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Urban biodiversity: A review of current concepts and contributions to multidisciplinary approaches
Abstract
With the increasing impact of urbanization in the natural ecosystems, urban areas have a key role in the preservation and enhancement of biodiversity. A multidisciplinary review, crossing various approaches to urban biodiversity has been carried out, focusing both on the concepts (fragmentation, species richness, habitat structure, pattern analyses) and the research methods used and their outputs. This opens a discussion in which variables are believed to have a direct influence both on the ecological function of the city and on social aspects such as quality of life and human well-being. This review contributes to a better understanding and promotion of the relationship between biodiversity, spatial form, sustainable design and management within the urban realm, particularly for the academic disciplines involved in such areas of knowledge, planners, designers, managers and decision-makers. This will promote the development of integrated planning and design approaches that promote green structures in the urban realm, according to contemporary social needs and grounded on a deep understanding of urban ecosystems.
... Moreover, although urban biodiversity is reasonably well understood, there is still some controversy surrounding what should be prioritised for conservation and management (Farinha-Marques et al., 2011;Given & Meurk, 2000;Hamilton, 2005;Kowarik, 2011;MEA, 2005;M€ uller et al., 2013;M€ uller & Werner, 2010;Puppim de Oliveira et al., 2011). A consensual definition of urban biodiversity was attained in the UN Biodiversity Convention (CBD, 2012) but some authors exclude non-native species or managed ecosystems from biodiversity (Sala et al., 2000), highlighting 'true biodiversity' (Olden et al., 2005). ...
... Although not all the native species are capable of tolerating the challenging conditions of cities (Rupprecht et al., 2015), important species may still emerge in NUE (Aronson et al., 2014), for example in Paris (Muratet et al., 2007). In most cases, these species occur mainly when the NUE mimic natural habitats (Rupprecht et al., 2015), such as the old walls in Almeria (Dana et al., 2002) and the disused German railway lines, and can even include self-sustaining populations (Farinha-Marques et al., 2011;Kowarik, 2011). In the Portuguese NUE some endemics are found in native vegetation remnants and secondary habitats, e.g. the nitrophilous Echium rosulatum is well adapted in the AIC. ...
... The Portuguese NUE ecological spectrum is dominated by opportunistic species, with ecological optimum in vegetation disturbed by human activities. Although they may contain some important species for conservation, urban ecosystems cannot substitute natural ecosystems' functioning for species that are sensitive to fragmentation (Bonthoux et al., 2014;Farinha-Marques et al., 2011;Kowarik, 2011). NUE foster generalist species which tolerate a greater range of environmental conditions (Bonthoux et al., 2014;Farinha-Marques et al., 2011;McDonald et al., 2013). ...
Urban novel ecosystems were sampled across vacant sites in two Portuguese urban regions. The flora were studied with a focus on spe-cies’ origin, life form, ecological, chorological and naturalisation types. A multivariate constrained ordination technique was used to identify rela-tionships between plant composition and environmental factors. The vegetation of the two urban regions shows differences, highlighting biome influence, as well as due to climatic variables and (to a lesser degree) soil characteristics and lithology. Although native species are clearly dominant, the frequency of non-native species is high and most are potentially or effectively invasive. In the ecological spectrum, the dominance of opportunistic ruderal species suggests a risk of biotic homogenisation in these ecosystems, which is also noticeable in the analysis of life form, but less in chorological and nativeness spectra. Portuguese novel urban ecosystems are, therefore, simultaneously an opportunity, since spontaneous vegetation management is more cost effective and can bring wilderness to cities; and a hazard, because inva-sive species must be controlled to support biodiversity conserva-tion efforts.
... In this chapter we use a broad definition of urban biodiversity that is useful in a multidisciplinary approach in biodiversity conservation as discussed by Farinha-Marques et al. (2011). It includes the variety of animal, plant and microbe species (including their genetic and functional diversity) and the interactions between them, as well as the diversity of habitats along a rural to urban gradient (variety of ecosystems). ...
... It includes the variety of animal, plant and microbe species (including their genetic and functional diversity) and the interactions between them, as well as the diversity of habitats along a rural to urban gradient (variety of ecosystems). It is also important to acknowledge the social and cultural context of urban biodiversity as people introduce and use species for 'horticulture, forestry and landscaping' according to Farinha-Marques et al. (2011). McDonnell and Hahs (2014) describe two ideologies at play in managing urban biodiversity for creating biodiversity-friendly cities, namely the conservation of an area's local native biodiversity and managing biodiversity for the benefit of people, i.e. ecosystem services. ...
... Most traditional methods do not produce a permanent record making it impossible to validate data in the future (Aide et al. 2013) and often rely on invasive methods such as trapping and collection (Greenwood & Robinson 2006). Urban environments present additional challenges in the form of access restrictions to private land which hinders large-scale assessment, teamed with safety and security issues for human surveyors and equipment (McIntyre, Knowles-Yánez & Hope 2000;Farinha-Marques et al. 2011). ...
... Use of IoT systems could create opportunities for urban biodiversity researchers to conduct biodiversity assessment and monitoring at high spatial and temporal scales. Urban researchers often struggle with getting access, especially repeated, to study sites in cities, which restricts the spatial and temporal coverage of urban biodiversity research (Farinha-Marques et al. 2011). Using machine learning algorithms embedded within IoT systems, some of these issues could be overcome, if access to a site was only required once to install an acoustic sensor. ...
In the last 40 years more than half of the world’s wildlife populations have disappeared while anthropogenic disturbance continues to push many species to extinction. Cities, which now support over half of the world’s human population, also support biodiversity. Yet the green infrastructure (GI) components of cities are not currently supporting high biodiversity, partly due to the resource-intensity of biodiversity assessment in urban environments. Ecoacoustics, which uses biotic sound as a proxy for biodiversity, could provide an improved way of assessing urban biodiversity, although the use of ecoacoustics in cities dominated by anthropogenic noise remains untested. Here, I demonstrate how ecoacoustics can be used to assess biodiversity in complex and highly disturbed urban environments. I set the scene by using a global terrestrial urban studies database to show that GI does not currently mitigate against biodiversity losses in cities. Then, using an annotated urban ecoacoustics dataset, CitySounds2017, generated from audio data I collected within and surrounding Greater London, UK, I show that several commonly used Acoustic Indices are unsuitable for use in cities without the prior removal of non-biotic sounds from audio data. Next, using CitySounds2017 I develop CityNet, a pair of machine learning algorithms for quantifying biotic and anthropogenic sound in urban audio data. Finally, I show that a strong correlation exists between acoustic and environmental measures in urban GI habitats in London. I anticipate the methods developed here to be a starting point for improved assessment of biodiversity that informs management to maximise the wildlife supported by cities. For example, CityNet could be integrated into urban sensing networks to facilitate large-scale biodiversity assessment. As anthropogenic disturbance increases globally, the need for methods of biodiversity assessment that are reliable in disturbed environments will only increase, and I see these methods as having the potential to support biodiversity assessment globally.
... Urban green spaces (UGSs), which include amenity, functional, semi-natural and linear green spaces (sensu Swanwick et al. 2003) are critically important to hosting biodiversity (Aronson et al. 2014Beninde et al. 2015;Ives et al. 2016). After all, urban areas not only have high potential for biodiversity but also face extensive challenges (Farinha-Marques et al. 2011;Nielsen et al. 2014). In particular, urban areas are vulnerable to biological invasion due to high intensity human activities. ...
... Species richness is the core measurement used to assess urban biodiversity; it is well defined, quantifiable and easy to monitor (Gotelli and Colwell 2001;Farinha-Marques et al. 2011). The observed increase in species richness with increasing area is one of the most fundamental ecological laws (Arrhenius 1921;Connor and McCoy 1979;Dengler 2009). ...
The biodiversity of urban areas is strongly affected by anthropogenic impacts, with implications for ecosystem functions and human well-being. Plant diversity can be variable and exceptionally high across urban areas. This study aimed to determine the drivers of variation in plant species richness across university campuses in Turkey. I compiled published and unpublished floristic data from 33 Turkish university campuses. Explanatory data for each campus was collected, including campus area, campus age, climatic variables (temperature, precipitation) and topography. I investigated drivers of richness patterns for total species, cultured (planted) and endemic species, analysing the data using multiple linear regression. Relative variation importance analysis (RVI) was conducted to test the importance of each variable for all significant regression models. I found that Turkish universities had remarkable plant diversity. Total species richness was driven by campus area while planted species richness was driven by campus age, and endemic species richness was driven by elevation and area. Turkish universities house valuable plant reserves that can be used for educational purposes as well as biodiversity conservation.
... Land use and land cover changes, particularly land taken by agriculture and urbanization, are transforming the terrestrial environment at unprecedented rates and scales, homogenizing the landscape and threatening biodiversity and ecosystems functions and services (Stoate et al., 2009;Seto et al., 2011). With the expansion of the urban network and the decline of natural ecosystems, urban areas management has a crucial role in preserving and enhancing biodiversity and presents unparalleled opportunities to enhance the urban systems' resilience and ecological functioning (Farinha-Marques et al., 2011;Elmqvist et al., 2015). Conservation of urban grasslands can reduce cities' ecological footprints and ecological debts while enhancing their inhabitants' resilience, health, and quality of life (Gómez-Baggethun and Barton, 2013). ...
The increase of urban areas and their infrastructure network is homogenizing the landscape and threatening biodiversity and ecosystems functions and services. Wildflower meadows have a high biodiversity value and can prosper in degraded areas dominated by nitrophilous species, making them suitable to be used in peri-urban and urban areas to promote local flora, create habitat for pollinators and other small fauna, and increase overall biodiversity. Moreover, the application of wildflowers seed mixes suitable for rehabilitating anthropized environments should be restricted to native species of regional origin, and the results properly monitored. However, thorough monitoring of seed mixes evolution is uncommon. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a seed mix of wild native species developed to promote grassland diversity in Mediterranean peri-urban areas. The study was divided into two sequential phases. Firstly, a preparatory phase consisted in developing two seed mixes and sowing them (autumn 2016) in ex-situ plots (three plots of 5 × 2 m2 per mix) at an experimental field to choose the one with the best performance. The second phase consisted of the in-situ application (autumn 2018) of the chosen seed mix by sowing 14 plots (10 × 2 m2) in pocket parks distributed along pedestrian trails of South Portugal. All plots were monitored through floristic surveys for two springs (ex-situ trials: 2017 and 2018; in-situ trials: 2019 and 2020). All sowed species germinated in the in-situ plots over the first 2 years. The seed mix application positively contributed to the floristic community, generating a significant increase in the total species richness, diversity, evenness, and vegetation cover. The seed mix establishment did not require watering nor soil fertilizing and the mowing frequency was low (once in late spring), contributing to sustainable and low-cost management of these green areas. The tested seed mix promoted native flora diversity rapidly and seems suitable for use in peri-urban context under identical climate conditions. Given the small number of native seed mixes tested in the Mediterranean, this study represents a contribution toward improved management standards of native flora diversity in Mediterranean green urban and peri-urban areas.
... Patch size (small green areas in urban landscape) and connectivity are important factors to support biodiversity in an urban matrix(Farinha-Marques et al. 2011). Species diversity increases with the increase in patch area(Fahrig 2003). ...
... [5] [3] This major challenge has led many scholars, including the authors, to orientate themselves towards a One Health and social-ecological systems approach in multidisciplinary research work. [15] [16] [17] This article is based on an ongoing research project led by the University of Oulu and titled "Resistant Cities. Urban Planning as Means for Pandemic Prevention (RECIPE)". ...
Although the environment has long been recognised as a key determinant of health, the linkages between urban living environments, immunological health and occurrence of infectious diseases are not well known. Healthy urban planning initiatives, especially in the Western world, have mostly been triggered by non-communicable diseases caused by lifestyle and dietary factors, such as diabetes. Since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, a significant body of research has been published that examines the impacts of pandemics on urban resilience, policy and planning practices. In this paper, we synthesise key lessons and preliminary insights for pandemic-proof cities in the light of recent academic discussion. Furthermore, we aim to address the urgent need for integrative approaches to urban resilience that consider human and environmental health holistically and contribute to comprehensive societal security.
... Many studies concerning biodiversity and the effect on people used birds as a proxy for actual biodiversity [8,16,[18][19][20][21][22]. In addition, other than being used in previous studies, birds are used for various reasons, for example, their capacity to draw attention and fascinate due to color, movement, or song [23]. ...
Studies about biodiversity and well-being used different approaches to assess biodiversity,
e.g., scientific counts and censuses or perceived biodiversity estimated by the respondents. Here,
we assessed whether laypeople could estimate the breeding bird diversity or species richness at
specific places. For comparison, we carried out bird censuses with standard methods of professional
ornithologists and used citizen science data from the internet platform Ornitho (Germany). Lay
people from the public (1184 respondents) were surveyed between May and July 2022 at 40 different
places in southwest Germany between Rottenburg/Tübingen and Stuttgart following the catchment
of the river Neckar (30 people surveyed per place). People were asked to estimate the bird species
richness/diversity at this current place. Here, we show that the data from the citizen science platform
does not correlate with the professional census counts nor with the perceived species richness of
laypeople. Laypeople have a generally good assessment of the bird species richness, correlating
with the data of professionals (r = 0.325, p = 0.041). On average, the number of species assessed
by laypeople lies in between the values of the professional morning and afternoon census. People
were most often surveyed in the afternoon; therefore, their assessment must be done on other factors
than actual birds present. This result is valuable for future studies on the connection between
biodiversity and well-being.
