Las Vegas. At that time, Nevada legalized casino gambling[25] and reduced residency requirements for divorce to six weeks.[26] This year also witnessed the beginning of construction of the tunnels of nearby Hoover Dam. The influx of construction workers and their families helped Las Vegas avoid economic calamity during the Great Depression. The construction work was completed in 1935.
Following World War II, lavishly decorated hotels, gambling casinos, and big-name entertainment became synonymous with Las Vegas.
This view of downtown Las Vegas shows a mushroom cloud in the background. Scenes such as this were typical during the 1950s. From 1951 to 1962, the government conducted 100 atmospheric tests at the nearby Nevada Test Site.[28]
In 1951, nuclear weapons testing began at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles (105 km) northwest of Las Vegas. During this time, the city was nicknamed the "Atomic City." Residents and visitors were able to witness the mushroom clouds (and were exposed to the fallout) until 1963 when the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty required that nuclear tests be moved underground.[28]
In 1955, the Moulin Rouge Hotel opened and became the first racially integrated casino-hotel in Las Vegas.
During the 1960s, corporations and business tycoons such as Howard Hughes were building and buying hotel-casino properties. Gambling was referred to as "gaming," which transitioned it into a legitimate business. Learning from Las Vegas, published during this era, asked architects to take inspiration from the city's highly decorated buildings, helping to start the postmodern architecture movement.
In 1995, the Fremont Street Experience opened in Las Vegas's downtown area. This canopied five-block area features 12.5 million LED lights and 550,000 watts of sound from dusk until midnight during shows held at the top of each hour.
Las Vegas is situated in a basin on the floor of the Mojave Desert,[31] and is surrounded by mountain ranges. Much of the landscape is rocky and arid, with desert vegetation and wildlife. It can be subjected to torrential flash floods, although much has been done to mitigate the effects of flash floods through improved drainage systems.[32]
The city's elevation is approximately 2,030 ft (620 m) above sea level, though the surrounding peaks reach elevations of over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) and act as barriers to the strong flow of moisture from the surrounding area. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 135.86 sq mi (351.9 km2), of which 135.81 sq mi (351.7 km2) is land and 0.05 sq mi (0.13 km2) (0.03%) is water.
After Alaska and California, Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the U.S. It has been estimated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) that over the next 50 years, there is a 10–20% chance of an M6.0 or greater earthquake occurring within 50 km (31 mi) of Las Vegas.[33]
Within the city are many lawns, trees, and other greenery. Due to water resource issues, there has been a movement to encourage xeriscapes. Another part of conservation efforts is scheduled watering days for residential landscaping. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant in 2008 funded a program that analyzed and forecast growth and environmental effects through 2019.[34]
Las Vegas has a subtropicalhot desert climate (Köppen climate classification: BWh, Trewartha climate classificationBWhk), typical of the Mojave Desert in which it lies. This climate is typified by long, extremely hot summers; warm transitional seasons; and short winters with mild days and cool nights. There is abundant sunshine throughout the year, with an average of 310 sunny days and bright sunshine during 86% of all daylight hours.[35][36] Rainfall is scarce, with an average of 4.2 in (110 mm) dispersed between roughly 26 total rainy days per year.[37] Las Vegas is among the sunniest, driest, and least humid locations in North America, with exceptionally low dew points and humidity that sometimes remains below 10%.[38]
The summer months of June through September are extremely hot, though moderated by the low humidity levels. July is the hottest month, with an average daytime high of 104.5 °F (40.3 °C). On average, 137 days per year reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C), of which 78 days reach 100 °F (38 °C) and 10 days reach 110 °F (43 °C). During the peak intensity of summer, overnight lows frequently remain above 80 °F (27 °C), and occasionally above 85 °F (29 °C).[35]
While most summer days are consistently hot, dry, and cloudless, the North American Monsoon sporadically interrupts this pattern and brings more cloud cover, thunderstorms, lightning, increased humidity, and brief spells of heavy rain. Potential monsoons affect Las Vegas between July and August. Summer in Las Vegas is marked by significant diurnal temperature variation. While less extreme than other parts of the state, nighttime lows in Las Vegas are often 30 °F (16.7 °C) or more lower than daytime highs.[39] The average hottest night of the year is 90 °F (32 °C). The all-time record is at 95 °F (35 °C).[35]
Las Vegas winters are relatively short, with typically mild daytime temperatures and chilly nights. Sunshine is abundant in all seasons. December is both the year's coolest and cloudiest month, with an average daytime high of 56.9 °F (13.8 °C) and sunshine occurring during 78% of its daylight hours. Winter evenings are defined by clear skies and swift drops in temperature after sunset, with overnight minima averaging around 40 °F (4.4 °C) in December and January. Owing to its elevation that ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 feet (610 to 910 m), Las Vegas experiences markedly cooler winters than other areas of the Mojave Desert and the adjacent Sonoran Desert that are closer to sea level. The city records freezing temperatures an average of 10 nights per winter. It is exceptionally rare for temperatures to reach or fall below 25 °F (−4 °C).[35]
Climate chart for Las Vegas
Most of the annual precipitation falls during the winter. February, the wettest month, averages only four days of measurable rain. The mountains immediately surrounding the Las Vegas Valley accumulate snow every winter, but significant accumulation within the city is rare, although moderate accumulations occur every few years. The most recent accumulations occurred on February 18, 2019, when parts of the city received about 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5.1 cm) of snow[40] and on February 20 when the city received almost 0.5 inches (1.3 cm).[41] Other recent significant snow accumulations occurred on December 25, 2015, and December 17, 2008.[42] Unofficially, Las Vegas's largest snowfall on record was the 12 inches (30 cm) that fell in 1909.[43] In recent times, ice days have not occurred, although 29 °F (−2 °C) was measured in 1963.[35] On average the coldest day is 44 °F (7 °C).[35]
The highest temperature officially observed for Las Vegas is 120 °F (48.9 °C), as measured at Harry Reid International Airport on July 7, 2024.[35][44] The lowest temperature was 8 °F (−13 °C), recorded on two days: January 25, 1937, and January 13, 1963.[35] The official record hot daily minimum is 95 °F (35 °C) on July 19, 2005, and July 1, 2013. The official record cold daily maximum is 28 °F (−2 °C) on January 8 and 21, 1937.[35] July 2024 was the hottest month ever recorded in Las Vegas, with its highest recorded mean daily average temperature over the month of 99.9 °F (38 °C), its highest recorded mean daily maximum temperature of 111.5 °F (44 °C), and its highest recorded mean nightly minimum temperature of 88.3 °F (31 °C).[45]
Due to concerns about climate change in the wake of a 2002 drought, daily water consumption has been reduced from 314 US gallons (1,190 L) per resident in 2003 to around 205 US gallons (780 L) in 2015.[46]
Las Vegas, Nevada – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Approximately 5.8% of residents are under the age of five, 22.8% under the age of eighteen and 15.6% over 65 years old. Females are 50.0% of the total population.[53]
Map of racial distribution in the Las Vegas area, 2020 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people:
⬤ White
⬤ Black
⬤ Asian
⬤ Hispanic
⬤ Native American
⬤ Mixed or Other
From 2019 to 2023, Las Vegas had approximately 244,429 households, with an average of 2.63 persons per household. About 55.7% of housing units were owner-occupied, and the median value of owner-occupied housing was $395,300. Median gross rent during this period was $1,456 per month (in 2023 dollars).[53]
The median household income in Las Vegas from 2019 to 2023 was $70,723, while the per capita income was $38,421 (in 2023 dollars). Approximately 14.2% of the population lived below the poverty line during the same period.[53]
About 33.0% of residents aged 5 and older speak a language other than English at home. 20.9% of residents are foreign-born.[53]
The mean travel time to work for residents aged 16 and older was approximately 25.8 minutes between 2019 and 2023. The vast majority of households in Las Vegas are digitally connected, with 95.6% having a computer and 89.1% subscribing to broadband internet services.
Filipinos make up the largest Asian population in Las Vegas. 31,931 Filipinos live within the city limits, making up 4.8% of the population.[54] In the Las Vegas area as a whole, there are 162,802 Filipinos, making up 7% of the population.[55] Native Hawaiians are also a major demographic in the city, numbering 20,829 in the city and surrounding suburbs,[56] with some Hawaiians and Las Vegas residents calling the city the "ninth island of Hawaii" due to the major influx of Hawaiians to Vegas.[57]
According to a 2004 study, Las Vegas has one of the highest divorce rates.[58][59] The city's high divorce rate is not wholly due to Las Vegans themselves getting divorced. Compared to other states, Nevada's nonrestrictive requirements for divorce result in many couples temporarily moving to Las Vegas in order to get divorced.[60] Similarly, Nevada marriage requirements are equally lax resulting in one of the highest marriage rates of U.S. cities, with many licenses issued to people from outside the area (see Las Vegas weddings).[60]
According to the 2010 Census, the city of Las Vegas had a population of 583,756. The city's racial composition had shifted slightly, with 47.91% of the population identifying as White alone (non-Hispanic), 10.63% as Black or African American alone (non-Hispanic), 0.41% as Native American or Alaska Native alone (non-Hispanic), 5.93% as Asian alone (non-Hispanic), 0.53% as Pacific Islander alone (non-Hispanic), 0.19% as Other Race alone (non-Hispanic), and 2.91% as Mixed race or Multiracial (non-Hispanic). Hispanic or Latino individuals of any race represented 31.50% of the population.[51]
According to the 2000 census, Las Vegas had a population of 474,434 people. The racial makeup of the city was 58.52% White alone (non-Hispanic), 10.19% Black or African American alone (non-Hispanic), 0.51% Native American or Alaska Native alone (non-Hispanic), 4.72% Asian alone (non-Hispanic), 0.41% Pacific Islander alone (non-Hispanic), 0.14% Other Race alone (non-Hispanic), and 2.52% Mixed race or Multiracial (non-Hispanic). Hispanic or Latino individuals of any race made up 23.81% of the population.[50]
The major attractions in Las Vegas are the casinos and the hotels, although in recent years other new attractions have begun to emerge.