... The urban form also affects biodiversity potential and quality. For instance, (semi-)detached housing areas provide better opportunities to increase biodiversity quality [49]. Indirectly, reduced space for nature and the accessibility of green space negatively impact human health [50][51][52][53], which also reduces psychological and mental health [54,55]. ...
The current state of nature is concerning. The levels of biodiversity are rapidly decreasing; existing policies sketch ambitious objectives, but their effectiveness is relatively low. This is caused by a combination of three main elements: physical elements, planning processes, and psychological reasons. In dealing with these deeply rooted problems, following qualities are missing: attention to planning and design in nature-based solution policies, the gap between plan and execution of plans, and the transformation to eco-leadership of young people. In four consecutive years, research design studios have been executed, in which students collaboratively design eco-solutions for complex and urgent problems. The core subjects of each of these studios were four interlinked aspects of eco-design: (1) designing in parallel at master plan and concrete project level, (2) planning, designing and building within a short period, (3) the emergence and succession of ecosystems on site, and (4) ecological leadership practice. By investigating these aspects year after year, designing integrated and coherent solutions, and realizing these solutions in built form, an ecological spatial framework emerged within which smaller projects were and will be embedded. This way, the ecosystem on campus grows, matures, and develops as a self-regulating system. Moreover, new leadership emerged amongst the young participants in the research design studios.
... The theme of the "pattern of urban green biodiversity" has developed rapidly in recent years. It has been studied in most cities around the world and has formed a variety of research methods in different countries and regions [60]. ...
Understanding the development process of urban green space and biodiversity conservation strategies in urban green space is vital for sustainable urban development. However, a systematic review of the urban green space biodiversity research is still lacking. We have retrieved 3806 articles in WOS core journals and carried out the bibliometrics analysis through the three related search terms: urban, green space, and biodiversity. We found that: (1) the year 2009 was a changing point, and the number of articles have increased exponentially since 2009. The United States, China, Europe, and Australia are closely linked, and four research centers have formed; (2) all studies can be classified into three research themes: “Pattern of Urban Green Biodiversity”, “Ecological Function of Urban Green Biodiversity”, and “Sustainability of Urban Green Biodiversity”; (3) based on the evolution of keywords, this field is divided into the budding stage (1998–2012) and the development stage (2012–2021). The keywords in the budding stage focus on the diversity of different species, and the keywords in the development stage focus on the ecosystem services, biodiversity protection, and residents’ satisfaction; (4) the future research focus may be in three aspects: studies on green space in the less urbanized area and urban-rural ecotone, the regulation mechanism and cultural services of urban green space, and the rational layout and management of urban green space. This study hopes to provide a reference for future research on urban green space biodiversity and promote the sustainable development of urban green space.
... A desvalorização e esquecimento do espaço público, ora por parte do poder público local, ora pela transformação das práticas sociais quotidianas, alavancada pelos processos de globalização e da tecnociência galopantes, foi concomitante a um afastamento da Natureza por parte da humanidade. Assistiu-se durante grande parte do século XX a uma contínua desconexão com o mundo natural (Kesebir & Kesebir, 2017), fruto do avanço da ciência e do progresso económico, apoiada na garantia da resiliência eterna da Natureza para lidar com as ações antrópicas (Farinha-Marques, Lameiras, Fernandes, Silva, & Guilherme, 2011). O intenso processo de urbanização em Portugal resultou, a par disto, na supremacia do "cimento" face aos elementos naturais e a ordenamento territorial com sérias deficiências (Schmidt, 2016). ...
Contemporary cities face socio-environmental challenges that, if not addressed, undermine their sustainability and the well-being of their populations. Nature-based solutions are internationally recognized as one of the most efficient long-term strategies. Among these solutions, the Urban Green Spaces (UGS), as bridges of connection between nature and the urban, assume themselves as places of socialization, physical, cultural, and recreational activity, in addition to being able to play a role in mitigating atmospheric pollution and the effects of climate change. Although there is a considerable amount of literature dedicated to these spaces, there is still a gap in how the potential of ecosystem services, preferences, motivations, and emerging relationships of their users are mediated, considering the surrounding socioeconomic and territorial profile. Taking as a case study the city of Porto, located in the northern region of the Portuguese coast, integrated into the second largest area of the country, which suffered a significant loss of urban green structure during the second half of the 20th century, this investigation aimed to understand how UGS are responding to contemporary socio-environmental challenges. Of the 95 UGS identified in the city, twenty-five were selected, to which a triangulation technique approach was applied, namely the construction and application of a grid to assess the potential of ecosystem services, the construction and application of a questionnaire survey to 131 UGS users and, finally, the mapping of the human behavior of 975 users in four of the 25 UGS. Through univariate and multivariate statistical analyses, and using SPSS, R, and ArcGIS programs, it was possible to respond to the objective of the present investigation. The results make clear a situation of environmental injustice in the provision of UGS in the city, considering that, in areas of greater socioeconomic deprivation, these spaces tend to have less potential for ecosystem services, in general understanding by users. To propose a typology of UGS, five groups were identified: environmentally capable and socially expectant spaces, socio-environmentally active spaces, environmentally capable but socially dynamic spaces, socio-environmentally neglected spaces, and socio-environmentally unexplored spaces. With this proposal, it becomes possible to identify the dimensions that most need intervention, in addition to observing that the last two groups, with less potential for ecosystem services, are those that aggregate UGS that are in areas of the city of greater socio-economic deprivation. UGS are used to relax, socialize, and contact with nature amongst the dense urban fabric, in addition to promoting greater ecological awareness as the degree of attendance increases. The mapping of human behavior also revealed patterns and regularities between behaviors and the design of the UGS, as well as natural elements and urban furniture, contributing to a greater correspondence between human needs and space. In addition, the UGS with greater dynamism and frequency of users are in less deprived areas of the city. The answer to the objective initially proposed is that the UGS are responding to socio-environmental challenges at two paces: if, on the one hand, their socio-ecological potential is used by their users, on the other, not everyone benefits from them in an equitable way. The greatest expectation is that the results of this work can be a contribution to the definition of local strategies that enhance the ecosystem services of the city's UGS, providing equitable access for all to these spaces and satisfying the needs of their users toward green cities, fair and inclusive.
... The resources that stream into cities shape and modify the structure of the urban biological system, empower, and drive urban capacities with an impact on common biological forms of cities, and in the long run, create yields that remain inside the boundary or are sent out beyond the boundary [97]. Biotic differentiation (biota differentiation) is defined as various biodiversity (fauna and flora) and species richness within an ecosystem [98,99]. Regarding the social or human-made process, it involves social-economic attributes like zoning regulation, lifestyle and livelihood arrangement, economic and political policy, neighborhood identity, housing price, the pattern of investment, access to the road and green area, house density, population distribution, the market economy, general patterns of income, and access to the service which make social-economic heterogeneity across the city [100][101][102][103][104]. Table 2 represents the main attributes of the urban ecosystem to illuminate dynamics and heterogeneity. ...
The dynamic and heterogeneity of the urban heat island (UHI) is the result of the interactions between biotic, physical, social, and built components. Urban ecology as a transdisciplinary science can provide a context to understand the complex social-biophysical issues such as the thermal environment in cities. This study aimed at developing a theoretical framework to elucidate the interactions between the social-biophysical patterns and processes mediating UHI. To do it, we conducted a theoretical review to delineate UHI complexity using the concept of dynamic hetero-geneity of pattern, process, and function in UHI phenomenon. Furthermore, a hypothetical hetero-geneity spiral (i.e., driver-outcome spiral) related to the UHI was conceived as a model template. The adopted theoretical framework can provide a holistic vision of the UHI, contributing to a better understanding of UHI's spatial variations in long-term studies. Through the developed framework, we can devise appropriate methodological approaches (i.e., statistic-based techniques) to develop prediction models of UHI's spatial heterogeneity.
... Large-scale global urbanization has no doubt a negative effect on biodiversity (McDonald et al., 2019). On the other hand, with increasing urbanisation cities play important roles in the conservation of global biodiversity and there is great hope that negative effects can be partly alleviated through the planning and management of so-called urban green spaces (UGS) (Aronson et al., 2017;Farinha-Marques et al., 2011). Traditionally, freshwater habitats were perceived as part of the UGS (Aronson et al., 2017), but more recently they are termed as Urban Blue Spaces (UBS), partly in consideration of the specifically degraded situation of biodiversity in earth's freshwater ecosystems (Maasri et al., 2022). ...
... Patch size (small green areas in urban landscape) and connectivity are important factors to support biodiversity in an urban matrix(Farinha-Marques et al. 2011). Species diversity increases with the increase in patch area(Fahrig 2003). ...
This chapter is about habitat provisioning core concepts in the urban built environment context.
... Urban green spaces are vegetated open spaces in cities that can be either public or private ( [15,26], p. 282 and 778 [16,18];). Cairo has several types of public green spaces that differ in areas, features and use. The city does not have an official classification for all its green areas except for the classification adopted by Cairo Cleanliness and Beautification Agency (CCBA) which covers only the green spaces they manage. ...
Green spaces are recognised as an important contributor in enhancing the quality of urban life. Many cities are now working on preserving and increasing their green spaces as a part of their sustainable development plans. Unfortunately, green spaces in Cairo are currently being marginalised and the city has been losing significant quantities of its already limited green spaces in favour of other developmental projects. This article analyses the quantities and distribution of existing green spaces in Cairo using official numerical data. The results show recent changes that happened between the years 2017 and 2020. The focus is on public green spaces: amenity green spaces between residential blocks, street green spaces, plant nurseries under public management and public parks. Finally, the trend of disappearing green spaces in Cairo is discussed. The discussion extends the comparison to include data from the years 2000 and 2006 to demonstrate the rapid changes happening in Cairo that are altering the city and affecting many of its residents. The problem of lack of data about green spaces is also examined in the discussion. Documenting green spaces areas and distribution in Cairo is important because no recent published data are available for decision-makers, researchers and planners. Data is also scattered between different sources because of the division of management responsibilities between different public agencies. A larger-scale project is required to accurately survey all green spaces in Cairo and create a comprehensive publicly accessible geographical database that documents all their types, quantities and distribution.
... However, green space, such as patched remaining native vegetation and artificially managed parks in cities, have become refuges for animals [15,16], and more and more urban landscape planning aims to create eco-friendly areas. Thus, a large number of garden plants flow into urban areas under the demand of increasing biodiversity by urban residents [17][18][19], which provides cultural and ecological services [20,21]. For instance, ZHU et al. [22] recorded 1771 plant species in 18 cities among the 5163 growing in the wild in different climatic zones and socioeconomic conditions in China, including multiple fruit plants. ...
Interaction between animals and plants is an important way to maintain terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem function, but little is known about the structure of reciprocal networks between fruit plants and frugivore birds in urban habitats. To explore the characteristics of the plant–frugivore network and network roles of species, we observed the fruit ripening phenology of 21 species of fruit plants and the interactions between these plants and 39 species of frugivore birds during the whole year in a large urban park. Then, we assessed the characteristics of the total plant–frugivore and seasonal networks, and analyzed the network roles of species and the relationship between their network roles and ecological traits. Fruit ripened mainly in autumn and winter, and interaction connections in the two seasons contributed 39.68% and 44.83% to the total network, respectively. The specialization (H2′), connectance (C), nestedness, and interaction evenness (eH2) of the network were lower in autumn and winter, while the interaction diversity was higher. Compared with the networks (N = 1000) generated by the null model, the observed network exhibited higher nestedness and interaction diversity (E2) and lower specialization (H2′), connectance (C), and interaction evenness (eH2). A correlation analysis combining ecological traits and network roles showed that plants with black fruit had higher effective partners and partner diversity, while other traits of plants and birds were not significantly correlated with their network parameters. The important plants (N = 6) and birds (N = 3) contributed to 71.78% and 67.55% of the total network connection, they were mainly evergreen plants with black and red drupes and omnivorous generalist birds with medium and large sizes. Our research highlighted the seasonal differences in urban plant–frugivore network and the value of important species in maintaining network structures and providing ecosystem services.
... Green spaces, also referred to as landscaped open spaces, are the open spaces in the city, either public or private, that have vegetation as a dominating feature (Evert et al., 2010, p. 282 and 778;Farinha-Marques et al., 2011;Gairola and Noresah, 2010;Swanwick et al., 2003). They have different typologies, among them are "amenity green spaces" that can be further divided into several categories, one of them is "recreational green spaces". ...