Most casinos in the downtown area are on Fremont Street, with The STRAT Hotel, Casino & Skypod as one of the few exceptions. Fremont East, adjacent to the Fremont Street Experience, was granted variances to allow bars to be closer together, similar to the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, the goal being to attract a different demographic than the Strip attracts.
The Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, downtown along the Fremont Street Experience, is the oldest continuously operating hotel and casino in Las Vegas; it opened in 1906 as the Hotel Nevada.
The center of the gambling and entertainment industry is the Las Vegas Strip, outside the city limits in the surrounding unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester in Clark County. Some of the largest casinos and buildings are there.[69]
In 1929, the city installed a welcome arch over Fremont Street, at the corner of Main Street.[70][71][72] It remained in place until 1931.[73][74]
In 1959, the 25-foot-tall (7.6 m) Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign was installed at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip. A replica welcome sign, standing nearly 16 feet (4.9 m) tall, was installed within city limits in 2002, at Las Vegas Boulevard and Fourth Street.[75][76][77] The replica was destroyed in 2016, when a pickup truck crashed into it.[78]
In 2018, the city approved plans for a new gateway landmark in the form of neon arches. It was built within city limits, in front of the Strat resort and north of Sahara Avenue.[79] The project, built by YESCO, cost $6.5 million and stands 80 feet (24 m) high.[80] Officially known as the Gateway Arches, the project was completed in 2020. The steel arches are blue during the day, and light up in a variety of colors at night.[81]
Also located just north of the Strat are a pair of giant neon showgirls, initially added in 2018 as part of a $400,000 welcome display. The original showgirls were 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, but were replaced by new ones in 2022, rising 50 feet (15 m).[82][83] The originals were refurbished following weather damage and installed at the Las Vegas Arts District.[83][84]
When The Mirage opened in 1989, it started a trend of major resort development on the Las Vegas Strip outside of the city. This resulted in a drop in tourism in the downtown area, but many recent projects have increased the number of visitors to downtown.
An effort has been made by city officials to diversify the economy by attracting health-related, high-tech and other commercial interests. No state tax for individuals or corporations, as well as a lack of other forms of business-related taxes, have aided the success of these efforts.[85]
The Fremont Street Experience was built in an effort to draw tourists back to the area and has been popular since its startup in 1995.
In 2005, the World Market Center opened, consisting of three large buildings taking up 5,400,000 square feet (500,000 m2). Trade shows for the furniture and furnishing industries are held there semiannually.[89]
Also nearby is the Las Vegas North Premium Outlets. With a second expansion, completed in May 2015, the mall currently offers 175 stores.[90]
City offices moved to a new Las Vegas City Hall in February 2013 on downtown's Main Street. The former city hall building is now occupied by the corporate headquarters for the online retailer Zappos.com, which opened downtown in 2013. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh took an interest in the urban area and contributed $350 million toward a revitalization effort called the Downtown Project.[91][92] Projects funded include Las Vegas's first independent bookstore, The Writer's Block.[93]
A number of new industries have moved to Las Vegas in recent decades. Zappos.com (now an Amazon subsidiary) was founded in San Francisco but by 2013 had moved its headquarters to downtown Las Vegas. Allegiant Air, a low-cost air carrier, launched in 1997 with its first hub at Harry Reid International Airport and headquarters in nearby Summerlin.
A growing population means the Las Vegas Valley used 1.2 billion US gal (4.5 billion L) more water in 2014 than in 2011. Although water conservation efforts implemented in the wake of a 2002 drought have had some success, local water consumption remains 30 percent greater than in Los Angeles, and over three times that of San Francisco metropolitan area residents. The Southern Nevada Water Authority is building a $1.4 billion tunnel and pumping station to bring water from Lake Mead, has purchased water rights throughout Nevada, and has planned a controversial $3.2 billion pipeline across half the state. By law, the Las Vegas Water Service District "may deny any request for a water commitment or request for a water connection if the District has an inadequate supply of water." But limiting growth on the basis of an inadequate water supply has been unpopular with the casino and building industries.[46]
The city is home to several museums, including the Neon Museum (the location for many of the historical signs from Las Vegas's mid-20th century heyday), The Mob Museum, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, the Discovery Children's Museum, the Nevada State Museum and the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park.
The city is home to an extensive Downtown Arts District, which hosts numerous galleries and events including the annual Las Vegas Film Festival. "First Friday" is a monthly celebration that includes arts, music, special presentations and food in a section of the city's downtown region called 18b, The Las Vegas Arts District.[96] The festival extends into the Fremont East Entertainment District.[97] The Thursday evening before First Friday is known in the arts district as "Preview Thursday," which highlights new gallery exhibitions throughout the district.[98]
Las Vegas has earned the moniker "Gambling Capital of the World," as it has the world's most land-based casinos.[99] The city is also host to more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any other city in the world.[100]
The Las Vegas metropolitan area has been the site of many prominent combat sports events, such as boxing and MMA, with Las Vegas being considered by many as the "fight capital of the world."[108] The mixed martial arts promotion, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), is headquartered in Las Vegas and also frequently holds fights in the city at T-Mobile Arena and at the UFC Apex training facility near the headquarters.[109]
The city's parks and recreation department operates 78 regional, community, neighborhood, and pocket parks; four municipal swimming pools, 11 recreational centers, four active adult centers, eight cultural centers, six galleries, eleven dog parks, and four golf courses: Angel Park Golf Club, Desert Pines Golf Club, Durango Hills Golf Club, and the Las Vegas Municipal Golf Course.[111]
It is also responsible for 123 playgrounds, 23 softball fields, 10 football fields, 44 soccer fields, 10 dog parks, six community centers, four senior centers, 109 skate parks, and six swimming pools.[112]
The city of Las Vegas has a council–manager government.[113] The mayor sits as a council member-at-large and presides over all city council meetings.[113] If the mayor cannot preside over a city council meeting, then the Mayor pro tempore is the presiding officer of the meeting until the Mayor returns to his/her seat.[114] The city manager is responsible for the administration and the day-to-day operations of all municipal services and city departments.[115] The city manager maintains intergovernmental relationships with federal, state, county and other local governments.[115]
UNLV is a public, land-grant, R1 research university and is home to the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine[133] and the William S. Boyd School of Law, the only law school in Nevada.[134] The university's campus is urban and located about two miles east of the Las Vegas strip. The Desert Research Institute's southern campus sits next to UNLV, while its northern campus is in Reno.[135]
CSN, with campuses throughout Clark County,[136] is a community college with one of the largest enrollments in the United States.[137] In unincorporated Clark County, CSN's Charleston campus is home to the headquarters of Nevada Public Radio (KNPR), an NPR member station.[138][139]
Las Vegas Review-Journal, the area's largest daily newspaper, is published every morning. It was formed in 1909 but has roots back to 1905. It is the largest newspaper in Nevada and is ranked as one of the top 25 newspapers in the United States by circulation. In 2000, the Review-Journal installed the largest newspaper printing press in the world. It cost $40 million, weighs 910 tons and consists of 16 towers.[142] Until his death in January 2021, the newspaper was owned by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who purchased it for $140 million in December 2015. In 2018, the Review-Journal received the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for reporting the Oct 1 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. In 2018 and 2022, Editor and Publisher magazine named the Review-Journal as one of 10 newspapers in the United States "doing it right."[143][144]
Las Vegas Sun, based in neighboring Henderson, is a daily newspaper. Although independently published, the print edition is distributed as a section inside the Review-Journal. The Sun is owned by the Greenspun family and is part of the Greenspun Media Group. It was founded independently in 1950 and in 1989 entered into a Joint Operating Agreement with the Review-Journal, which runs through 2040. The Sun has been described as "politically liberal."[145] In 2009, the Sun was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the high death rate of construction workers on the Las Vegas Strip amid lax enforcement of regulations.[146][147]
Las Vegas Weekly, based in neighboring Henderson, is a free alternative weekly newspaper. It covers Las Vegas arts, entertainment, culture and news. Las Vegas Weekly was founded in 1992 and is published by the Greenspun Media Group.
Las Vegas is served by 10 full power television stations and 46 radio stations. The area is also served by two NOAA Weather Radio transmitters (162.55 MHz located in Boulder City and 162.40 MHz located on Potosi Mountain).
Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) provides public bus transportation.Harry Reid International Airport provides private and public aviation services to the city.Inside Terminal 3 at Harry Reid International Airport in Paradise
RTC Transit is a public transportation system providing bus service throughout Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and other areas of the valley. Inter-city bus service to and from Las Vegas is provided by Greyhound, BoltBus, Orange Belt Stages, Tufesa, and several smaller carriers.[148]
The Union Pacific Railroad is the only Class I railroad providing rail freight service to the city. Until 1997, the Amtrak Desert Wind train service ran through Las Vegas using the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.
In March 2010, the RTC launched bus rapid transit link in Las Vegas called the Strip & Downtown Express with limited stops and frequent service that connects downtown Las Vegas, the Strip and the Las Vegas Convention Center. Shortly after the launch, the RTC dropped the ACE name.[155]
In 2016, 77.1 percent of working Las Vegas residents (those living in the city, but not necessarily working in the city) commuted by driving alone. About 11 percent commuted via carpool, 3.9 percent used public transportation, and 1.4 percent walked. About 2.3 percent of Las Vegas commuters used all other forms of transportation, including taxi, bicycle, and motorcycle. About 4.3% of working Las Vegas residents worked at home.[156] In 2015, 10.2 percent of city of Las Vegas households were without a car, which increased slightly to 10.5 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Las Vegas averaged 1.63 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8 per household.
Las Vegas Boulevard divides the east–west streets from the Las Vegas Strip to near the Stratosphere, then Main Street becomes the dividing line from the Stratosphere to the North Las Vegas border, after which the Goldfield Street alignment divides east and west.
On the east side of Las Vegas, block numbers between Charleston Boulevard and Washington Avenue are different along Nellis Boulevard, which is the eastern border of the city limits.
^Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the highest and lowest temperature readings during an entire month or year) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.
^"Home". United States Air Force Thunderbirds. Archived from the original on October 20, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
^ abSimon, Steven; Bouville, Andre (January–February 2006). "Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests and Cancer Risks". American Scientist. 94 (1): 48. doi:10.1511/2006.57.48. ISSN0003-0996. Archived from the original on July 9, 2014. Retrieved December 18, 2020. Exposures 50 years ago still have health implications today that will continue into the future...Deposition...generally decreases with distance from the test site in the direction of the prevailing wind across North America, although isolated locations received significant deposition as a result of rainfall. Trajectories of the fallout debris clouds across the U.S. are shown for four altitudes. Each dot indicates six hours.
^"History". City of Las Vegas. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
^"Flood control a success". Las Vegas Review-Journal. December 28, 2010. Archived from the original on May 1, 2021. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
^"Loss-Estimation Modeling of Earthquake Scenarios for Each County in Nevada Using HAZUS-MH"(PDF). Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology/University of Nevada, Reno. February 23, 2006. p. 65. Archived(PDF) from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved March 27, 2016. "Probability of an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 or greater occurring within 50 km in 50 years (from USGS probabilistic seismic hazard analysis) 10–20% chance for Las Vegas area, magnitude 6".
^"DRA 2020". Daves Redistricting. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
^N.R.S. § 386.010 "Creation; power to sue." (1971). In Chapter 386: Local Administrative Organization. Archived from the original August 17, 2000. "County school districts, the boundaries of which are conterminous with the boundaries of the counties of the State, are hereby created. The Carson City School District shall be considered as a county school district. Each county school district created by this chapter is hereby declared to be a political subdivision of the State of Nevada whose purpose is to administer the state system of public education. Each school district shall have the power to sue and may be sued. [47:32:1956]—(NRS A 1967, 37; 1969, 336; 1971, 517)"
Brigham, Jay. "Review: 'Reno, Las Vegas, and the Strip: A Tale of Three Cities'." Western Historical Quarterly 46.4 (2015): 529–530. JSTORwesthistquar.46.4.0529.
Chung, Su Kim (2012). Las Vegas Then and Now, Holt: Thunder Bay Press, ISBN978-1-60710-582-4
Moehring, Eugene P. Resort City in the Sunbelt: Las Vegas, 1930–2000 (2000).
Moehring, Eugene, "The Urban Impact: Towns and Cities in Nevada's History," Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 57 (Fall/Winter 2014): 177–200.
Rowley, Rex J. Everyday Las Vegas: Local Life in a Tourist Town (2013)
Stierli, Martino (2013). Las Vegas in the Rearview Mirror: The City in Theory, Photography, and Film, Los Angeles: Getty Publications, ISBN978-1-60606-137-4
Science of relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems
Land cover surrounding Madison, Wisconsin. Fields are colored yellow and brown and urban surfaces are colored red.Impervious surfaces surrounding Madison, WisconsinCanopy cover surrounding Madison, Wisconsin
Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems. This is done within a variety of landscape scales, development spatial patterns, and organizational levels of research and policy.[1][2][3] Landscape ecology can be described as the science of "landscape diversity" as the synergetic result of biodiversity and geodiversity.[4]
As a highly interdisciplinary field in systems science, landscape ecology integrates biophysical and analytical approaches with humanistic and holistic perspectives across the natural sciences and social sciences. Landscapes are spatially heterogeneous geographic areas characterized by diverse interacting patches or ecosystems, ranging from relatively natural terrestrial and aquatic systems such as forests, grasslands, and lakes to human-dominated environments including agricultural and urban settings.[2][5][6]
The most salient characteristics of landscape ecology are its emphasis on the relationship among pattern, process and scales, and its focus on broad-scale ecological and environmental issues. These necessitate the coupling between biophysical and socioeconomic sciences. Key research topics in landscape ecology include ecological flows in landscape mosaics, land use and land cover change, scaling, relating landscape pattern analysis with ecological processes, and landscape conservation and sustainability.[7] Landscape ecology also studies the role of human impacts on landscape diversity in the development and spreading of new human pathogens that could trigger epidemics.[8][9]
The German term Landschaftsökologie – thus landscape ecology – was coined by German geographerCarl Troll in 1939.[10] He developed this terminology and many early concepts of landscape ecology as part of his early work, which consisted of applying aerial photograph interpretation to studies of interactions between environment and vegetation.
Heterogeneity is the measure of how parts of a landscape differ from one another. Landscape ecology looks at how this spatial structure affects organism abundance at the landscape level, as well as the behavior and functioning of the landscape as a whole. This includes studying the influence of pattern, or the internal order of a landscape, on process, or the continuous operation of functions of organisms.[11] Landscape ecology also includes geomorphology as applied to the design and architecture of landscapes.[12]Geomorphology is the study of how geological formations are responsible for the structure of a landscape.
One central landscape ecology theory originated from MacArthur & Wilson'sThe Theory of Island Biogeography. This work considered the biodiversity on islands as the result of competing forces of colonization from a mainland stock and stochasticextinction. The concepts of island biogeography were generalized from physical islands to abstract patches of habitat by Levins' metapopulation model (which can be applied e.g. to forest islands in the agricultural landscape[13]). This generalization spurred the growth of landscape ecology by providing conservation biologists a new tool to assess how habitat fragmentation affects population viability. Recent growth of landscape ecology owes much to the development of geographic information systems (GIS)[14] and the availability of large-extent habitat data (e.g. remotely sensed datasets).
Landscape ecology developed in Europe from historical planning on human-dominated landscapes. Concepts from general ecology theory were integrated in North America.[when?] While general ecology theory and its sub-disciplines focused on the study of more homogenous, discrete community units organized in a hierarchical structure (typically as ecosystems, populations, species, and communities), landscape ecology built upon heterogeneity in space and time. It frequently included human-caused landscape changes in theory and application of concepts.[15]
By 1980, landscape ecology was a discrete, established discipline. It was marked by the organization of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) in 1982. Landmark book publications defined the scope and goals of the discipline, including Naveh and Lieberman[16] and Forman and Godron.[17][18] Forman[6] wrote that although study of "the ecology of spatial configuration at the human scale" was barely a decade old, there was strong potential for theory development and application of the conceptual framework.
Today, theory and application of landscape ecology continues to develop through a need for innovative applications in a changing landscape and environment. Landscape ecology relies on advanced technologies such as remote sensing, GIS, and models. There has been associated development of powerful quantitative methods to examine the interactions of patterns and processes.[5] An example would be determining the amount of carbon present in the soil based on landform over a landscape, derived from GIS maps, vegetation types, and rainfall data for a region. Remote sensing work has been used to extend landscape ecology to the field of predictive vegetation mapping, for instance by Janet Franklin.
Nowadays, at least six different conceptions of landscape ecology can be identified: one group tending toward the more disciplinary concept of ecology (subdiscipline of biology; in conceptions 2, 3, and 4) and another group—characterized by the interdisciplinary study of relations between human societies and their environment—inclined toward the integrated view of geography (in conceptions 1, 5, and 6):[19]
Interdisciplinary analysis of subjectively defined landscape units (e.g. Neef School[20][21]): Landscapes are defined in terms of uniformity in land use. Landscape ecology explores the landscape's natural potential in terms of functional utility for human societies. To analyse this potential, it is necessary to draw on several natural sciences.
Topological ecology at the landscape scale[22][23] 'Landscape' is defined as a heterogeneous land area composed of a cluster of interacting ecosystems (woods, meadows, marshes, villages, etc.) that is repeated in similar form throughout. It is explicitly stated that landscapes are areas at a kilometres wide human scale of perception, modification, etc. Landscape ecology describes and explains the landscapes' characteristic patterns of ecosystems and investigates the flux of energy, mineral nutrients, and species among their component ecosystems, providing important knowledge for addressing land-use issues.
Organism-centered, multi-scale topological ecology (e.g. John A. Wiens[24][25]): Explicitly rejecting views expounded by Troll, Zonneveld, Naveh, Forman & Godron, etc., landscape and landscape ecology are defined independently of human perceptions, interests, and modifications of nature. 'Landscape' is defined – regardless of scale – as the 'template' on which spatial patterns influence ecological processes. Not humans, but rather the respective species being studied is the point of reference for what constitutes a landscape.
Topological ecology at the landscape level of biological organisation (e.g. Urban et al.[26]): On the basis of ecological hierarchy theory, it is presupposed that nature is working at multiple scales and has different levels of organisation which are part of a rate-structured, nested hierarchy. Specifically, it is claimed that, above the ecosystem level, a landscape level exists which is generated and identifiable by high interaction intensity between ecosystems, a specific interaction frequency and, typically, a corresponding spatial scale. Landscape ecology is defined as ecology that focuses on the influence exerted by spatial and temporal patterns on the organisation of, and interaction among, functionally integrated multispecies ecosystems.
Analysis of social-ecological systems using the natural and social sciences and humanities (e.g. Leser;[27] Naveh;[28][29] Zonneveld[30]): Landscape ecology is defined as an interdisciplinary super-science that explores the relationship between human societies and their specific environment, making use of not only various natural sciences, but also social sciences and humanities. This conception is grounded in the assumption that social systems are linked to their specific ambient ecological system in such a way that both systems together form a co-evolutionary, self-organising unity called 'landscape'. Societies' cultural, social and economic dimensions are regarded as an integral part of the global ecological hierarchy, and landscapes are claimed to be the manifest systems of the 'total human ecosystem' (Naveh) which encompasses both the physical ('geospheric') and mental ('noospheric') spheres.