Public green spaces are becoming crucial components of any sustainable community because of their multiple ecological, economic and sociocultural benefits. More efforts are being directed towards creating livelier spaces. Unfortunately, there is less adequate attention to their long-term upkeep. Both research and practice focus more on design aspects of public spaces and parks than on their management. Realising the importance of management, this research is addressing this recognised gap by providing a comprehensive study of the management process. It draws on previous public spaces and green spaces management literature to define four main management requirements: being responsive to context, setting direction, managing performance and dealing with resources. Guided by the systems approach and sustainability concepts, the management requirements and process are presented in a framework that combines different levels of management with the internal dynamics of the public park. This framework can be a useful tool for researchers, designers, decision-makers and managers.
... A socio-ecological approach is needed to maintain and restore biodiversity and ES, mainly in a time where global changes are threatening all species. In this current scenario, ecosystems are expected to be resilient and supportive of all life (Farinha-Marques et al. 2011). In addition to this effort, some studies reveal an absence of political awareness regarding this issue, which could thus undermine sustainability efforts (Rodrigues et al. 2004;Rands et al. 2010). ...
This study presents a systematic review to investigate the multiple dimensions of cultural ecosystem
services (CES) provided by urban green spaces (UGS) that aim to contribute to supporting the ecosystem
services framework towards more sustainable cities. Methodologically, the search was based on peerreviewed
journal papers indexed in ScienceDirect, PubMed and Google Scholar platforms (2000–2020),
following the PRISMA specific guidelines. The search returned 5417 results. After the initial screening
process, 41 articles were finally selected. The results highlighted a set of main dimensions of CES: (1)
perception and assessment, (2) recreation, and mental and physical health, (3) aesthetic appreciation/
inspiration for culture, art and design, (4) tourism, and (5) spiritual experience and sense of place. The
common framework among these dimensions shows that UGS’ uses and motivations are influenced by
user age and space characteristics. The findings encourage the development of relational approaches to
help understand what UGS’ users feel and experience in these places, how UGS contribute to promoting
healthier and more sustainable cities, and how UGS increase wellbeing for people of all ages.
... The worldwide growing urbanisation can represent a permanent loss of natural habitat for wildlife species (Miller & Hobbs, 2002), together with changes of species communities with new species interactions (Beninde et al., 2015;Farinha-Marques et al., 2011;Johnson & Munshi-South, 2017). Urban ecosystems are considered ecologically novel due to the new conditions differing from conditions in natural habitats and the heavy influence of human activities (Lundholm & Richardson, 2010;Pickett et al., 2001;Shochat et al., 2006). ...
1. Studying species interactions and niche segregation under human pressure provides important insights into species adaptation, community functioning and ecosystem stability. Due to their high plasticity in behaviour and diet, urban mesocarnivores are ideal species for studying community assembly in novel communities. 2. We analysed the spatial and temporal species interactions of an urban mesocarnivore community composed of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the marten (Martes sp.) as native species, the raccoon (Procyon lotor) as invasive species, and the cat (Felis catus) as a domestic species in combination with human disturbance modulated by the SARS‐CoV‐2 lockdown effect that happened while the study was conducted. 3. We analysed camera‐trap data and applied a joint species distribution model to understand not only the environmental variables influencing the detection of mesocarnivores and their use intensity of environmental features but also the species’ co‐occurrences while accounting for environmental variables. We then assessed whether they displayed temporal niche partitioning based on activity analyses, and finally analysed at a smaller temporal scale the time of delay after the detection of another focal species. 4. We found that species were more often detected and displayed a higher use intensity in gardens during the SARS‐CoV‐2 lockdown period, while showing a shorter temporal delay during the same period, meaning a high human‐induced spatio‐temporal overlap. All three wild species spatially co‐occurred within the urban area, with a positive response of raccoons to cats in detection and use intensity, whereas foxes showed a negative trend towards cats. When assessing the temporal partitioning, we found that all wild species showed overlapping nocturnal activities. All species displayed temporal segregation based on temporal delay. According to the temporal delay analyses, cats were the species avoided the most by all wild species. To conclude, we found that although the wild species were positively associated in space, the avoidance occurred at a smaller temporal scale, and human pressure in addition led to high spatio‐temporal overlap. 5. Our study sheds light to the complex patterns underlying the interactions in a mesocarnivore community both spatially and temporally, and the exacerbated effect of human pressure on community dynamics.
... We performed a qualitative synthesis and assessment, following the method of other synthesis in urban biodiversity research (e.g. McKinney 2002;Farinha-Marques et al. 2011;Nielsen et al. 2014). For each article that met our inclusion criteria, we extracted information that allowed us to evaluate: ...
South America sustains an important part of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and its population is highly urbanized. Global syntheses have revealed a paucity of urban ecological research in the region; however, local research might be overlooked due to language barriers. As a contribution to disseminating local knowledge, we conducted a synthesis of Spanish-language literature on bird species richness in the Southern Cone of South America - an area of high diversity, endemism, and more than half of the world’s terrestrial biome types. In this systematic review, we identified patterns and trends in the literature, and the variables that influence bird species richness. Research has focused on national capital cities and green areas (large urban parks). Most studies covered short periods of time (1 year or less) and involved one season only (reproductive). The most studied biomes were temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands, and Mediterranean and temperate forests, and no studies were found in mountains or deserts. Bird species richness in cities from the Southern Cone was positively influenced by vegetation cover and plant and habitat diversity; whereas variables associated with urban cover and disturbance exhibited negative effects. Important gaps in knowledge include: research in small and medium size cities, in overlooked biomes (deserts, xeric shrublands, and montane grasslands and shrublands), long-term research comprising different seasons, the inclusion of green spaces other than urban parks, and interdisciplinary studies that consider environmental, social, and economic components of urban ecosystems. By filling these key knowledge gaps, researchers from South America can contribute to the development of science-based actions to preserve nature in an urbanizing world.
... A socio-ecological approach is needed to maintain and restore biodiversity and ES, mainly in a time where global changes are threatening all species. In this current scenario, ecosystems are expected to be resilient and supportive of all life (Farinha- Marques et al. 2011). In addition to this effort, some studies reveal an absence of political awareness regarding this issue, which could thus undermine sustainability efforts (Rodrigues et al. 2004;Rands et al. 2010). ...
This book aims to give a contribution to a more comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding of the cross-cutting issues on energy, environment and health research topics in the current world scenario, where nations all over the world are struggling to accomplish the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and to ensure sustainable patterns for all. This interdisciplinary implies a commitment between all fields of science, working together to provide knowledge that could result in the promotion of quality of life. At the present, it is evident that not all people benefit from sustainable policies and practices and the communication between health, energy, environmental and social problems is undeniable. A call for different views could be a pathway attracting universities, stakeholders, organizations and civil society to deeply discuss how one solution does not fit all societies. Few publications are coherently handling this matter. This book is expected to fill this gap and to develop an interest in a larger audience working in general sustainable development and cross-cutting issues. This book is produced by the European School of Sustainability Science and Research (ESSSR).
It gives special emphasis to state-of-the-art descriptions of approaches, methods, initiatives and projects from universities, stakeholders, organizations and civil society across the world, regarding cross-cutting issues in energy, environment and health research.
... (e.g. McKinney 2002;Farinha-Marques et al. 2011, Nielsen et al. 2014. ...
South America sustains an important part of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and presents a high urbanization level. Global syntheses have revealed a paucity of urban ecological research in this region; however, local research might be overlooked due to language barriers. To contribute to disseminate local knowledge, we synthesized the Spanish-language literature on bird species richness in the Southern Cone of South America - an area of high diversity, endemism, and more than half of the world’s terrestrial biomes. In this systematic review, we identified patterns and trends in the literature, and the variables that influence bird species richness. Most research was performed in large cities, focused on green areas (large urban parks), short-termed (1 year or less) and involved one season only (reproductive). The most studied biomes were Temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands, and Mediterranean and Temperate forests, and no study was found in mountains or deserts. Bird species richness in cities from the Southern Cone was positively influenced by vegetation cover and plant and habitat diversity; whereas variables associated with urban cover and disturbance exhibited negative effects. Important gaps of knowledge include research in small and medium size cities, in overlooked biomes (desserts, xeric shrublands, montane grasslands and shrublands), long-term research, comprising different seasons, including green space other than urban parks, and interdisciplinary studies that consider environmental, social, and economic components of urban ecosystems. By filling these key knowledge gaps, researchers from South America can contribute to the development of science-based actions to preserve nature in an urbanizing world.
... The value and contribution of natural urban green spaces to biodiversity and their ecological importance with respect to ecosystem services are well-known [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. This green infrastructure has a variety of functions connected to the maintenance of basic ecological processes, properties, and resulting services [8][9][10][11][12][13], including positive climatic effects [3,8,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. From a social point of view, urban green spaces offer facilities that can be used by city dwellers, e.g., as meeting points and places for relaxation and recreation [8,9,21]. ...
The extensification (opposite of intensification) of urban public green spaces offers great potential for conservation. One major issue for the long-term success of such a measure is, however, its acceptance by the urban population. This contribution presents the results of an image-based online questionnaire that we set to elucidate the role of sociodemographic affiliations regarding the perception of urban green areas. We also asked whether acceptability can be increased by the presence of additional structural elements (sculptures, benches) and "acceptance stripes", i.e., stripes regularly mowed only at the margins of a natural green space. Regarding structural elements, 40- to 60-year-olds consistently rejected intensely maintained lawns and perceived a lawn as positive only in combination with a sculpture. A regularly mowed acceptance stripe resulted in a positive perception of natural meadows by people with an affinity for city life, classified based on their actual place of residence and/or their social dimension including aspects such as sense of place, familiarity, profession, and interests. Thus, decision-making processes of policy makers must be evaluated together with the urban population and should be assessed multidimensionally, i.e., by considering various criteria (e.g., ecological, social, and aesthetic aspects) in order to meet the requirements of residents and achieve an increase in biodiversity.
... Birds were chosen as an indicator of overall biodiversity for a variety of reasons. These being used in previous studies to act as a reasonable proxy for wider biodiversity indicators (Williams and Gaston 1994;Butler et al. 2010;Farinha-Marques et al. 2011), their capacity to draw attention/ fascination due to colour, movement or song (Woods 1998), their general popularity and likelihood of participants recognising different species compared to other taxonomic groups (Cox and Gaston 2015) and their potential to provide positive affect (Ratcliffe et al. 2013;Cox and Gaston 2016). ...
Urban green space can help mitigate the negative impacts of urban living and provide positive effects on citizens’ mood, health and well-being. Questions remain, however, as to whether all types of green space are equally beneficial, and if not, what landscape forms or key features optimise the desired benefits. For example, it has been cited that urban landscapes rich in wildlife (high biodiversity) may promote more positive emotions and enhance well-being. This research utilised a mobile phone App, employed to assess people’s emotions when they entered any one of 945 green spaces within the city of Sheffield, UK. Emotional responses were correlated to key traits of the individual green spaces, including levels of biodiversity the participant perceived around them. For a subsample of these green spaces, actual levels of biodiversity were assessed through avian and habitat surveys. Results demonstrated strong correlations between levels of avian biodiversity within a green space and human emotional response to that space. Respondents reported being happier in sites with greater avian biodiversity (p < 0.01, r = 0.78) and a greater variety of habitats (p < 0.02, r = 0.72). Relationships were strengthened when emotions were linked to perceptions of overall biodiversity (p < 0.001, r = 0.89). So, when participants thought the site was wildlife rich, they reported more positive emotions, even when actual avian biodiversity levels were not necessarily enhanced. The data strengthens the arguments that nature enhances well-being through positive affect, and that increased ‘engagement with nature’ may help support human health within urban environments. The results have strong implications for city planning with respect to the design, management and use of city green spaces.
... On the wave of the now established awareness of the multiple values of biodiversity -as officially stated at international level, since the Nineties, by the Convention of Biological Diversity, CBD (1992) -in the recent years the conservation of urban biodiversity has gained increasing attention, both from the policy side, inside the CBD itself (Müller and Werner, 2010) and as a focus of relevant scientific and academic studies (Farinha-Marques et al., 2011). Addressing biodiversity conservation inside cities is seen not only as a matter of urgency, to preserve the intrinsic value of biodiversity from urbanization impacts, but also as a matter of opportunity, to preserve the instrumental value of biodiversity. ...
Conservation and enhancement of biodiversity inside cities are increasingly acknowledged as important as well as urgent issues. To date, several landscape planning and design paradigms have been set up for the creation of biodiverse urban landscapes. However, only few of such paradigms adequately stress the necessity to focus both on the ‘place-making’ dimension, namely the planning and design phase, and on the ‘place-keeping’ dimension, namely the management phase. The latter is often conceived as the final and separate phase of the creative process. On the contrary, to pursue an effective urban biodiversity conservation and enhancement, ‘place-keeping’ should act as a framework both for planning and design actions and for all those actions related to long-term open space management, such as maintenance, evaluation, and governance. The integration of these ‘material’ and ‘immaterial’ actions is crucial for the effectiveness of every landscape projects, but even more for projects explicitly addressed at improving urban biodiversity through the design of new urban habitats. In this article, we present a successful case of design of a new urban wetland habitat situated along the Spanish coast, the Charca de Suárez. Both landscape design choices and management actions are presented. We argue that an important driver of the Charca success is the actual embedding of ‘place-making’ dimension into the ‘place-keeping’ dimension – which has been conceived as long-term management of the site – and the consequent effective integration between scales, tools, actors and disciplines.