Ecology guided by cultural meanings of lifeworldly landscapes (frequently pursued in practice[31] but not defined, but see, e.g., Hard;[32] Trepl[19]): Landscape ecology is defined as ecology that is guided by an external aim, namely, to maintain and develop lifeworldlylandscapes. It provides the ecological knowledge necessary to achieve these goals. It investigates how to sustain and develop those populations and ecosystems which (i) are the material 'vehicles' of lifeworldly, aesthetic and symbolic landscapes and, at the same time, (ii) meet societies' functional requirements, including provisioning, regulating, and supporting ecosystem services. Thus landscape ecology is concerned mainly with the populations and ecosystems which have resulted from traditional, regionally specific forms of land use.
Some research programmes of landscape ecology theory, namely those standing in the European tradition, may be slightly outside of the "classical and preferred domain of scientific disciplines" because of the large, heterogeneous areas of study. However, general ecology theory is central to landscape ecology theory in many aspects. Landscape ecology consists of four main principles: the development and dynamics of spatial heterogeneity, interactions and exchanges across heterogeneous landscapes, influences of spatial heterogeneity on biotic and abiotic processes, and the management of spatial heterogeneity. The main difference from traditional ecological studies, which frequently assume that systems are spatially homogenous, is the consideration of spatial patterns.[33]
Landscape ecology not only created new terms, but also incorporated existing ecological terms in new ways. Many of the terms used in landscape ecology are as interconnected and interrelated as the discipline itself.
Certainly, 'landscape' is a central concept in landscape ecology. It is, however, defined in quite different ways. For example:[19]Carl Troll conceives of landscape not as a mental construct but as an objectively given 'organic entity', a harmonic individuum of space.[34]Ernst Neef[20][21] defines landscapes as sections within the uninterrupted earth-wide interconnection of geofactors which are defined as such on the basis of their uniformity in terms of a specific land use, and are thus defined in an anthropocentric and relativistic way. According to Richard Forman and Michel Godron,[22] a landscape is a heterogeneous land area composed of a cluster of interacting ecosystems that is repeated in similar form throughout, whereby they list woods, meadows, marshes and villages as examples of a landscape's ecosystems, and state that a landscape is an area at least a few kilometres wide. John A. Wiens[24][25] opposes the traditional view expounded by Carl Troll, Isaak S. Zonneveld, Zev Naveh, Richard T. T. Forman/Michel Godron and others that landscapes are arenas in which humans interact with their environments on a kilometre-wide scale; instead, he defines 'landscape'—regardless of scale—as "the template on which spatial patterns influence ecological processes".[25][35] Some define 'landscape' as an area containing two or more ecosystems in close proximity.[15]
Scale and heterogeneity (incorporating composition, structure, and function)
A main concept in landscape ecology is scale. Scale represents the real world as translated onto a map, relating distance on a map image and the corresponding distance on earth.[36] Scale is also the spatial or temporal measure of an object or a process,[33] or amount of spatial resolution.[6] Components of scale include composition, structure, and function, which are all important ecological concepts. Applied to landscape ecology, composition refers to the number of patch types (see below) represented on a landscape and their relative abundance. For example, the amount of forest or wetland, the length of forest edge, or the density of roads can be aspects of landscape composition. Structure is determined by the composition, the configuration, and the proportion of different patches across the landscape, while function refers to how each element in the landscape interacts based on its life cycle events.[33]Pattern is the term for the contents and internal order of a heterogeneous area of land.[17]
A landscape with structure and pattern implies that it has spatial heterogeneity, or the uneven distribution of objects across the landscape.[6] Heterogeneity is a key element of landscape ecology that separates this discipline from other branches of ecology. Landscape heterogeneity is able to quantify with agent-based methods as well.[37]
Patch, a term fundamental to landscape ecology, is defined as a relatively homogeneous area that differs from its surroundings.[6] Patches are the basic unit of the landscape that change and fluctuate, a process called patch dynamics. Patches have a definite shape and spatial configuration, and can be described compositionally by internal variables such as number of trees, number of tree species, height of trees, or other similar measurements.[6]
Matrix is the "background ecological system" of a landscape with a high degree of connectivity. Connectivity is the measure of how connected or spatially continuous a corridor, network, or matrix is.[6] For example, a forested landscape (matrix) with fewer gaps in forest cover (open patches) will have higher connectivity. Corridors have important functions as strips of a particular type of landscape differing from adjacent land on both sides.[6] A network is an interconnected system of corridors while mosaic describes the pattern of patches, corridors, and matrix that form a landscape in its entirety.[6]
Landscape patches have a boundary between them which can be defined or fuzzy.[15] The zone composed of the edges of adjacent ecosystems is the boundary.[6]Edge means the portion of an ecosystem near its perimeter, where influences of the adjacent patches can cause an environmental difference between the interior of the patch and its edge. This edge effect includes a distinctive species composition or abundance.[6] For example, when a landscape is a mosaic of perceptibly different types, such as a forest adjacent to a grassland, the edge is the location where the two types adjoin. In a continuous landscape, such as a forest giving way to open woodland, the exact edge location is fuzzy and is sometimes determined by a local gradient exceeding a threshold, such as the point where the tree cover falls below thirty-five percent.[33]
A type of boundary is the ecotone, or the transitional zone between two communities.[12] Ecotones can arise naturally, such as a lakeshore, or can be human-created, such as a cleared agricultural field from a forest.[12] The ecotonal community retains characteristics of each bordering community and often contains species not found in the adjacent communities. Classic examples of ecotones include fencerows, forest to marshlands transitions, forest to grassland transitions, or land-water interfaces such as riparian zones in forests. Characteristics of ecotones include vegetational sharpness, physiognomic change, occurrence of a spatial community mosaic, many exotic species, ecotonal species, spatial mass effect, and species richness higher or lower than either side of the ecotone.[38]
An ecocline is another type of landscape boundary, but it is a gradual and continuous change in environmental conditions of an ecosystem or community. Ecoclines help explain the distribution and diversity of organisms within a landscape because certain organisms survive better under certain conditions, which change along the ecocline. They contain heterogeneous communities which are considered more environmentally stable than those of ecotones.[39] An ecotope is a spatial term representing the smallest ecologically distinct unit in mapping and classification of landscapes.[6] Relatively homogeneous, they are spatially explicit landscape units used to stratify landscapes into ecologically distinct features. They are useful for the measurement and mapping of landscape structure, function, and change over time, and to examine the effects of disturbance and fragmentation.
Disturbance is an event that significantly alters the pattern of variation in the structure or function of a system. Fragmentation is the breaking up of a habitat, ecosystem, or land-use type into smaller parcels.[6] Disturbance is generally considered a natural process. Fragmentation causes land transformation, an important process in landscapes as development occurs.
An important consequence of repeated, random clearing (whether by natural disturbance or human activity) is that contiguous cover can break down into isolated patches. This happens when the area cleared exceeds a critical level, which means that landscapes exhibit two phases: connected and disconnected.[40]
Landscape ecology theory stresses the role of human impacts on landscape structures and functions. It also proposes ways for restoring degraded landscapes.[16] Landscape ecology explicitly includes humans as entities that cause functional changes on the landscape.[15] Landscape ecology theory includes the landscape stability principle, which emphasizes the importance of landscape structural heterogeneity in developing resistance to disturbances, recovery from disturbances, and promoting total system stability.[17] This principle is a major contribution to general ecological theories which highlight the importance of relationships among the various components of the landscape.
Integrity of landscape components helps maintain resistance to external threats, including development and land transformation by human activity.[5] Analysis of land use change has included a strongly geographical approach which has led to the acceptance of the idea of multifunctional properties of landscapes.[18] There are still calls for a more unified theory of landscape ecology due to differences in professional opinion among ecologists and its interdisciplinary approach (Bastian 2001).
An important related theory is hierarchy theory, which refers to how systems of discrete functional elements operate when linked at two or more scales. For example, a forested landscape might be hierarchically composed of drainage basins, which in turn are composed of local ecosystems, which are in turn composed of individual trees and gaps.[6] Recent theoretical developments in landscape ecology have emphasized the relationship between pattern and process, as well as the effect that changes in spatial scale has on the potential to extrapolate information across scales.[33] Several studies suggest that the landscape has critical thresholds at which ecological processes will show dramatic changes, such as the complete transformation of a landscape by an invasive species due to small changes in temperature characteristics which favor the invasive's habitat requirements.[33]
Developments in landscape ecology illustrate the important relationships between spatial patterns and ecological processes. These developments incorporate quantitative methods that link spatial patterns and ecological processes at broad spatial and temporal scales. This linkage of time, space, and environmental change can assist managers in applying plans to solve environmental problems.[5] The increased attention in recent years on spatial dynamics has highlighted the need for new quantitative methods that can analyze patterns, determine the importance of spatially explicit processes, and develop reliable models.[33]Multivariate analysis techniques are frequently used to examine landscape level vegetation patterns. Studies use statistical techniques, such as cluster analysis, canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), or detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), for classifying vegetation. Gradient analysis is another way to determine the vegetation structure across a landscape or to help delineate critical wetland habitat for conservation or mitigation purposes (Choesin and Boerner 2002).[41]
Climate change is another major component in structuring current research in landscape ecology.[42] Ecotones, as a basic unit in landscape studies, may have significance for management under climate change scenarios, since change effects are likely to be seen at ecotones first because of the unstable nature of a fringe habitat.[38] Research in northern regions has examined landscape ecological processes, such as the accumulation of snow, melting, freeze-thaw action, percolation, soil moisture variation, and temperature regimes through long-term measurements in Norway.[43] The study analyzes gradients across space and time between ecosystems of the central high mountains to determine relationships between distribution patterns of animals in their environment. Looking at where animals live, and how vegetation shifts over time, may provide insight into changes in snow and ice over long periods of time across the landscape as a whole.
Other landscape-scale studies maintain that human impact is likely the main determinant of landscape pattern over much of the globe.[44][45] Landscapes may become substitutes for biodiversity measures because plant and animal composition differs between samples taken from sites within different landscape categories. Taxa, or different species, can "leak" from one habitat into another, which has implications for landscape ecology. As human land use practices expand and continue to increase the proportion of edges in landscapes, the effects of this leakage across edges on assemblage integrity may become more significant in conservation. This is because taxa may be conserved across landscape levels, if not at local levels.[46]
Land change modeling is an application of landscape ecology designed to predict future changes in land use. Land change models are used in urban planning, geography, GIS, and other disciplines to gain a clear understanding of the course of a landscape.[47] In recent years, much of the Earth's land cover has changed rapidly, whether from deforestation or the expansion of urban areas.[48]
Landscape ecology has been incorporated into a variety of ecological subdisciplines. For example, it is closely linked to land change science, the interdisciplinary of land use and land cover change and their effects on surrounding ecology. Another recent development has been the more explicit consideration of spatial concepts and principles applied to the study of lakes, streams, and wetlands in the field of landscape limnology. Seascape ecology is a marine and coastal application of landscape ecology.[49] In addition, landscape ecology has important links to application-oriented disciplines such as agriculture and forestry. In agriculture, landscape ecology has introduced new options for the management of environmental threats brought about by the intensification of agricultural practices. Agriculture has always been a strong human impact on ecosystems.[18]
In forestry, from structuring stands for fuelwood and timber to ordering stands across landscapes to enhance aesthetics, consumer needs have affected conservation and use of forested landscapes. Landscape forestry provides methods, concepts, and analytic procedures for landscape forestry.[50] Landscape ecology has been cited as a contributor to the development of fisheries biology as a distinct biological science discipline,[51] and is frequently incorporated in study design for wetland delineation in hydrology.[39] It has helped shape integrated landscape management.[52] Lastly, landscape ecology has been very influential for progressing sustainability science and sustainable development planning. For example, a recent study assessed sustainable urbanization across Europe using evaluation indices, country-landscapes, and landscape ecology tools and methods.[53]
Landscape ecology has also been combined with population genetics to form the field of landscape genetics, which addresses how landscape features influence the population structure and gene flow of plant and animal populations across space and time[54] and on how the quality of intervening landscape, known as "matrix", influences spatial variation.[55] After the term was coined in 2003, the field of landscape genetics had expanded to over 655 studies by 2010,[56] and continues to grow today. As genetic data has become more readily accessible, it is increasingly being used by ecologists to answer novel evolutionary and ecological questions,[57] many with regard to how landscapes effect evolutionary processes, especially in human-modified landscapes, which are experiencing biodiversity loss.[58]
^Troll C (1939). "Luftbildplan und ökologische Bodenforschung" [Aerial photography and ecological studies of the earth]. Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde (in German). Berlin: 241–298.
^Turner MG (1989). "Landscape ecology: the effect of pattern on process". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 20: 171–197. doi:10.1146/annurev.es.20.110189.001131.
^ abcAllaby M (1998). Oxford Dictionary of Ecology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
^Banaszak J, ed. (2000). Ecology of Forest Islands. Bydgoszcz, Poland: Bydgoszcz University Press. p. 313.
^ abcKirchhoff T, Trepl L, Vicenzotti V (February 2013). "What is landscape ecology? An analysis and evaluation of six different conceptions". Landscape Research. 38 (1): 33–51. doi:10.1080/01426397.2011.640751. S2CID145421450. All the following quotations and descriptions come from this source.
^ abNeef E (1967). Die theoretischen Grundlagen der Landschaftslehre [The theoretical basics of landscape science] (in German). Gotha: Haack.
^ abHaase G (1990). "Approaches to, and methods of landscape diagnosis as a basis of landscape planning and landscape management". Ekológia. 9 (1): 31–44.
^ abForman RT, Godron M (November 1981). "Patches and structural components for a landscape ecology". BioScience. 31 (10): 733–40. doi:10.2307/1308780. JSTOR1308780.
^Forman RT, Godron M (1986). Landscape ecology. NY: Wiley.
^ abWiens JA, Milne BT (December 1989). "Scaling of 'landscapes' in landscape ecology, or, landscape ecology from a beetle's perspective". Landscape Ecology. 3 (2): 87–96. doi:10.1007/BF00131172. S2CID15683804.
^ abcWiens JA (1999). "The science and practice of landscape ecology.". In Klopatek JM, Gardner RH (eds.). Landscape ecological analyses: Issues and applications. NY: Springer. pp. 371–383.
^Leser H (1991). Landschaftsökologie. Ansatz, Modelle, Methodik, Anwendung. Stuttgart: Ulmer.
^Naveh Z, Lieberman AS (1984). Landscape ecology. Theory and application. NY: Springer.
^Naveh N (2000). "What is holistic landscape ecology? A conceptual introduction". Landscape and Urban Planning. 50 (1–3): 7–26. doi:10.1016/S0169-2046(00)00077-3.
^Zonneveld IS (1995). Land ecology: an introduction to landscape ecology as a base for land evaluation, land management and conservation. Amsterdam: SPB.
^However, not always under the designation 'landscape ecology', but as part of landscape stewardship, landscape architecture and, first and foremost, environmental or urban and landscape planning.
^Hard G (1973). Die Geographie. Eine wissenschaftstheoretische Einführung. Berlin: deGruyter. pp. 92–95.
^ abcdefgTurner MG, Gardner RH, eds. (1991). Quantitative Methods in Landscape Ecology. New York, NY, USA: Springer-Verlag.
^Troll C (2007). "The geographic landscape and its investigation.". In Wiens JA, Moss MR, Turner MG, Mladenoff DJ (eds.). Foundation papers in landscape ecology. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 71–101. First published as: Troll C (1950). "Die geographische Landschaft und ihre Erforschung". Studium Generale. Vol. 3. pp. 163–181. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-38240-0_20. ISBN978-3-662-37475-7. cite book: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Wiens JA (2005). "Toward a unified landscape ecology". In Wiens JA, Moss MR (eds.). Issues and perspectives in landscape ecology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 365–373.
^Malczewski J (1999). GIS and Multicriteria Decision Analysis. New York, NY, USA: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
^Lyon J, Sagers CL (September 1998). "Structure of herbaceous plant assemblages in a forested riparian landscape". Plant Ecology. 138 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1023/A:1009705912710. S2CID28628830.
^Ochoa-Hueso R, Delgado-Baquerizo M, King PT, Benham M, Arca V, Power SA (February 2019). "Ecosystem type and resource quality are more important than global change drivers in regulating early stages of litter decomposition". Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 129: 144–152. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2018.11.009. hdl:10261/336676. S2CID92606851.
^Shaker RR (September 2015). "The well-being of nations: an empirical assessment of sustainable urbanization for Europe". International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology. 22 (5): 375–87. doi:10.1080/13504509.2015.1055524. S2CID154904536.
^Manel S, Schwartz MK, Luikart G, Taberlet P (April 2003). "Landscape genetics: combining landscape ecology and population genetics". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 18 (4): 189–197. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00008-9. S2CID2984426.
Surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass
Artificial turf with rubber crumb infillSide view of artificial turfDiagram of the structure of modern artificial turfArtificial turf square mats
Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained without irrigation or trimming, although periodic cleaning is required. Stadiums that are substantially covered and/or at high latitudes often use artificial turf, as they typically lack enough sunlight for photosynthesis and substitutes for solar radiation are prohibitively expensive and energy-intensive. Disadvantages include increased risk of injury especially when used in athletic competition, as well as health and environmental concerns about the petroleum and toxic chemicals used in its manufacture.
Artificial turf first gained substantial attention in 1966, when ChemGrass was installed in the year-old Astrodome, developed by Monsanto and rebranded as AstroTurf, now a generic trademark (registered to a new owner) for any artificial turf.
The first-generation system of shortpile fibers without infill of the 1960s has largely been replaced by two more. The second features longer fibers and sand infill and the third adds recycled crumb rubber to the sand. Compared to earlier systems, modern artificial turf more closely resembles grass in appearance and is also considered safer for athletic competition. However, it is still not widely considered to be equal to grass. Sports clubs, leagues, unions and individual athletes have frequently spoken out and campaigned against it, while local governments have enacted and enforced laws restricting and/or banning its use.
David Chaney, who moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1960 and later served as Dean of the North Carolina State University College of Textiles, headed the team of Research Triangle Park researchers who created the first notable artificial turf. That accomplishment led Sports Illustrated to declare Chaney as the man "responsible for indoor major league baseball and millions of welcome mats."
Artificial turf was first installed in 1964 on a recreation area at the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island.[1] The material came to public prominence in 1966, when AstroTurf was installed in the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.[1] The state-of-the-art indoor stadium had attempted to use natural grass during its initial season in 1965, but this failed miserably and the field conditions were grossly inadequate during the second half of the season, with the dead grass painted green. Due to a limited supply of the new artificial grass, only the infield was installed before the Houston Astros' home opener in April 1966; the outfield was installed in early summer during an extended Astros road trip and first used after the All-Star Break in July.
The use of AstroTurf and similar surfaces became widespread in the U.S. and Canada in the early 1970s, installed in both indoor and outdoor stadiums used for baseball and football. More than 11,000 artificial turf playing fields have been installed nationally.[2] More than 1,200 were installed in the U.S. in 2013 alone, according to the industry group the Synthetic Turf Council.[2]
Tropicana Field with its artificial turf field.An artificial-turf field at a high school in Oregon.