... Urban green spaces (UGSs) have been recognized as critical landscape design factors in urban environments [3]. UGSs not only reduce residents' physical and mental stress, but also regulate urban microclimates [4], improve air quality [5,6], increase urban biodiversity [7,8], weaken the urban heat island effect, and reduce noise [9][10][11], all of which are considered as necessary conditions for good urban ecological environment [12]. Urban street-side greenery, as an indispensable element of UGSs, makes an important contribution to the attractiveness and walkability of residential streets [13][14][15]. ...
Urban street-side greenery, as an indispensable element of urban green spaces, is beneficial to residents’ physical and mental health. As readily available internet data, street view images have been widely used in urban green spaces research. While the relevant research using multiple images from different directions at a sampling point, researchers need to calculate the index of visible vegetation cover for many times. However, one Baidu panoramic street view image can cover the 360° view similar to that of a pedestrian. In this study, we selected 9644 points at 50-meter intervals along the street lines in the central district of Sanya city, China, and acquired panoramic images via the Baidu application programming interface (API). The sky pixels were detected within the Baidu panoramic street view images using a proposed reflectance indicator. The green vegetation was extracted according to the Back Propagation (BP) neural-network method. Our proposed method was validated by comparing the results of the manual recognition and PSPNet method, and the accuracy met the requirements of the study. The Panoramic Green View Index (PGVI) was proposed to quantitatively evaluate greenery around streets. The authors found that the highest frequency value in the distribution was 0.075, which accounted for 32% of the total sample points, and the average PGVI value in this study area was low; the PGVI values between different roads varied greatly, and primary roads tended to have higher PGVI values than other roads. This case study proved that the PGVI is well suited for evaluating greenery around streets. We suggest that the PGVI derived from Baidu panoramic street view images may be a useful tool for city managers to support urban green spaces planning and management.
... Biodiversity is defined as the diversity between species and ecologic communities -ecosystems (Biological Diversity Act, 2015). Therefore, the concept of biodiversity encompasses the ecosystem while also focusing on the level of species since the gene levels are well-defined, measurable and easily trackable in majority of the studies on both species and urban biological diversity (Nielsen et al., 2014;Farinha-Marques et al., 2011). ...
... Several functions and benefits of GI are connected to ecosystem services, making it possible to enhance biodiversity or environmental functions through green zones [33,34]. This perspective integrates functions and benefits, including social and cultural advantages related to health, well-being, recreation, sports, and a stronger sense of community [13]. ...
This article describes the relationship between the design features of green infrastructure and the benefits of multifunctionality. To do so, it examines the descriptive linkages between 12 design features and nine benefits using 447 project case studies from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Multiple benefits of green infrastructure were found in 65% of the projects, regardless of the number of applied design features. The major green infrastructure design features with multiple benefits were: bioretention areas, permeable pavements, grassed swales, rainwater harvesting, rain gardens, and curb cuts. The major benefits of applied design features were: enhanced economic capacity, educational opportunities, improvements to the built environment, and enhanced environmental soundness. The findings show that the multiple benefits of green infrastructure’s multifunctionality can be inferred in many current cases. Knowing the relationship between design features and their benefits for green infrastructure would facilitate selecting optimal design features to achieve specific goals and planning outcomes. For communities that require a range of complex benefits, a multifunctionality-based green infrastructure will advance highly acceptable climate change adaptation measures.
... Les résultats obtenus peuvent orienter les gestionnaires dans leurs pratiques afin de développer la présence de biodiversité sur l'ensemble des espaces végétalisés urbains : intérêt de la gestion différenciée, de maintenir de zones de friches, de diversifier la structure de la végétation, en utilisant des végétaux accueillants pour la biodiversité locale par exemple. L'objectif est de développer des aménagements qui promeuvent des structures vertes basées sur une connaissance profonde des écosystèmes urbains (Farinha et al., 2011). L'absence de traitements phytosanitaires sur la majeure partie des espaces étudiés limite les conclusions de ce travail à ce sujet mais deux résultats peuvent être soulignés : l'influence négative des traitements sur l'abondance des Rhopalocères d'une part et les bons résultats obtenus sur les cimetières de la Ville de Grenoble, non traités, en comparaison à ceux obtenus sur diverses classes de gestion. ...
The development of the human population has led to increasing pressures on the ecosystems and the biodiversity they harbour. Urban areas occupy about 3% of the terrestrial surface but host more than half of the world's population. They threaten biodiversity by their degrading impacts on biotopes. They also contribute to the separation of populations from nature. However, with the concentration of the population in urban areas, the majority of the human-non-human interactions take place within cities. Two questions arise in this context: what is the existing biodiversity in cities and how do their inhabitants perceive it?
I have developed two main research lines on this subject. On the one hand, an ecological approach, conducted through naturalistic surveys. The hypothesis was that urban biodiversity varies according to the types of urban sites and their management intensity. On the other hand, a sociological approach, focusing on city dwellers’ perception of the urban biodiversity. The hypothesis was that poorly visible urban biodiversity can be perceived and in variable ways according to location. The research was carried out in the city of Grenoble (France) and its conurbation, a densely urbanised valley, strongly contrasting with the neighbouring agricultural or natural spaces.
Biodiversity was compared, on the one hand, on three categories of urban sites (recreational parks, wastelands and cemeteries) amongst seven cities or groups of cities in the Grenoble conurbation and, on the other hand, on parks and gardens in Grenoble, subjected to four management intensities. Two taxa were studied: Rhopalocera, an indicator of vegetation diversity, using a French participative program (PROPAGE, butterflies observation by green spaces managers); spider webs, an indicator of available preys, through a protocol created for the occasion. In total, 762 surveys (403 for spiders, 359 for Rhopalocera) were conducted over two summers (2014 and 2015, three repetitions each year). Amongst them, 606 surveys made it possible to have elements of comparison between the three site types and 156 between management intensities.
In order to determine the influence of the type of site, the diversity and quantity of individuals of each taxon were modelled. The data were analysed using an Anova then a generalized linear mixed model – GlMM. In addition, the influences of environmental variables as well as the communities of species by sites were analysed. For the comparison of management intensity, only the diversity and quantity of Rhopalocera were modelled; the analysis was performed using an Anova then a GlMM.
In Grenoble conurbation, a net fall in richness and abundance appears between the wastelands in non-urbanised areas of the Bastille hill and all other sites. Thus, the surveys probably measured changes in poverty rather than in richness of biodiversity in urban areas. The wastelands are relatively rich but disappear from the urban landscapes. Parks and cemeteries are both poor, but changes in management methods can enrich them. Indeed, the alleviation of the maintenance influences positively the quantity and the diversity of Rhopalocera.
The results by type of sites are to be qualified taking into account the areas occupied in the urban matrix (parks and gardens, cemeteries and wastelands in descending order) and their complementary species communities. Several environmental variables could be identified as positively influencing the abundance or diversity measured. For Rhopalocera: percentage of area covered by trees, low isolation from neighbouring vegetation, water presence on the plot, absence of chemical treatments. For web spiders: percentage of herbaceous cover and water near the plot.
For the sociological approach, 25 city dwellers were interviewed on some of the sites (20 semi-directive half-hour interviews in Champs Elysées Park in Grenoble; five in-depth interviews at four other sites in four communes). The objective was a better comprehension of their perception of management, nature and biodiversity. All the interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed. The results are compared with those of a sociological survey carried out in 2013 and 2014 amongst the gardeners of Grenoble city park and recreation department, using the same type of tools.
The interviewed city dwellers have a fragmented, sometimes contradictory, perception of urban biodiversity. However, the idea of a gradation between types of sites emerges from the interviews. Although those observations are not systematic, they are sometimes of a great accuracy and draw on the experiences of the interviewees past and the other areas of nature that they have attended. Moreover, the experience of implementing PROPAGE by the gardeners underlines the important opportunity of evolution of the naturalistic knowledge of layman.
A dispersed urban biodiversity could thus be observed. The sum of the explored sites seems to constitute, within an unwelcoming matrix, a patchwork of relatively sheltered places for biodiversity. In addition to the network approach, it seems interesting to pursue the research on the role played by residual spaces in strongly constrained matrices such as urban environments. The results on managing intensity can encourage green space managers to pursue the reduction of management intensity with concrete arguments about the potential development of biodiversity through this process.
The richness of perception by users underscores the collective strength of laypersons for describing biodiversity. This result supports the interest of participatory programs, which can rely on this strength. Working with elderly people seems to be relevant to evoking zero states prior to recent observations.
... Urbanization is the fastest growing form of land-use change and can be considered the greatest anthropogenic impact on Earth's ecosystems ( Foley et al., 2005;Grimm et al., 2008). Land-use changes that accompany urbanization dramatically modify habitat structure and ecosystem function through the conversion of natural habitats to impervious surfaces and altering hydrological and nutrient cycling (Beninde, Veith, & Hochkirch, 2015;Farinha-Marques, Lameiras, Fernandes, Silva, & Guilherme, 2011;Ibáñez-Álamo, Rubio, Benedetti, & Morelli, 2017). Despite these profound changes, ecological processes continue to operate within urban landscapes (Forman, 2016;Grimm et al., 2008;Pickett & Cadenasso, 2017). ...
1.Urbanization is considered the fastest growing form of global land use change, and can dramatically modify habitat structure and ecosystem functioning. While ecological processes continue to operate within cities, urban ecosystems are profoundly different from their more natural counterparts. Thus, ecological predictions derived from more natural ecosystems are rarely generalizable to urban environments. 2. In this study we used data from a large‐scale and long‐term camera trap project in Chicago IL, USA to determine whether urbanization alters predator avoidance behavior of urban prey species. 3. We studied three behavioral mechanisms often induced by the fear of predation (spatial distribution, daily activity patterns, and vigilance) of white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) when coyote (Canis latrans) – an urban apex predator – was present. 4. We found no evidence of spatial segregation between coyote and either prey species. Furthermore, neither white‐tailed deer nor eastern cottontail changed their daily activity or increased vigilance in urban areas when coyotes were present. Eastern cottontail, however, had their uppermost level of vigilance in highly urban sites when coyotes were absent. 5. Our study demonstrates that predator‐prey dynamics might be modified in urban ecosystems – moving from what is traditionally thought of as a two‐player system (predator and prey) to a three‐player system (predator, prey, and people). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... An increasing body of evidence shows that components of urban ecosystems can help manage cities through improvements in water retention and purification (Forman, 2014), mitigation of the urban heat island effect (Akbari et al., 1997;Vaz Monteiro et al., 2016), the creation of biodiversity hotspots (Farinha-Marques et al., 2011) and benefits for human health and well-being (Hartig et al., 2014). Associations between urban ecosystems and human health and well-being are not well understood and mostly based on correlative studies, i.e. simple relationships between a number of variables without necessarily understanding the causal relationship behind it. ...
Global urbanisation has increased pressures on ecosystems located within city boundaries, resulting in loss and fragmentation of urban ecosystems. In September 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 SDG targets. It made environmental sustainability a key component of the agenda, whose preamble recognises that social and economic development depends on the sustainable management of Earth’s natural resources. Understanding the interlinkages between the broad and globally focused 2030 Agenda and components of the natural environment remain a practical challenge for both researchers and decision-makers in all disciplines. It is unclear how SDG targets relate to urban ecosystems and what evidence base supports these relationships. Here, we address what changes are required concerning urban ecosystem management and how management of urban ecosystems can reinforce or undermine action to deliver all 169 targets in the 2030 Agenda. We characterised 91 targets requiring action in relation to urban ecosystem management. These collectively emphasise the need to sustainably manage nature, provide equal rights to basic services, pursue sustainable economic growth, and strengthen governance and policy development at multiple scales. We identified 102 targets (99 synergies and 51 trade-offs) with published evidence of relationships with urban ecosystems, where decisions about urban ecosystems affect humanities ability to realise greater welfare and well-being, and build physical and social infrastructure. These findings highlight that sustainable management of urban ecosystems cannot be achieved without addressing other issues such as economic growth, equality or good governance. Translating these interlinkages into a strategy supported by all actors in society is important for achieving sustainable urban ecosystem management.
... However, our understanding of urban biodiversity remains limited (Beninde, Veith, & Hochkirch, 2015;Faeth, Bang, & Saari, 2011). One reason for this is the difficulties associated with biodiversity assessment, such as gaining repeated access to survey sites and the resource intensity of traditional methods (Farinha-Marques, Lameiras, Fernandes, Silva, & Guilherme, 2011). This inhibits our ability to conduct the large-scale assessment that is necessary for understanding urban ecosystems. ...