Artificial turf was first used in Major League Baseball in the Houston Astrodome in 1966, replacing the grass field used when the stadium opened a year earlier. Even though the grass was specifically bred for indoor use, the dome's semi-transparent Lucite ceiling panels, which had been painted white to cut down on glare that bothered the players, did not pass enough sunlight to support the grass. For most of the 1965 season, the Astros played on green-painted dirt and dead grass.
The solution was to install a new type of artificial grass on the field, ChemGrass, which became known as AstroTurf. Given its early use, the term astroturf has since been genericized as a term for any artificial turf.[3] Because the supply of AstroTurf was still low, only a limited amount was available for the first home game. There was not enough for the entire outfield, but there was enough to cover the traditional grass portion of the infield. The outfield remained painted dirt until after the All-Star Break. The team was sent on an extended road trip before the break, and on July 19, 1966, the installation of the outfield portion of AstroTurf was completed.
The Chicago White Sox became the first team to install artificial turf in an outdoor stadium, as they used it only in the infield and adjacent foul territory at Comiskey Park from 1969 through 1975.[4] Artificial turf was later installed in other new multi-purpose stadiums such as Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium, and Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. Early AstroTurf baseball fields used the traditional all-dirt path, but starting in 1970 with Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium,[5] teams began using the "base cutout" layout on the diamond, with the only dirt being on the pitcher's mound, batter's circle, and in a five-sided diamond-shaped "sliding box" around each base. With this layout, a painted arc would indicate where the edge of the outfield grass would normally be, to assist fielders in positioning themselves properly. The last stadium in MLB to use this configuration was Rogers Centre in Toronto, when they switched to an all-dirt infield (but keeping the artificial turf) for the 2016 season.[6][7]
Artificial turf being installed on a baseball field in Queens, New York City.
The biggest difference in play on artificial turf was that the ball bounced higher than on real grass and also traveled faster, causing infielders to play farther back than they would normally so that they would have sufficient time to react. The ball also had a truer bounce than on grass so that on long throws fielders could deliberately bounce the ball in front of the player they were throwing to, with the certainty that it would travel in a straight line and not be deflected to the right or left. The biggest impact on the game of "turf", as it came to be called, was on the bodies of the players. The artificial surface, which was generally placed over a concrete base, had much less give to it than a traditional dirt and grass field did, which caused more wear-and-tear on knees, ankles, feet, and the lower back, possibly even shortening the careers of those players who played a significant portion of their games on artificial surfaces. Players also complained that the turf was much hotter than grass, sometimes causing the metal spikes to burn their feet or plastic ones to melt. These factors eventually provoked a number of stadiums, such as the Kansas City Royals' Kauffman Stadium, to switch from artificial turf back to natural grass.
In 2000, St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field became the first MLB field to use a third-generation artificial surface, FieldTurf. All other remaining artificial turf stadiums were either converted to third-generation surfaces or were replaced entirely by new natural grass stadiums. In a span of 13 years, between 1992 and 2005, the National League went from having half of its teams using artificial turf to all of them playing on natural grass. With the replacement of Minneapolis's Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome by Target Field in 2010, only two MLB stadiums used artificial turf from 2010 through 2018: Tropicana Field and Toronto's Rogers Centre. This number grew to three when the Arizona Diamondbacks switched Chase Field to artificial turf for the 2019 season; the stadium had grass from its opening in 1998 until 2018, but the difficulty of maintaining the grass in the stadium, which has a retractable roof and is located in a desert city, was cited as the reason for the switch.[8] In 2020, Miami's Marlins Park (now loanDepot Park) also switched to artificial turf for similar reasons, while the Texas Rangers' new Globe Life Field was opened with an artificial surface, as it is also a retractable roof ballpark in a hot weather city; this puts the number of teams using synthetic turf in MLB at five as of 2023.
In 2002, CenturyLink Field, originally planned to have a natural grass field, was instead surfaced with FieldTurf upon positive reaction from the Seattle Seahawks when they played on the surface at their temporary home of Husky Stadium during the 2000 and 2001 seasons. This would be the first of a leaguewide trend taking place over the next several seasons that would not only result in teams already using artificial surfaces for their fields switching to the new FieldTurf or other similar surfaces but would also see several teams playing on grass adopt a new surface. (The Indianapolis Colts' RCA Dome and the St. Louis Rams' Edward Jones Dome were the last two stadiums in the NFL to replace their first-generation AstroTurf surfaces for next-generation ones after the 2004 season). For example, after a three-year experiment with a natural surface, Giants Stadium went to FieldTurf for 2003, while M&T Bank Stadium added its own artificial surface the same year (it has since been removed and replaced with a natural surface, which the stadium had before installing the turf). Later examples include Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium), which went from grass to turf in 2004; Gillette Stadium, which made the switch in 2006;[9] and NRG Stadium, which did so in 2015. As of 2021, 14 NFL fields out of 30 are artificial. NFL players overwhelmingly prefer natural grass over synthetic surfaces, according to a league survey conducted in 2010. When asked, "Which surface do you think is more likely to shorten your career?", 90% responded artificial turf.[10] When players were asked "Is the Turf versus Grass debate overblown or a real concern"[11] in an anonymous player survey, 83% believe it is a real concern while 12.3% believe it is overblown.
Following receiver Odell Beckham Jr.'s injury during Super Bowl LVI, other NFL players started calling for turf to be banned since the site of the game, SoFi Stadium, was a turf field.[12]
Arena football is played indoors on the older short-pile artificial turf.
The first professional Canadian football stadium to use artificial turf was Empire Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, then home of the Canadian Football League's BC Lions, which installed 3M TartanTurf in 1970. Today, eight of the nine stadiums in the CFL currently use artificial turf, largely because of the harsh weather conditions in the latter-half of the season. The only one that does not is BMO Field in Toronto, which initially had an artificial pitch and has been shared by the CFL's Toronto Argonauts since 2016 (part of the endzones at that stadium are covered with artificial turf).[13] The first stadium to use the next-generation surface was Ottawa's Frank Clair Stadium (now TD Place Stadium), which the Ottawa Renegades used when they began play in 2002. The Saskatchewan Roughriders' Taylor Field was the only major professional sports venue in North America to use a second-generation artificial playing surface, Omniturf, which was used from 1988 to 2000, followed by AstroTurf from 2000 to 2007 and FieldTurf from 2007 to its 2016 closure.[14]
Some cricket pitches are made of synthetic grass[15] or of a hybrid of mostly natural and some artificial grass, with these "hybrid pitches" having been implemented across several parts of the United Kingdom[16] and Australia.[17] The first synthetic turf cricket field in the USA was opened in Fremont, California in 2016.[18]
The introduction of synthetic surfaces has significantly changed the sport of field hockey. Since being introduced in the 1970s, competitions in western countries are now mostly played on artificial surfaces. This has increased the speed of the game considerably and changed the shape of hockey sticks to allow for different techniques, such as reverse stick trapping and hitting.
Field hockey artificial turf differs from artificial turf for other sports, in that it does not try to reproduce a grass feel, being made of shorter fibers. This allows the improvement in speed brought by earlier artificial turfs to be retained. This development is problematic for areas which cannot afford to build an extra artificial field for hockey alone. The International Hockey Federation and manufacturers are driving research in order to produce new fields that will be suitable for a variety of sports.
The use of artificial turf in conjunction with changes in the game's rules (e.g., the removal of offside, introduction of rolling substitutes and the self-pass, and to the interpretation of obstruction) have contributed significantly to change the nature of the game, greatly increasing the speed and intensity of play as well as placing far greater demands on the conditioning of the players.
Aspmyra, Norway: home of the football club FK Bodø/GlimtA slide tackle driving up crumbed rubber in the playing surface
The use of artificial turf, and whether they are not allowed or not, varies between different tournaments and time periods. Though grass is preferred in general in association football, artificial turf is found in areas where it is seen as impractical to maintain natural grass season-long, with causes including very cold climates (For instance Norway's Eliteserien) or multi-purpose stadiums (Seattle's Lumen Field).
Some association football clubs in Europe installed synthetic surfaces in the 1980s, which were called "plastic pitches" (often derisively) in countries such as England. There, four professional club venues had adopted them; Queens Park Rangers's Loftus Road (1981–1988), Luton Town's Kenilworth Road (1985–1991), Oldham Athletic's Boundary Park (1986–1991) and Preston North End's Deepdale (1986–1994). QPR had been the first team to install an artificial pitch at their stadium in 1981, but were the first to remove it when they did so in 1988.
Artificial pitches were banned from top-flight (then First Division) football in 1991, forcing Oldham Athletic to remove their artificial pitch after their promotion to the First Division in 1991, while then top-flight Luton Town also removed their artificial pitch at the same time. The last Football League team to have an artificial pitch in England was Preston North End, who removed their pitch in 1994 after eight years in use. Artificial pitches were banned from the top four divisions from 1995.
Artificial turf gained a bad reputation[neutrality is disputed] globally, with fans and especially with players. The first-generation artificial turf surfaces were carpet-like in their look and feel, and thus, a far harder surface than grass and soon became known[by whom?] as an unforgiving playing surface that was prone to cause more injuries, and in particular, more serious joint injuries, than would comparatively be suffered on a grass surface. This turf was also regarded as aesthetically unappealing to many fans.
In 1981, London football club Queens Park Rangers dug up its grass pitch and installed an artificial one. Others followed, and by the mid-1980s there were four artificial surfaces in operation in the English league. They soon became a national joke: the ball pinged round like it was made of rubber, the players kept losing their footing, and anyone who fell over risked carpet burns. Unsurprisingly, fans complained that the football was awful to watch and, one by one, the clubs returned to natural grass.[21]
In November 2011, it was reported that a number of English football clubs were interested in using artificial pitches again on economic grounds.[22] As of January 2020, artificial pitches are not permitted in the Premier League or Football League but are permitted in the National League and lower divisions. Bromley are an example of an English football club who currently use a third-generation artificial pitch.[23] In 2018, Sutton United were close to achieving promotion to the Football League and the debate in England about artificial pitches resurfaced again. It was reported that, if Sutton won promotion, they would subsequently be demoted two leagues if they refused to replace their pitch with natural grass.[24] After Harrogate Town's promotion to the Football League in 2020, the club was obliged to install a natural grass pitch at Wetherby Road;[25] and after winning promotion in 2021 Sutton Utd were also obliged to tear up their artificial pitch and replace it with grass, at a cost of more than £500,000.[26] Artificial pitches are permitted in all rounds of the FA Cup competition.
In the 1990s, many North American soccer clubs also removed their artificial surfaces and re-installed grass, while others moved to new stadiums with state-of-the-art grass surfaces that were designed to withstand cold temperatures where the climate demanded it. The use of artificial turf was later banned by FIFA, UEFA and by many domestic football associations, but FIFA and UEFA allowed it again from the mid-2000's (UEFA from the 2005–06 season onwards), provided that the turfs are FIFA Recommended. UEFA has now been heavily involved in programs to test artificial turf, with tests made in several grounds meeting with FIFA approval. A team of UEFA, FIFA and German company Polytan conducted tests in the Stadion Salzburg Wals-Siezenheim in Salzburg, Austria which had matches played on it in UEFA Euro 2008. It is the second FIFA 2 Star approved artificial turf in a European domestic top flight, after Dutch club Heracles Almelo received the FIFA certificate in August 2005.[27] The tests were approved.[28]
FIFA originally launched its FIFA Quality Concept in February 2001.
A full international fixture for the 2008 European Championships was played on October 17, 2007, between England and Russia on an artificial surface, which was installed to counteract adverse weather conditions, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.[29][30] It was one of the first full international games to be played on such a surface approved by FIFA and UEFA. The latter ordered the 2008 European Champions League final hosted in the same stadium in May 2008 to place on grass, so a temporary natural grass field was installed just for the final.
In 2007, UEFA stressed that artificial turf should only be considered an option where climatic conditions necessitate.[31] One Desso "hybrid grass" product incorporates both natural grass and artificial elements.[32]
FIFA designated a star system for artificial turf fields that have undergone a series of tests that examine quality and performance based on a two star system.[34] Recommended one-star fields are mainly intended for recreational use, while Recommended two-star fields closely follows the standards of professional foodball may be used for FIFA Final Round Competitions as well as for UEFA Europa League and Champions League matches.[35] As of 29 October 2008[update], there were 104 FIFA Recommended 2-Star installations in the world.[36]
In 2009, FIFA launched the Preferred Producer Initiative to improve the quality of artificial football turf at each stage of the life cycle (manufacturing, installation and maintenance).[37] Currently, there are five manufacturers that were selected by FIFA: Act Global, Limonta, Desso, GreenFields, and Edel Grass. These firms have made quality guarantees directly to FIFA and have agreed to increased research and development.
In 2010, Estadio Omnilife with an artificial turf opened in Guadalajara to be the new home of Chivas, one of the most popular teams in Mexico. The owner of Chivas, Jorge Vergara, defended the reasoning behind using artificial turf because the stadium was designed to be "environment friendly and as such, having grass would result [in] using too much water."[38] Some players criticized the field, saying its harder surface caused many injuries. When Johan Cruyff became the adviser of the team, he recommended the switch to natural grass, which the team did in 2012.[39]
The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup took place entirely on artificial surfaces, as the event was played in Canada, where almost all of the country's stadiums use artificial turf due to climate issues. This plan garnered criticism from players and fans, some believing the artificial surfaces make players more susceptible to injuries. Over fifty of the female athletes protested against the use of artificial turf on the basis of gender discrimination.[40][41]Australia winger Caitlin Foord said that after playing 90 minutes there was no difference to her post-match recovery – a view shared by the rest of the squad. The squad spent much time preparing on the surface and had no problems with its use in Winnipeg. "We've been training on [artificial] turf pretty much all year so I think we're kind of used to it in that way ... I think grass or turf you can still pull up sore after a game so it's definitely about getting the recovery in and getting it right", Foord said.[42] A lawsuit was filed on October 1, 2014, in an Ontario tribunal court by a group of women's international soccer players against FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association and specifically points out that in 1994 FIFA spent $2 million to plant natural grass over artificial turf in New Jersey and Detroit.[43] Various celebrities showed their support for the women soccer players in defense of their lawsuit, including actor Tom Hanks, NBA player Kobe Bryant and U.S. men's soccer team keeper Tim Howard. Even with the possibility of boycotts, FIFA's head of women's competitions, Tatjana Haenni, made it clear that "we play on artificial turf and there's no Plan B."[44][45]
In UEFA tournaments, teams who are used to playing on artificial turf are seen as having a large home advantage against teams who don't, as was the case for Bodø/Glimt's semi-final campaign in the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League.[48]
Carpet has been used as a surface for indoor tennis courts for decades, though the first carpets used were more similar to home carpets than a synthetic grass. After the introduction of AstroTurf, it came to be used for tennis courts, both indoor and outdoor, though only a small minority of courts use the surface.[49][50] Both infill and non-infill versions are used, and are typically considered medium-fast to fast surfaces under the International Tennis Federation's classification scheme.[49] A distinct form found in tennis is an "artificial clay" surface,[49] which seeks to simulate a clay court by using a very short pile carpet with an infill of the same loose aggregate used for clay courts that rises above the carpet fibers.[49]
Tennis courts such as Wimbledon are considering using an artificial hybrid grass to replace their natural lawn courts. Such systems incorporate synthetic fibers into natural grass to create a more durable surface on which to play.[51] Such hybrid surfaces are currently used for some association football stadiums, including Wembley Stadium.
Synthetic turf can also be used in the golf industry, such as on driving ranges, putting greens and even in some circumstances tee boxes. For low budget courses, particularly those catering to casual golfers, synthetic putting greens offer the advantage of being a relatively cheap alternative to installing and maintaining grass greens, but are much more similar to real grass in appearance and feel compared to sand greens which are the traditional alternative surface. Because of the vast areas of golf courses and the damage from clubs during shots, it is not feasible to surface fairways with artificial turf.
The surface on Veikkolan pesäpallostadion in Lappajärvi.
Though all pesäpallo teams in the higher leagues (including Superpesis) play on clay courts, several teams' stadiums use carpet-type artificial grass below the clay.
Artificial grass is used to line the perimeter of some sections of some motor circuits, and offers less grip than some other surfaces.[52] It can pose an obstacle to drivers if it gets caught on their car.[53]
Since the early 1990s, the use of synthetic grass in the more arid western states of the United States has moved beyond athletic fields to residential and commercial landscaping.[54] New water saving programs, as of 2019, which grant rebates for turf removal, do not accept artificial turf as replacement and require a minimum of plants.[55][56]
The use of artificial grass for convenience sometimes faces opposition: Legislation frequently seeks to preserve natural gardens and fully water permeable surfaces, therefore restricting the use of hardscape and plantless areas, including artificial turf. In several locations in different countries, homeowners have been fined, ordered to remove artificial turf and/or had to defend themselves in courts. Many of these restrictions can be found in local bylaws and ordinances. These not always applied in a consistent manner,[57][58][59] especially in municipalities that utilize a complaint-based model for enforcing local laws.
Sunlight reflections from nearby windows can cause artificial turf to melt. This can be avoided by adding perforated vinyl privacy window film adhesive to the outside of the window causing the reflection.
Artificial turf has been used at airports.[60] Here it provides several advantages over natural turf – it does not support wildlife, it has high visual contrast with runways in all seasons, it reduces foreign object damage (FOD) since the surface has no rocks or clumps, and it drains well.[61]
Some artificial turf systems allow for the integration of fiber-optic fibers into the turf. This would allow for runway lighting to be embedded in artificial landing surfaces for aircraft (or lighting or advertisements to be directly embedded in a playing surface).[62]
Artificial turf is commonly used for tanks containing octopusses, in particular the Giant Pacific octopus since it is a reliable way to prevent the octopusses from escaping their tank, as they prevent the suction cups on the tentacles from getting a tight seal.[63]
The first major academic review of the environmental and health risks and benefits of artificial turf was published in 2014;[64] it was followed by extensive research on possible risks to human health, but holistic analyses of the environmental footprint of artificial turf compared with natural turf only began to emerge in the 2020s,[65][66] and frameworks to support informed policymaking were still lacking.[67][68] Evaluating the relative environmental footprints of natural and artificial turf is complex, with outcomes depending on a wide range of factors, including (to give the example of a sports field):[64]
what ecosystem services are lost by converting a site to a sports pitch
how resource-intensive is the landscaping work and transport of materials to create a pitch
whether input materials are recycled and whether these are recycled again at the end of the pitch's life
how resource-intensive and damaging maintenance is (whether through water, fertiliser, weed-killer, reapplication of rubber crumb, snow-clearing, etc.)