1.Cities support unique and valuable ecological communities, but understanding urban wildlife is limited due to the difficulties of assessing biodiversity. Ecoacoustic surveying is a useful way of assessing habitats, where biotic sound measured from audio recordings is used as a proxy for population abundance and/or activity. However, existing algorithms systematically over‐ and underestimate measures of biotic activity in the presence of typical urban non‐biotic sounds in recordings. 2.We develop CityNet, a deep learning system using convolutional neural networks (CNNs), to measure audible biotic (CityBioNet) and anthropogenic (CityAnthroNet) acoustic activity in cities. The CNNs were trained on a large dataset of annotated audio recordings collected across Greater London, UK. Using a held‐out test dataset, we compare the precision and recall of CityBioNet and CityAnthroNet separately to the best available alternative algorithms: four Acoustic Indices: Acoustic Complexity Index, Acoustic Diversity Index, Bioacoustic Index, and Normalised Difference Soundscape Index, and a state‐of‐the‐art bird call detection CNN (bulbul). We also compare the effect of non‐biotic sounds on the predictions of CityBioNet and bulbul. Finally we apply CityNet to describe acoustic patterns of the urban soundscape in two sites along an urbanisation gradient. 3.CityBioNet was the best performing algorithm for measuring biotic activity in terms of precision and recall, followed by bulbul, while the Acoustic Indices performed worst. CityAnthroNet outperformed the Normalised Difference Soundscape Index, but by a smaller margin than CityBioNet achieved against the competing algorithms. The CityBioNet predictions were impacted by mechanical sounds, whereas air traffic and wind sounds influenced the bulbul predictions. Across an urbanisation gradient, we show that CityNet produced realistic daily patterns of biotic and anthropogenic acoustic activity from real‐world urban audio data. 4.Using CityNet, it is possible to automatically measure biotic and anthropogenic acoustic activity in cities from audio recordings. If embedded within an autonomous sensing system, CityNet could produce environmental data for cites at large‐scales and facilitate investigation of the impacts of anthropogenic activities on wildlife. The algorithms, code and pre‐trained models are made freely available in combination with two expert‐annotated urban audio datasets to facilitate automated environmental surveillance in cities. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... Local scale abiotic components affecting urban biodiversity include topography (Loke et al. 2015), soil conditions (Stein et al. 2014), sun and shade conditions (Kajihara et al. 2016), substrate diversity (Halliday et al. 2015), presence of organic decomposable material (e.g. deadwood; Farinha-Marques et al. 2011), and presence of ecotones (i.e. natural transition zones between adjacent ecological systems; Goertzen and Suhling 2012). ...
Implementation of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) as part of cities’ transition towards climate resilience encompasses unique opportunities to enhance urban nature qualities. SUDS include individual elements integrated in the urban landscape, e.g. rain gardens or wet basins, which are usually constructed with low structural heterogeneity. Structural heterogeneity of habitats is, however, associated with a high degree of biodiversity. This study explored potentials of habitat heterogeneity enhancement in SUDS using structural heterogeneity as a proxy for biodiversity potential. In an interdisciplinary workshop, landscape architects and urban ecologists designed individual SUDS elements with enhanced structural habitat heterogeneity, hereafter bio-SUDS. The redesigned SUDS elements were infiltration trench, curb extension, rain garden, swale, wet basin, and dry basin. To evaluate the bio-SUDS designs, we developed an index of habitat heterogeneity in SUDS based on registration of 45 structurally important components. The conversion from standard SUDS to bio-SUDS entailed substantial increases in structural heterogeneity ranging from 4 to 18 additional components within elements. Larger bio-SUDS elements returned higher index scores, but the relative score increases were substantial for all bio-SUDS and in the range of a factor of 2–5.5. Increased terrain differences, meandering edges, stones, gravel, boulders, deadwood, and brown roof-like vegetation were the components most often employed in the bio-SUDS designs. In conclusion, implementation of bio-SUDS has potential to increase structural habitat heterogeneity thereby providing habitat for biodiversity in urban green areas. The developed bio-SUDS index can assist in future assessments of ecological qualities in designs and real-world SUDS elements.
... The quality of ecosystem functions and services depends in part on the overall level and health of biodiversity ( Balvanera et al., 2006;Cardinale et al., 2006;Hector and Bagchi, 2007;Duffy et al., 2007;Isbell et al., 2011;Hooper et al., 2012;Pasari et al., 2013;Tilman et al., 2014;Lefcheck and Duffy, 2015). In line with research on biodiversity in natural and semi-natural areas, urban biodiversity has received in- creasing attention in recent years (Farinha-Marques et al., 2011;Müller and Kamada, 2011;Elmqvist et al., 2013;Murgui and Hedblom, 2017). Biodiversity loss in the Southern Hemisphere in particular is a challenge influencing the quality and quantity of ecosystem services and thereby the quality of human life ( Chambers et al., 2013;Jupiter et al., 2014;Urban, 2015;Taylor and Kumar, 2016;Rastandeh et al., 2017b). ...
Biodiversity loss in urban landscapes is a global challenge. Climate change is a major driving force behind biodiversity loss worldwide. Using Wellington, New Zealand as a research site, the aim of this research is to show how the most suitable patches of vegetation in urban landscapes can be identified, ranked, and prioritised as potential urban wildlife sanctuaries. This is in order to protect vulnerable indigenous fauna from some of the indirect impacts of climate change such as increased predator pressures and the spread of diseases among urban fauna caused by rising temperatures. A GIS-based multi-criteria analysis of spatial composition and configuration of patches of vegetation was undertaken with reference to eight factors affecting the quality of habitat patches and accordingly fauna behaviours in urban landscapes. Results show that Zealandia, the Wellington Botanic Garden, the Town Belt, and Otari-Wilton’s Bush are respectively the most important urban sites for establishing pest-free urban wildlife sanctuaries in the study area. This research reveals that patch size should not be considered as the single most important factor for the site selection of urban wildlife sanctuaries because the collective importance of other factors may outweigh the significance of patch size as a single criterion. Lessons learned in the course of this research can be applied in similar cases in New Zealand or internationally in order to facilitate the process of site selection for the establishment of urban wildlife sanctuaries in highly fragmented urban landscapes suffering from rising temperatures and other climatic changes.
To provide children more opportunities to interact with nature, an increasing number of schools are ‘greening’ their schoolyards by including abiotic and biotic elements such as vegetation, sand, water, logs, and stones. Although the value of these green, nature-rich schoolyards is increasingly acknowledged, research has focused on a narrow set of child development outcomes. This paper presents a conceptual framework that gives insight into the potential short- and long-term benefits of green schoolyards related to children’s physical, cognitive, social-emotional, and moral development, and the pathways through which they may occur. We argue that a green schoolyard can facilitate diverse behaviors and activities, provide sensory and embodied nature experiences, provide a restorative environment, support biodiversity, and provide a resilient environment that supports climate resilience and mitigates environmental nuisance. These five functions of green schoolyards can act as pathways to help foster healthy child development. In doing so, the framework provides guidance for future research. Although more research is needed to validate the conceptual framework, it seems that through the proposed pathways, green schoolyards can be a promising nature-based intervention to promote healthy child development.
To select plant species for particulate matter (PM) removal from urban environments, it is important to consider the plant species’ ecosystem (dis)services and environmental suitability in addition to their effectiveness in PM removal. In this study, 61 plant species were ranked for PM removal using three separate models: (i) leaf traits, (ii) leaf saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM), and (iii) ecosystem services and disservices. The plant species’ effectiveness in PM accumulation and the effective leaf traits were identified using leaf SIRM. In each model, plant species were assigned scores and weights for each criterion. The weighted average or the product (Π)-value was calculated for each plant species. The weighted average of each plant species was multiplied by the scores of leaf longevity and leaf area index (LAI) to scale up to a yearly basis and per unit of ground surface area. The preference ranking organization method for enrichment of evaluations (PROMETHEE) method was employed for the services and disservices model because of the lack of precise weights for the included criteria in the model. A scenario analysis was performed to determine a change in the ranking of plant species when the weights of the criteria were modified in the services and disservices model. The plant species with increased ecosystem services and reduced ecosystem disservices were Tilia cordata (Mill.), Tilia platyphyllos (Scop.), Alnus incana (L.), Acer campestre (L.), and Picea abies (L.). The findings of this study can be relevant to urban planners for recommending suitable choices of plant species for the development of urban green spaces.
Com a emergência do conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável e seus desdobramentos, um dos grandes desafios que persiste é o de como avaliar os impactos das atividades socioeconômicas sobre o meio ambiente, assim como os avanços alcançados rumo à sustentabilidade. Dentre os instrumentos desenvolvidos e aperfeiçoados, desde a década de 1970, os indicadores de sustentabilidade surgiram, primeiro como indicadores ambientais, evoluíram para indicadores de avaliação das dimensões de desenvolvimento sustentável de forma independente, até se chegar aos indicadores de sustentabilidade, quando as diferentes dimensões passaram a ser articuladas. Indicadores de biodiversidade urbana são uma das variações de indicadores de
sustentabilidade, com foco na avaliação das perdas crescentes da biodiversidade com a degradação dos ecossistemas e suas consequências, assim como dos benefícios de sua conservação. Nesse sentido, este estudo teve como objetivo, propor uma estrutura conceitual de indicadores de biodiversidade urbana, visando seu monitoramento e avaliação. A pesquisa propõe uma estrutura conceitual de indicadores de biodiversidade urbana, como base para a avaliação de sustentabilidade. Para isso, a metodologia adotada baseou-se na revisão sistemática de literatura e análise de conteúdo, utilizando-se de método misto para caracterizar quantitativa e qualitativamente as inferências de uso de indicadores de biodiversidade urbana na avaliação da sustentabilidade das cidades. A partir da análise de como as propostas de avaliação de sustentabilidade urbana, presentes na literatura, são descritas pelos autores, foi possível identificar nove principais tendências temáticas que englobam a sustentabilidade urbana. A categorização dos indicadores de sustentabilidade urbana, de acordo com as possibilidades de uso, demonstrou uma maior tendência temática sobre os serviços ecossistêmicos, sugerindo que os clusters priorizam na sua maioria o valor instrumental da biodiversidade. A estrutura conceitual proposta considerou o modelo PEIR – Pressão, Estado, Impacto e Resposta. A partir dos resultados, concluiu-se que existe predominância de abordagens tais como, ecologia urbana, existência de áreas verdes urbanas, desafios para o paisagismo urbano, parques urbanos, relação cidade e sociedade e interferências da expansão urbana no meio ambiente. Essa predominância, se deve a aproximação da temática de
sustentabilidade urbana e biodiversidade e justifica-se por serem os mais citados entre as publicações analisadas. Esses dados demonstram que há uma preocupação em discutir a relação da urbanização e o crescimento populacional e como esses elementos podem interferir no processo funcional dos ecossistemas naturais. Através desta pesquisa foi possível identificar as principais ferramentas de avaliação de sustentabilidade urbana propostas na literatura. A categorização dos indicadores de sustentabilidade urbana, aqui empreendida, permitiu também estabelecer um caminho teórico e metodológico para inserir indicadores de biodiversidade nos processos de avaliação.
Climate change adaptation is essential to mitigate risks, such as extreme weather events triggered by global warming and amplified in dense urban environments. Ecosystem-based adaptation measures, such as urban greening, are promoted in cities because of their flexibility and their positive side effects, such as human health benefits, ecological effects, climate mitigation and a range of social benefits. While individual co-benefits of greening measures are well studied, often in public green spaces, few studies quantify co-benefits comprehensively, leaving social benefits particularly understudied. In this study, we perform biophysical and socio-cultural assessments of co-benefits provided by semi-public, residential greening in four courtyards with varying green structures. We quantify effects on thermal comfort, biodiversity, carbon storage and social interaction. We further assess the importance of these co-benefits to people in the neighbourhood. Subsequently, we weight the results from the biophysical assessments with the socio-cultural values to evaluate how even small differences in green structures result in differences in the provision of co-benefits. Results show that, despite relatively small differences in green structures, the residential courtyards with a higher green volume clearly generate more co-benefits than the residential yards with less green, particularly for thermal comfort. Despite differences in the valuation of co-benefits in the neighbourhood, socio-cultural weights did not change the outcome of the comparative assessment. Our results highlight that a deliberate management strategy, possibly on neighbourhood-scale, could enhance co-benefits and contribute to a more sustainable urban development.
Current academic debate suggests that landscape architects have a crucial role in the conservationof engaging of biodiversity within urban and peri-urban contexts. By modulating the visual and physical interaction between humans and wildlife habitats, landscape architecture projects foster an aesthetic experience of biodiversity, contributing to shaping human understanding of its ecological value. This article discusses the relationship between landscape architecture and the promotion of biodiversity in Italy through a critical reading of a variety of design interventions ranging from the enhancement of sites included within nature reserves, to the reconstruction of lost natural habitats, to the inclusion of existing habitats in newly designed urban landscapes. Proposing four different typologies of spatial practices, defined according to the projects’ ability to engage visual perception and bodily movement, this paper aims at positioning the Italian context within the current global discussion on the role of landscape architecture in eliciting an aesthetic experience of biodiversity.
Urbanization is causing rapid loss of important habitats for wildlife and most birds in urban areas are therefore unable to maintain a viable population due to poor habitat. However, some birds are able to retreat to urban greenspaces for safety and survival such that these areas may sometimes support high biodiversity. Understanding the dynamics that shape the distribution of birds in urban greenspaces is therefore necessary for setting priorities to improve outcomes for biodiversity conservation. In this study, we investigated the key drivers of bird species richness and abundance in greenspaces of institutional campuses. We surveyed a total of 53 transects (each of 500-meters in length and 200 meters wide) in 15 institutional campuses in Plateau State, North-Central Nigeria for bird species. We sampled habitat level variables at every 100 m section of the transect, and also obtained landscape-level variables such as campus size and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from satellite imagery. Data analysis revealed that bird species richness and abundance differed significantly between campus types (highly, moderately and sparsely woody). We identified campus age, number of tree species and number of shrubs as strong and positive predictors of avifauna. Pedestrian and vehicular traffic however, were negatively related to bird species richness and abundance. We recommend that conservation effort and management planning should focus on the planting and growth of multiple components of vegetation structure with diverse trees and shrub complexity.
Ce chapitre propose un état des lieux des connaissances sur le rôle de la biodiversité dans le fonctionnement des socio-écosystèmes des territoires urbains et artificialisés de la Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Bien que par définition, les socio-écosystèmes urbains et artificialisés présentent une forte proportion de surfaces imperméabilisées, peu propice à l’installation durable de la biodiversité, un certain nombre d’espèces animales et végétales ont réussi à s’y adapter et les espaces verts sont devenus des espaces de vie pour les populations de ces territoires. Au-delà du bienfait du végétal pour le bien-être des habitants ou la création d’espaces récréatifs, la biodiversité est devenue un support direct de l’agriculture urbaine en plein essor. Ces pratiques très diversifiées à la fois par le nombre important d’espèces cultivées ou élevées et par les modes d’organisation et de fonctionnement sont à l’origine de processus créant des liens sociaux et offrant de meilleures conditions de vie aux populations urbaines. La biodiversité des systèmes urbains et artificialisés procure également des services de régulation, notamment de la température, de la pollution de l’air, du sol et de l’eau. Les bénéfices économiques, environnementaux et culturels que la société retire de ces services fournis par la biodiversité ont à la fois des valeurs marchandes et non marchandes. Les agglomérations tendent ainsi à intégrer d’avantage d’espaces verts, naturels ou créés par l’Homme, dans l’aménagement de leur territoire et aussi à mieux connaitre la biodiversité hébergée et la diversité paysagère. Cependant, l’urbanisation reste un facteur ayant un impact très négatif sur les milieux naturels et la biodiversité. A cela s’ajoutent les facteurs concomitants tels que les divers types de pollution (chimique, lumineuse, sonore) et d’infrastructures (bâtiments, infrastructures de transport, etc) qui participent aussi au déclin de la biodiversité.
The concept of ecosystem services (ES) has risen to prominence based on its promise to vastly improve environmental decision‐making and to represent nature's many benefits to people. Yet the field has continued to be plagued by fundamental concerns, leading some to believe that the field of ES must mature or be replaced. In this paper, we quantitatively survey a stratified random sample of more than 1,000 articles addressing ES across three decades of scholarship. Our purpose is to examine the field's attention to common critiques regarding insufficient credible valuations of realistic changes to services; an unjustified preoccupation with monetary valuation; and too little social and policy research (e.g. questions of access to and demand for services). We found that very little of the ES literature includes valuation of biophysical change (2.4%), despite many biophysical studies of services (24%). An initially small but substantially rising number of papers address crucial policy (14%) and social dimensions, including access, demand and the social consequences of change (5.8%). As well, recent years have seen a significant increase in non‐monetary valuation (from 0% to 2.5%). Ecosystem service research has, we summarize, evolved in meaningful ways. But some of its goals remain unmet, despite the promise to improve environmental decisions, in part because of a continued pre‐occupation with numerical valuation often without appropriate biophysical grounding. Here we call for a next generation of research: Integrative biophysical‐social research that characterizes ES change, and is coupled with multi‐metric and qualitative valuation, and context‐appropriate decision‐making. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Since the estimation of anthropogenic heating is always problematic in medium-sized cities because of data lacking, we intended to test how much the omission of such data influences the physical consistency in a numerical model (Weather Research and Forecasting – WRF). It was hypothesized that anthropogenic heating is an important input for the model, even in a relatively small urban area, therefore we adapted three different approaches to quantify its spatiotemporal distribution over Szeged, Hungary. Four numerical experiments were performed in the WRF coupled with the single layer canopy scheme, which included the calculated fluxes and an anthropogenic flux-free reference case. By comparing the experiments, we had the opportunity to determine the effects of different anthropogenic heating scenarios on certain meteorological variables near the surface and in the overlying urban boundary layer. The maximum anthropogenic heat release was estimated to be ranging between 0.6 and 31.2 W/m² in Szeged, with higher values on winter days. This heat surplus contributed to a maximum increase of 1.5 °C in the simulated near-surface air temperature. Depending on the rate of anthropogenic heat release, the urban boundary layer became deeper, and the mixing of heat and momentum was more efficient. Our results have demonstrated that without the consideration of anthropogenic heating, numerical simulations performed to cities similar to Szeged cannot be physically complete.
Background: It is important that people know the fauna occurring around the city and within it, because people could present a more positive relationship toward animals and valorize the fauna. This knowledge may vary due to cultural features of the region, as well as social characteristics of the person, such as: educational level and frequency of visits to green areas. This study aimed to evaluate if the knowledge about the faunistic diversity of an urban park varied in relation to the profile of the visitors.
Methods: Parque Estadual do Cocó is a conservation unit, located in the Fortaleza municipality in Ceará state, which has a very diverse fauna. We collected the data between September and October 2018 using a structured questionnaire applied with 126 park visitors.
Results: We observed that visitors only know 31.57% of the fauna of the Parque Estadual do Cocó and usually find 1.05 ± 1.29 animals during the activities realized in the place. “Common marmoset” ( Callithrix jacchus ) and “Great egret” ( Ardea alba ) were the most cited species, with respectively 102 and 63 citations, while “Crab-eating raccoon” ( Procyon cancrivorus ) and “American purple gallinule” ( Porphyrio martinicus ) were the less cited, with 22 and 16 citations. We did not notice a relationship between the knowledge about the Park fauna with frequency of visitation, but we noticed a positive relation between the number of animals sighted and frequency. The most cited source of information about the Park native species was information boards, but there was no relation between the presence of boards with an animal species of the Park and the knowledge of visitor about them.
Conclusions: Visitors do not know the species richness of the Park, even with a high frequency of visitation and the presence of information boards about the Park fauna. However, a high frequency of visitation allowed people to see more animals throughout these visitations. Possibly, more direct alternatives to inform visitors about the native fauna of the Park can bring more positive results than just the sightings and simply the presence of information boards.
The importance of knowing the effect of the advance of urbanization on biodiversity is becoming increasingly important, so it is necessary to increase the number of investigations in these environments. This study was conducted in the city of Arequipa, Peru, trying to cover urban, suburban and rural environments, relating the effects on the richness and abundance of birds on this gradient, finding during the study period a lower richness of bird species in urban environments with dominance of some species (Columba livia and Turdus chiguanco), while in rural environments there were greater equity of abundance and greater richness of species. More studies are needed on a long time scale to have a better understanding of this dynamic.
Green infrastructure is a strategic, planned network of natural, semi-natural and artificial features and networks designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services and quality of life benefits (European Commission, 2016; European Commission, 2012; Tzoulas et al., 2007; Bowen & Parry, 2015). In an urban setting, green infrastructure networks may include traditional parks, woodlands, wetlands, rivers, private gardens, street trees, allotments, playing fields, cemeteries and newer innovations such as green roofs and sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) (GLA, 2015a; Wilebore & Wentworth, 2013). This report reviews the benefits, costs and risks of green infrastructure for air quality, surface water management, biodiversity and human health and wellbeing in London. Green infrastructure can improve air quality by providing barriers to sources of pollution such as busy roads. Plants also remove pollution from the air. Surface water management that aims to reduce local flood risk and water pollution can benefit from green infrastructure which slows down runoff, captures pollutants and increases the amount of water soaking into the ground instead of running into drains. Increasing habitat and connectivity of green spaces in London
can encourage greater abundance and diversity of species. A diversity of planting encourages invertebrate diversity, which provides a food source for animals such as birds and bats. Access to green spaces has been demonstrated to improve human physical and mental health. Physical activity may be higher in areas with access to good quality green space. Exposure to nature and a green environment reduces anxiety and improves mental ill-health. Green spaces and infrastructure may also be associated with improved wellbeing, lower crime rates and a stronger sense of place, but this needs to be considered in a social context. ‘Green gentrification’ can benefit wealthier, able-bodied residents to the detriment of more vulnerable groups.
Evaluating the costs and benefits of green infrastructure is complicated by its multi-functional nature. The costs of green infrastructure need to be considered on a project-by-project basis. It is difficult to assign costs to specific services or benefits provided by a green infrastructure component. In addition to economic costs for installation and maintenance there may be other dis-benefits that need to be accounted for and managed. Trees and plants may have negative impacts due to pollen dispersal and emission of volatile organic compounds and ozone which can contribute to air pollution. Tree roots and branches may also damage roads and pavements, and leaves require sweeping. Insects, birds and other species can contribute to increasing the cost of pest control and cleaning. Not all green infrastructure components are suitable in all conditions. More detailed monitoring of air pollution, biodiversity and surface water is needed to support better prediction of environmental quality and the impact of green infrastructure. There is a risk that green infrastructure components may be implemented inappropriately, undermining benefits and increasing costs and likelihood of failure. There is also the risk that, unless green infrastructure is well integrated into the urban environment, it can become a space that is visited for a specific activity, rather than being used and experienced
on a daily basis. There are concerns that infrequent use of green space may reduce its capacity to provide health and wellbeing benefits and limit social cohesion (GLA, 2015a). Green infrastructure provides considerable benefits to London, and better integration and connection within the city could further enhance London’s ability to respond to these problems. Accounting for the costs and risks associated with green
infrastructure, and addressing the need to strengthen the evidence base about its function and impacts alongside its benefits, will allow for more robust decision making and adaptive approaches to planning and management.
In this introduction, the neologism “naturbanity” is discussed as an expression of the necessity for cities endowed with a national park to integrate it into their functioning. Conversely, such parks must take into account their location in an urban environment, both as a source of heavy pressures on nature and as a nexus of incentives to support its conservation. What we call the principle of non-exclusivity (neither the city nor the park has a right nor even the possibility to negate the other’s presence) summarises the main argument of our book. The fact that park and city must live together, for better or for worse, must be considered empirically: the challenge of informal settlement encroachment and industrial pollution etc., may be balanced by the support of urban “civil society” for funding parks and awareness of ecosystem services provided by the park to the city, etc. It must also be considered philosophically, since naturbanity blurs the old “ modern” dichotomy of nature/culture: animals and human beings can often jump the physical and ideological wall separating many parks from the adjacent city. This introduction concludes by illuminating the structure of the book.
The ways urban communities can foster native plants and animals as part of the biodiversity of their neighbourhoods, and the social implications, are being reconceived. Traditionally, nature conservation efforts have focused on protecting threatened species and habitat on public land and educating residents about the need for conservation, with minimal recognition of how households can play active roles on their own land. We see how community champions and personal relationships have influenced how nature is valued and conserved in Knox City (a municipality in Melbourne Australia). We place this story within a historical perspective of nature conservation in cities internationally, and trace the links between planning and conservation in Melbourne. Turning to the present we describe research on an innovative collaboration between a community group and council (Knox Gardens for Wildlife) that engages residents to garden to conserve native biodiversity (wildlife gardening), complementing Knox Council's biodiversity conservation activities. We find that the program provides biodiversity and social benefits to the community, including contributions to participants' wellbeing and connections with nature and community. Underpinning factors include a face-to-face garden assessment, physical hubs for advice and support, visible involvement of volunteers and Council, and the endorsement of each garden's potential conservation contribution. We propose how similar partnerships can reframe the role of urban citizens and households in fostering municipal biodiversity, and suggest future lines of enquiry.
Urban areas harbour diverse nature ranging from semi-natural habitats to wastelands, parks and other highly human-in¯uenced biotopes with their associated species assemblages. Maintenance of this urban biodiversity for the residents and for its intrinsic value in the face of increasing population and expanding cities requires that ecological knowledge should be better integrated into urban planning. To achieve this goal understanding of ecological patterns and processes in urban ecosystems is needed. The ®rst step in the necessary urban ecological research is to ®nd out what kind of nature exists in cities. Second, knowledge about ecological processes important in urban nature is required. Although ecological processes in cities are the same as in rural areas, some of them, such as invasion by alien species, are more prevalent in urban than in rural conditions. Third, based on ecological knowledge, management schemes maintaining the diversity of urban nature should be designed. These procedures should also include protection of urban nature, e.g. in urban national parks. Finally, as ecology alone cannot provide the complex information about human in¯uence on urban ecosystems, interdisciplinary research involving natural and social sciences is imperative for a holistic approach to integrating ecology into the process of urban planning.