how intensively the facility is used, for how long, and whether surface type can reduce the overall number of pitches required
Artificial turf has been shown to contribute to global warming by absorbing significantly more radiation than living turf and, to a lesser extent, by displacing living plants that could sequester carbon dioxide through photosynthesis;[69] a study at New Mexico State University found that in that environment, water-cooling of artificial turf can demand as much water as natural turf.[70] However, a 2022 study that used real-world data to model a ten-year-life-cycle environmental footprint for a new natural-turf soccer field compared with an artificial-turf field found that the natural-turf field contributed twice as much to global warming as the artificial one (largely due to a more resource-intensive construction phase), while finding that the artificial turf would likely cause more pollution of other kinds. The study promoted improvements to usual practice such as the substitution of cork for rubber in artificial pitches and more drought-resistant grasses and electric mowing in natural ones.[65] In 2021, a Zurich University of Applied Sciences study for the city of Zurich, using local data on extant pitches, found that, per hour of use, natural turf had the lowest environmental footprint, followed by artificial turf with no infill, and then artificial turf using an infill (e.g. granulated rubber). However, because it could tolerate more hours of use, unfilled artificial turf often had the lowest environmental footprint in practice, by reducing the total number of pitches required. The study recommended optimising the use of existing pitches before building new ones, and choosing the best surface for the likely intensity of use.[66] Another suggestion is the introduction of green roofs to offset the conversion of grassland to artificial turf.[71]
Contrary to popular belief, artificial turf is not maintenance free. It requires regular maintenance, such as raking and patching, to keep it functional and safe.[72]
Some artificial turf uses infill such as silica sand, but most uses granulated rubber, referred to as "crumb rubber". Granulated rubber can be made from recycled car tires and may carry heavy metals, PFAS chemicals, and other chemicals of environmental concern. The synthetic fibers of artificial turf are also subject to degradation. Thus chemicals from artificial turfs leach into the environment, and artificial turf is a source of microplasticspollution and rubber pollution in air, fresh-water, sea and soil environments.[73][74][75][76][77][78][64][excessive citations] In Norway, Sweden, and at least some other places, the rubber granulate from artificial turf infill constitutes the second largest source of microplastics in the environment after the tire and road wear particles that make up a large portion of the fine road debris.[79][80][81] In samples of Mediterranean seawater, fibres from artificial turf made up more than 15% of the larger plastic particles.[82] As early as 2007, Environment and Human Health, Inc., a lobby-group, proposed a moratorium on the use of ground-up rubber tires in fields and playgrounds based on health concerns;[83] in September 2022, the European Commission made a draft proposal to restrict the use of microplastic granules as infill in sports fields.[84]
What is less clear is how likely this pollution is in practice to harm humans or other organisms and whether these environmental costs outweigh the benefits of artificial turf, with many scientific papers and government agencies (such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency) calling for more research.[2] A 2018 study published in Water, Air, & Soil Pollution analyzed the chemicals found in samples of tire crumbs, some used to install school athletic fields, and identified 92 chemicals only about half of which had ever been studied for their health effects and some of which are known to be carcinogenic or irritants. It stated "caution would argue against use of these materials where human exposure is likely, and this is especially true for playgrounds and athletic playing fields where young people may be affected".[85] Conversely, a 2017 study in Sports Medicine argued that "regular physical activity during adolescence and early adulthood helps prevent cancer later in life. Restricting the use or availability of all-weather year-round synthetic fields and thereby potentially reducing exercise could, in the long run, actually increase cancer incidence, as well as cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses."[86]
The possibility that carcinogenic substances in artificial turf could increase risks of human cancer (the artificial turf–cancer hypothesis) gained a particularly high profile in the first decades of the twenty-first century and attracted extensive study, with scientific reports around 2020 finding cancer-risks in modern artificial turf negligible.[87][88][89][90] But concerns have extended to other human-health risks, such as endocrine disruption that might affect early puberty, obesity, and children's attention spans.[91][92][93][94] Potential harm to fish[75] and earthworm[95] populations has also been shown.
A study for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection analyzed lead and other metals in dust kicked into the air by physical activity on five artificial turf fields. The results suggest that even low levels of activity on the field can cause particulate matter containing these chemicals to get into the air where it can be inhaled and be harmful. The authors state that since no level of lead exposure is considered safe for children, "only a comprehensive mandated testing of fields can provide assurance that no health hazard on these fields exists from lead or other metals used in their construction and maintenance."[96]
A number of health and safety concerns have been raised about artificial turf.[2] Friction between skin and older generations of artificial turf can cause abrasions and/or burns to a much greater extent than natural grass.[97] Artificial turf tends to retain heat from the sun and can be much hotter than natural grass with prolonged exposure to the sun.[98]
There is some evidence that periodic disinfection of artificial turf is required as pathogens are not broken down by natural processes in the same manner as natural grass. Despite this, a 2006 study suggests certain microbial life is less active in artificial turf.[97]
There is evidence showing higher rates of player injury on artificial turf. By November 1971, the injury toll on first-generation artificial turf had reached a threshold that resulted in congressional hearings by the House subcommittee on commerce and finance.[99][100][101] In a study performed by the National Football League Injury and Safety Panel, published in the October 2012 issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, Elliott B. Hershman et al. reviewed injury data from NFL games played between 2000 and 2009, finding that "the injury rate of knee sprains as a whole was 22% higher on FieldTurf than on natural grass. While MCL sprains did not occur at a rate significantly higher than on grass, rates of ACL sprains were 67% higher on FieldTurf."[102]Metatarsophalangeal joint sprain, known as "turf toe" when the big toe is involved, is named from the injury being associated with playing sports on rigid surfaces such as artificial turf and is a fairly common injury among professional American football players. Artificial turf is a harder surface than grass and does not have much "give" when forces are placed on it.[103]
^ abDave Brady, "It's All So Artificial: The Uncommon Ground", Petersen's 12th Pro Football Annual, 1972. Los Angeles: Petersen Publishing Co., 1972; pp. 62–65.
^ abcd
Weeks, Jennifer (2015). "Turf Wars". Distillations Magazine. 1 (3): 34–37. Archived from the original on March 21, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
^"Definition of Astroturf – Dictionary.com". dictionary.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved May 7, 2023. This sense of the word has come to be frequently used as a generic term for any artificial turf (in the same way that other brand names have been genericized, such as xerox). When used this way, it's often seen in lowercase (astroturf).
^"History". Saskatchewan Roughriders. June 12, 2002. Retrieved January 10, 2021. In 1988, the Roughriders replaced the first artificial turf with a new type of system called OmniTurf. Unlike AstroTurf, OmniTurf was an inlay turf system, which relied on 300 tons of sand to hold it in place (rather than the traditional glued-down system). Over the years, a number of problems occurred with this system and it eventually became necessary to replace it prior to its usable age being reached.
^ abcCheng H, Hu Y, Reinhard M (2014). "Environmental and health impacts of artificial turf: a review"(PDF). Environ Sci Technol. 48 (4): 2114–29. doi:10.1021/es4044193. PMID24467230. Archived from the original(PDF) on March 29, 2024. Retrieved July 1, 2023. The major concerns stem from the infill material that is typically derived from scrap tires. Tire rubber crumb contains a range of organic contaminants and heavy metals that can volatilize into the air and/or leach into the percolating rainwater, thereby posing a potential risk to the environment and human health.
^Golden, Leslie M. (2021) "The Contribution of Artificial Turf to Global Warming," Sustainability and Climate Change, December,14 (6) 436-449; http://doi.org/10.1089/scc.2021.0038
^"Microplastics in agricultural soils: A reason to worry?". Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA). February 3, 2017. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2017. Microplastics are increasingly seen as an environmental problem of global proportions. While the focus to date has been on microplastics in the ocean and their effects on marine life, microplastics in soils have largely been overlooked. Researchers are concerned about the lack of knowledge regarding potential consequences of microplastics in agricultural landscapes from application of sewage sludge.
^"Tire wear foremost source of microplastics". IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. March 29, 2016. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2017. researchers have ranked the sources of microplastic particles by size. The amount of microplastic particles emitted by traffic is estimated to 13 500 tonnes per year. Artificial turf ranks as the second largest source of emissions and is responsible for approximately 2300-3900 tonnes per year.
^Brown, Sc.D., David R. (2007). Artificial Turf(PDF) (Report). The Board of Environment & Human Health, Inc. Archived from the original(PDF) on April 10, 2008. Retrieved December 21, 2007.
^Shalat SL. An evaluation of potential exposures to lead and other metals as the result of aerosolized particulate matter from artificial turf playing fields. 2011. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. http://www.nj.gov/dep/dsr/publications/artificial-turf-report.pdf
^Williams, C. Frank; Pulley, Gilbert E. (2002). Synthetic Surface Heat Studies(PDF) (Report). Brigham Young University. Archived(PDF) from the original on April 10, 2008. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
This article incorporates text by National Center for Health Research available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license. The text and its release have been received by the Wikimedia Volunteer Response Team
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Is artificial grass a good option for the Las Vegas climate?
Absolutely! Artificial grass is ideal for Las Vegas due to its extreme heat and water restrictions. It stays green year-round without the need for constant watering or mowing. It also holds up well against UV rays, making it a durable and eco-friendly alternative to natural grass in desert environments
With proper installation and minimal maintenance, artificial grass in Las Vegas can last 15–20 years. The synthetic turf is designed to withstand high temperatures, intense sun exposure, and heavy foot traffic—making it a long-lasting landscaping investment for homeowners and businesses alike.
Artificial grass can become warm during peak summer heat, but modern turf products often come with cooling technologies or heat-reflective infills to reduce surface temperatures. You can also cool it down quickly with a light spray of water. Most homeowners find it still comfortable enough for pets and kids with some shading or planning.
Yes! Most artificial grass products are non-toxic, lead-free, and soft underfoot, making them safe for children and pets. Many Las Vegas residents choose turf specifically designed for pet areas, which includes effective drainage systems and odor-reducing infill for cleanliness and hygiene.
While artificial grass requires much less upkeep than natural grass, it still benefits from occasional maintenance. Light brushing, removing debris, and rinsing with water can keep your turf clean and looking fresh. For pet areas, routine deodorizing and proper drainage ensure a clean and odor-free space.
Definitely. One of the biggest advantages of installing artificial grass in Las Vegas is the significant reduction in water usage. Since there's no need for irrigation, homeowners often see a noticeable drop in their water bills—plus it supports Las Vegas’ water conservation efforts amid ongoing drought conditions.