A comparative study of butterfly communities in 15 urban/suburban remnants of tropical semideciduous forest in Campinas (São Paulo state, SE Brazil; 24°S, 47°W), with areas from 1.0 to 252 ha and widely varying histories and environments, shows that the most significant factors, besides area and sampling time, distinguishing the sites and influencing their diversity (80–702 species) and composition are connectivity, permanent water, vegetation, flowers, and human impact (negative, including pollution). The diversified Nymphalidae butterflies (38–213 species) and especially two fermented-bait-attracted groups (Satyrinae, 2–30 species, and Biblidini, 9–44 species), are among the more useful indicators of the quality and diversity of the environments in these fragments. Effective conservation of butterfly communities in tropical cities may be achieved by maintenance of arboreal green corridors along streets and watercourses between moderately large (>10 ha) humid areas, not near to the most built-up or polluted city centre(s), and the inclusion within these areas of ponds or streams, diversified native forest, and open vegetation including abundant nectar-rich flowers.
The unequal distribution of wealth in cities contributes to other forms of spatial, social, and biological inequities in complex, interacting, and self-reinforcing ways. Recent work on urban birds has often focused on community-level correlation studies of short duration in which many points along an urban gradient are surveyed for birds, and the data are related to various ecological variables measured at multiple scales. Spatial variation in urban bird communities may also reflect socioeconomic variables and cultural differences among the human population. The purpose of this paper was to examine whether socioeconomic factors (such as mean family income and ethnic diversity) also relate to the diversity and abundance of birds in Vancouver, British Columbia. I used redundancy analysis to characterize the socioeconomic gradient in a citywide study of the bird community in 44 census-defined neighborhoods. Mean family income, census tract area, and ethnicity were some of the dominant variables that correlated with most of the variation in the bird community. I found no direct relationship between neighborhood age and bird diversity and abundance. Results demonstrate that wealthier neighborhoods have more native species of birds and that these native species increase in abundance as the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood improves. With two-thirds of the world's population expected to live in cities by 2030, more and more people will grow up surrounded by a depauperate community of birds, and this could adversely affect the way people perceive, appreciate, and understand nature. Ultimately, as city birdlife diminishes and urban dwellers become dissociated from the natural diversity it represents, popular support for preserving and restoring such diversity may wane, allowing ecological conditions to further erode.
Recent advances in remote sensing and the adoption of geographic information systems (GIS) have greatly increased the availability of high-resolution spatial and attribute data for examining the relationship between social and vegetation structure in urban areas. There are several motivations for understanding this relationship. First, the United States has experienced a significant increase in the extent of urbanized land. Second, urban foresters increasingly recognize their need for data about urban forestry types, owners and property regimes, and associated social goods, benefits, and services. Third, previous research has focused primarily on the distribution of vegetation cover or diversity. However, little is known about (1) whether vegetation structure varies among urban neighborhoods and (2) whether the motivations, pathways, and capacities for vegetation management vary among households and communities. In this article, we describe novel data and methods from Baltimore, MD, and the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) to address these two questions.
In this paper we develop a method for the general monitoring of the biodiversity in (sub)urban parks. The method works along two lines, that of habitat diversity and that of species diversity. On the habitat level we measure the diversity in so called ‘habitat units’. These units are divided in planar, linear and punctual elements. For each category we calculate a Shannon–Wiener diversity index and a saturation index. The latter is the ratio of the diversity index compared to the maximum diversity possible. On the species level we use the species number and diversity index of vascular plants, as measured in random sampling plots of 100m2 (for trees and shrubs) and 4m2 (for herbaceous vegetation). In addition, we also use the species number of butterflies, amphibians and breeding birds. These numbers are compared with the total species number in Flanders, resulting in a saturation index per park for butterflies, amphibians and breeding birds. In this way 20 biodiversity indicators are obtained. The proposed method was applied to the municipal park of Loppem (West-Flanders, Belgium), from which the necessary time budget has been calculated. Since it is the first application of a new method and no reference to other parks is available, the proposed bioindicators have been compared with criteria given in the literature on the selection of biodiversity indicators.
Since the social values of urban woodlands are not always sufficiently taken into account in decision-making on urban land-use and green space planning, new means of collecting the experienced values of urban green areas and integrating this information into the planning processes are needed. The main aim of this study was to develop a simple method to describe the experienced qualities of green areas for strategic green area planning purposes. In a postal survey conducted in Helsinki, Finland, general attitudes towards and benefits felt to be derived from green areas as well as site specific information about the experience values were gathered. Local residents were asked to identify, those areas on a map of the study area that had particular positive qualities, such as beautiful scenery, peace and quiet and the feeling of being in a forest as well as those areas with negative features. These results were compiled in map form using GIS software. The results highlight the most valued sites as well as problem areas within the study area. The most important features associated with favourite places were: tranquillity, the feeling of being in a forest, and naturalness. The results suggest that the method is communicative and relatively easy to use in both collaborative green area planning and land-use planning.
The residential vegetation features in urban landscapes play an important role as indicators regarding urban biodiversity potential and cultural changing. They also include ornamental resources in the context to landscape appreciation for human environment. Therefore, this paper provides quantitative information on the distribution of plant species in urban residential landscape areas of Trabzon city (Turkey). In a total of 218 sampled areas, 274 plants species belonging to 70 families were surveyed with respect to residential use types of the city. The study results showed that among the species recorded in five residential type (traditional housing, detached housing, villa, apartment blocks and sites, mass housing for employees), non-native taxa frequency of a total species are much and dominantly represent residential landscape structure. Additionally, the species richness and diversity is positively related to new urban development areas. But, it was clearly determined that the vegetation structure has tended to ornamental purposes different from traditional residential gardens including fruit and other benefiting species. Consequently, it can be evidence that the residential vegetation is ornamental plant resources to urban biodiversity and that the distribution of the species in urban landscapes follows necessities of city and human quality.
We examined the biodiversity of urban habitats in Birmingham (England) using a combination of field surveys of plants and carabid beetles, genetic studies of four species of butterflies, modelling the anthropochorous nature of the floral communities and spatially explicit modelling of selected mammal species. The aim of the project was to: (i) understand the ecological characteristics of the biota of cities model, (ii) examine the effects of habitat fragment size and connectivity upon the ecological diversity and individual species distributions, (iii) predict biodiversity in cities, and (iv) analyse the extent to which the flora and fauna utilise the,urban greenways' both as wildlife corridors and as habitats in their own right. The results suggest that cities provide habitats for rich and diverse range of plants and animals, which occur sometimes in unlikely recombinant communities. The studies on carabids and butterflies illustrated the relative importance of habitat quality on individual sites as opposed to site location within the conurbation. This suggests that dispersal for most of our urban species is not a limiting factor in population persistence, although elements of the woodland carabid fauna did appear to have some geographical structuring. Theoretical models suggested that dormice and water voles may depend on linear habitats for dispersal. The models also indicated that other groups, such as small and medium sized mammals, may use corridors, although field-based research did not provide any evidence to suggest that plants or invertebrates use urban greenways for dispersal. This finding indicates the importance of identifying a target species or group of species for urban greenways intended as dispersal routeways rather than as habitat in their own right. Their importance for most groups is rather that greenways provide a chain of different habitats permeating the urban environment. We suggest that planners can have a positive impact on urban biodiversity by slowing the pace of redevelopment and by not hurrying to tidy up and redevelop brownfield sites. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
It has been proposed that inbreeding contributes to the decline and
eventual extinction of small and isolated populations,. There is ample
evidence of fitness reduction due to inbreeding (inbreeding depression)
in captivity and from a few experimental, and observational field
studies,, but no field studies on natural populations have been
conducted to test the proposed effect on extinction. It has been argued
that in natural populations the impact of inbreeding depression on
population survival will be insignificant in comparison to that of
demographic and environmental stochasticity,. We have now studied the
effect of inbreeding on local extinction in a large metapopulation of
the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia). We found that
extinction risk increased significantly with decreasing heterozygosity,
an indication of inbreeding, even after accounting for the effects of
the relevant ecological factors. Larval survival, adult longevity and
egg-hatching rate were found to be adversely affected by inbreeding and
appear to be the fitness components underlying the relationship between
inbreeding and extinction. To our knowledge, this is the first
demonstration of an effect of inbreeding on the extinction of natural
populations. Our results are particularly relevant to the increasing
number of species with small local populations due to habitat loss and
fragmentation.
Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Eptesicus serotinus, Nyctalus noctula, N. leisleri, Myotis daubentonii, M. myotis, unidentified small Myotis spp. and Plecotus spp. were recorded during bat detector transects within a central European city of 350,000 inhabitants. Bats were recorded in all seven habitat types under study, the levels of activity for each species and habitat type were significantly different. The relative activity of the whole bat community was highest in old outskirts (low density housing) and at the river, and lowest in the city centre and new housing estates (high density housing). Significant differences were found in the timing of bat activity during the night and the season. Within the first two hours after sunset, relative activity of P. pipistrellus and E. serotinus was highest in the first 0.5 h and decreased thereafter. In N. noctula, it was highest during the second and third 0.5 h and in Myotis spp. it was low in the first 0.5 h and increased till the end of monitoring. Flying bats were recorded from March till October; the lunar cycle had no significant effect on the amount of flight activity. The relative activity of E. serotinus was positively correlated with temperature. No significant correlation was found between the activity of bats and the number of trees and streetlamps per transect. Comparison with the results of an earlier visual census showed that more bats were recorded acoustically than visually except in the city centre. This is attributed to the effect of white streetlamps during the visual census. During the acoustic census, most white lamps were replaced by yellow lamps which biased the impact of lamps on bat traffic. Nevertheless, bat species known to benefit from white streetlamps remained the most common foragers within the city.
Urban and suburban parks can play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity, especially in a strongly urbanised region like Flanders (Belgium). A previously developed method for monitoring biodiversity was applied to 15 parks in Flanders. This method took both habitat and species diversity into account and resulted in 13 biodiversity indicators. The results show that urban and suburban parks can have a high species richness, especially if they consist of different more or less semi-natural habitats. The relationships between the biodiversity indicators and the ecological factors affecting the biodiversity were examined using multivariate analyses and correlation techniques. Park area was the main factor explaining the variation in biodiversity indicators, so larger parks could contribute more to the conservation of biodiversity than small ones. A biodiversity score based on habitat diversity and species richness was proposed to summarise and evaluate the biodiversity. This score is not correlated with the park area and is therefore considered as a reliable indicator for comparing biodiversity in parks of different area.
It is now abundantly clear that rapid urbanization is greatly transforming the spatial pattern of urban land use worldwide. Consequently, the resulting losses of urban green space at local to global level are continuously altering urban ecosystems. Recent research on this aspect has stressed on the importance of urban green spaces as well as their losses due to rapid urban growth. The importance of ecosystem services provided by urban green spaces for human well-being is gaining recognition and has been highlighted by most of the recent studies. In this short communication, we discuss the emerging trend of urban green space research and its implications for safeguarding biodiversity in line with the declaration by the United Nations that 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. [Nature and Science 2010;8(7):43-49]. (ISSN: 1545-0740).
This paper presents a review of the presentations and synthesis of the discussion during a Symposium on 'Trans-formation of rural-urban cultural landscapes in Europe: Integrating approaches from ecological, socio-economic and planning perspectives' held at the European IALE conference 2009 in Salzburg, Austria. The symposium addressed an extended and much debated subject of the landscape dynamics in Europe. The papers presented during the symposium showcased a broad spectrum of cutting edge research questions and challenges faced by the cultural landscapes of Europe. During six sessions, 18 presentations (besides 20 posters) were made by 36 scientists (including co-authors) from 14 countries, representing 25 institutions of Europe. A glance at the pres-entations revealed that the state-of-the-art focuses on driving forces and selected aspects of transformation proc-esses, methods of its analysis and planning support as dimensions of research in this field. However, inter-and transdisciplinary research and integrative approaches to the development of rural-urban cultural landscapes are needed. The extended discussion session at the latter part of the symposium highlighted some critical and unad-dressed research questions which remained a pending agenda for future research.
ABSTRACTA positive correlation between human population density and species richness has been recorded across the tropics. Here I investigate whether this correlation holds true for Europe. Analyses reveal a positive correlation between human population density and plant (rho = 0.505), mammal (rho = 0.471) and reptile and amphibian (rho = 0.556) species richness. The results are largely concordant with those obtained in similar studies for Africa. However, contrary to previous analyses, the correlation found between people and breeding bird species richness (rho = 0.186) was weak. Of three measures of endemism used, only combined European endemic species richness correlated with human density (rho = 0.437). Richness among combined restricted-range European endemics was not correlated (rho = 0.095) with human density, while richness among all combined restricted-range species was only weakly correlated with human density (rho = 0.167). The results partially support the idea of a correlation between people and biodiversity, although there are some important exceptions. Discussion of possible mechanisms underling the observed patterns is undertaken.
In a time of increasing urbanization, the fundamental value of conserving urban biodiversity remains controversial. How much of a fixed budget should be spent on conservation in urban versus nonurban landscapes? The answer should depend on the goals that drive our conservation actions, yet proponents of urban conservation often fail to specify the motivation for protecting urban biodiversity. This is an important shortcoming on several fronts, including a missed opportunity to make a stronger appeal to those who believe conservation biology should focus exclusively on more natural, wilder landscapes. We argue that urban areas do offer an important venue for conservation biology, but that we must become better at choosing and articulating our goals. We explored seven possible motivations for urban biodiversity conservation: preserving local biodiversity, creating stepping stones to nonurban habitat, understanding and facilitating responses to environmental change, conducting environmental education, providing ecosystem services, fulfilling ethical responsibilities, and improving human well-being. To attain all these goals, challenges must be faced that are common to the urban environment, such as localized pollution, disruption of ecosystem structure, and limited availability of land. There are, however, also challenges specific only to particular goals, meaning that different goals will require different approaches and actions. This highlights the importance of specifying the motivations behind urban biodiversity conservation. If the goals are unknown, progress cannot be assessed.
Urban Ecology is the study of ecosystems that include humans living in cities and urbanizing landscapes. It is an emerging, interdisciplinary field that aims to understand how human and ecological processes can coexist in human-dominated systems and help societies with their efforts to become more sustainable. It has deep roots in many disciplines including sociology, geography, urban planning, landscape architecture, engineering, economics, anthropology, climatology, public health, and ecology. Because of its interdisciplinary nature and unique focus on humans and natural systems, the term "urban ecology" has been used variously to describe the study of humans in cities, of nature in cities, and of the coupled relationships between humans and nature. Each of these research areas is contributing to our understanding of urban ecosystems and each must be understood to fully grasp the science of Urban Ecology. Therefore, in Urban Ecology: An International Perspective on the Interaction Between Humans and Nature, we introduce students and practitioners of urban ecology to its roots, bases, and prospects by way of a diverse collection of historical and modern foundational readings. The editors are urban ecologists from the United States, Italy, and Germany who together view these readings as a fair representation of the importance of both natural and social sciences to Urban Ecology. This book presents important papers in the field of Urban Ecology that both set the foundations for the discipline and to illustrate modern approaches, from a variety of perspectives and regions of the world. The editors do this by reprinting important publications, filling gaps in the published literature with a few targeted original works, and translating several key works originally published in German. The aim of this collection is to provide students, practitioners, and professionals with a rich background in some of the core facets of Urban Ecology. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
As the first step in developing a long-term citywide bird-monitoring project in Baltimore, we sought to identify how bird species composition and abundance might be related to vegetation variables and land-use/land-cover variables that are being collected to assess neighborhood change in Baltimore. In May through June 2002 we counted birds at 46 randomly located census points in Baltimore. We collected data for 15 vegetation variables along a 100-meter transect located on streets containing the bird census points. We measured seven land-use/land-cover variables in a 200-meter-radius circle centered on each census point. We used principal component analysis to identify vegetation and land-use/land-cover variables that explained differences among bird census points. We used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) to help us understand the relationship between urban bird communities and vegetation and land-use/land-cover variables and to identify bird species that might be useful indicators of changes in urban neighborhoods. Our study recorded one-third of the bird species that occur in the region during the breeding and summer seasons. We identified a subset of bird species whose abundance values are correlated with vegetation and land-use variables and may be useful in long-term monitoring projects where the objective is to relate bird species abundance and presence to measures of how urban neighborhoods change.
In urban brownfields (derelict sites), we studied the influence of local factors (successional age, vegetation structure, soil) and landscape context (spatial arrangement of brownfields of different successional stages) on the diversity of phytophagous insects, grasshoppers and leafhoppers (Orthoptera and Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). The study was conducted on a total of 246 plots in the cities of Bremen and Berlin, Germany. We used a habitat modelling approach, enabling us to predict the community from single species models (30 species in Bremen, 28 in Berlin). The results revealed that communities were predominantly determined by vegetation structure, followed by landscape context, soil parameters and site age. For most species, local factors were the most important. Only few species were strongly influenced by landscape context, even though some showed clear negative reactions to low proportions of brownfields in the surroundings. Along a successional gradient of vegetation structure, from scarce and low to dense and high vegetation, the insect community was not static. Even though species numbers remained comparatively constant, species composition changed considerably. Many species showed clear preferences for certain successional stages. Thus, maintaining the regional species pool of a city requires a mosaic of all successional stages.
Conservation of biodiversity in urban areas needs both scientific justification and public interest. However, data about the public’s perception of urban wildlife is scarce in Western Europe. To identify human perception and appreciation of urban wildlife, we studied avian communities and the public’s perceptions about birds in general, in Rennes, France, at four sectors along a gradient of decreasing urbanization: urban, and adjoining suburban, distant suburban and rural sectors. The diversity and density of birds were analyzed in Rennes during winter and spring (6 censuses). Avian diversity was highest in the distant suburban sector and lowest in urban areas. In the two intermediate sectors (adjoining and distant suburban), diversity was similar and varied little between seasons (Rennes has a relatively temperate climate). The density of birds was highest in urban areas because of the abundance of some species, including Rock Doves (Columba livia) and Swifts (Apus apus) and lowest in the rural sector. Sociological analyses of surveys conducted in Rennes (200 questionnaires) showed that human perception of birds varied with the sector of respondents. Urban dwellers perceived the different bird species (more diversity than density) and appreciated their presence, except for some species, such as Herring Gulls Larus argentatus or European Starlings Sturnus vulgaris. According to our results, efforts to increase or maintain avian biodiversity in cities appears to be justified in terms the perceived benefit to humans, both in terms of the perceived environmental and personal benefits to humans. However, when a species must be managed (e.g. roosting European Starlings), different attitudes by the public in different parts of the city may require different styles of communicating management objectives.
Although many studies have been undertaken and papers published, the understanding of the links between biological diversity and urban areas remains fragmentary and requires a systematic effort to produce a complete picture. The present chapter is a review of the literature, focused almost exclusively on recent publications (published since 2000) of species diversity in urban areas with respect to urban patterns. A variety of perspectives are considered, including the occurrence and distribution of plants and animals in relation to the landscape setting, urban matrix and gradients and the structure, size, age and connectivity of the habitats.Our review reveals that the information is heterogeneous - it differs between taxonomic groups, chosen approaches, scales and methods, and from city to city especially in various geographic regions. In particular, the effect of the landscape setting, urban matrix and habitat connectivity on the biodiversity of urban areas has not been considered insufficiently. The problem is not, as some scientists suggest, a lack of documentation or an inadequate understanding of the distribution of individual taxa in specific cities but the complexity of the determinants and the spatial and temporal dynamic of cities precluding simple answers to explain causal linkages between biological diversity and urban patterns.
Ecologists have suggested that ecological conditions in urbanizing landscapes can be described by a complex urban-to-rural gradient (McDonnell and Pickett 1990). The gradient paradigm offers a useful framework to test hypotheses on the impacts of urban development on ecological processes. These studies, however, tend to simplify the actual urban structure into monocentric agglomerations characterized by concentric rings of development surrounding a dense core. The assumption of gradient analysis is that the overall urban exposure changes predictably with distance from the urban core. Due to such simplification, current gradient studies fail to capture the effects of alternative urban development patterns on ecological processes. In this paper we argue that urban-to-rural gradients cannot be represented by the distance from the urban core. Rather they can best be described using a series of pattern metrics that link urban development to ecological conditions. Based on an analysis of land-use and land-cover patterns in the Seattle metropolitan area we propose a strategy to quantify urban patterns. We examine the behavior of various pattern metrics and propose a set of metrics useful to test formal hypotheses on the relationships between urban patterns and ecological disturbances. Finally, we discuss the implications of this empirical study for gradient analysis of metropolitan areas and for future urban ecological research.
With the continual growth of the world's urban population, biodiversity in towns and cities will play a critical role in global biodiversity. This is the first book to provide an overview of international developments in urban biodiversity and sustainable design. It brings together the views, experiences and expertise of leading scientists and designers from the industrialised and pre-industrialised countries from around the world. The contributors explore the biological, cultural and social values of urban biodiversity, including methods for assessing and evaluating urban biodiversity, social and educational issues, and practical measures for restoring and maintaining biodiversity in urban areas. Contributions come from presenters at an international scientific conference held in Erfurt, Germany 2008 during the 9th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biodiversity. This is also Part of our Conservation Science and Practice book series (with Zoological Society of London).
Questions: How can floristic diversity be evaluated in conser-vation plans to identify sites of highest interest for biodiversity? What are the mechanisms influencing the distribution of species in human-dominated environments? What are the best criteria to identify sites where active urban management is most likely to enhance floristic diversity? Location: The Hauts-de-Seine district bordering Paris, France. Methods: We described the floristic diversity in one of the most urbanized French districts through the inventory of ca. 1000 sites located in 23 habitats. We built a new index of floristic interest (IFI), integrating information on richness, indigeneity, typicality and rarity of species, to identify sites and habitats of highest interest for conservation. Finally, we explored the relationship between site IFI and land use patterns (LUP). Results: We observed a total of 626 vascular plant species. Habitats with highest IFI were typically situated in seminatural environments or environments with moderate human impact. We also showed that neighbouring (urban) structures had a significant influence on the floristic interest of sites: for example, the presence of collective dwellings around a site had a strong negative impact on IFI. Conclusions: Our approach can be used to optimize management in urban zones; we illustrate such possibilities by defining a ‘Site Potential Value’, which was then compared with the observed IFI, to identify areas (e.g. river banks) where better management could improve the district's biodiversity.
The distribution of non-ant arthropods was examined in 40 urban habitat fragments in coastal San Diego County, California, USA, to look for effects of fragmen- tation, proximity to developed edge, and the non-native Argentine ant (Linepithema humile). Arthropods were sampled with pitfall traps and by vacuum sampling from California buck- wheat shrubs (Eriogonum fasciculatum). Individual arthropods were identified to order and Recognizable Taxonomic Unit (RTU), or morphospecies. At the fragment scale we looked for correlations in the point diversity and abundance of arthropods as a function of the age and area of the fragment being sampled. At the scale of the individual sample points we looked for correlations of abundance and diversity with variables that describe the species composition of the shrub vegetation and disturbance. As indicators of disturbance we used the cover of native woody and exotic non-woody vegetation, the distance to the nearest developed edge, and the abundance of Argentine ants. The following patterns were found: (1) In general, arthropods showed a fragmentation effect with point diversity and abundance positively correlated with fragment area and negatively correlated with fragment age. (2) The pitfall samples were dominated by three primarily non-native orders, Isopoda (pillbugs), Dermaptera (earwigs), and Blattaria (roaches). Over 35% of all pitfall-captured arthropods belonged to four species in these orders. Dermaptera and Blattaria increased in abundance in smaller and older fragments, respectively. Isopod abundance, in contrast, was unrelated to fragment attributes. None of these groups appeared to be associated with edges, but were distributed throughout the fragments. (3) Point diversity and abundance in ground-active spiders appears to be enhanced by fragmentation. (4) Total pitfall RTU richness and abun- dance, and abundance or richness in the Coleoptera (vacuum), Diptera, non-ant Hymenop- tera, Hemiptera, Microcoryphia, and Acarina had significant partial negative correlations with Argentine ant abundance. The Diptera and Coleoptera had this negative partial rela- tionship with the Argentine ants despite the fact that both they and the ants were positively associated with edges. (5) In general, diversity in most orders was higher in sampling locations dominated by coastal sage scrub habitat than in those with appreciable cover of chaparral shrub species. (6) There was a strong seasonal variation in abundance and diversity in most orders. Diversity and abundance were highest in spring, intermediate in winter, and lowest in the fall. (7) Although higher trophic levels are often considered to be more sensitive to fragmentation, two groups of arthropod predators, spiders and carabid beetles, increased in abundance in older fragments. Abundance of these predators was positively correlated with the abundance of Argentine ants and the non-native Isopods, Dermaptera, and Blattaria.
Can enhancement of garden habitat for native birds have conservation benefits, or are garden bird assemblages determined by landscape and environmental characteristics? The relative roles of vegetation structure, floristics and other garden attributes, and environmental and landscape controls, on the abundance and richness of bird species in 214 back or front gardens in 10 suburbs of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, are addressed to answer this question. Birds were counted in each garden and the resources they utilized noted. Vascular plant species and other attributes of the garden were noted, along with rainfall, altitude, distance from natural vegetation, distance from the city and garden size. Garden floristics and bird assemblages were ordinated, and garden groups characterized by particular assemblages of birds identified. General linear modelling was used to determine the combinations of independent variables that best predicted the richness of birds and the abundance of individual bird species and groups of species. The models for bird richness, bird species and groups of bird species were highly individualistic. Although native birds showed a preference for native plants, they also utilized many exotic plants. Exotic birds largely utilized exotic plants. Variation in garden characteristics does substantially affect the nature of garden bird assemblages in Hobart, with weaker environmental and landscape influences. The fact that gardens can be designed and managed to favour particular species and species assemblages gives gardeners a potentially substantial role in the conservation of urban native avifauna.
ABSTRACT Cities contain over half of the world's population and are the source of many anthropogenic effects on the world's biota. Close examination of San Juan, Puerto Rico, a tropical city, reveals a significant green infrastructure. The city contains natural and human-constructed forests, urban aquatic systems with native and introduced species, and a thriving and diverse biota adapted to urban conditions. It behooves tropical ecologists to pay attention to the biodiversity of urban environments to learn lessons about ecological persistence and adaptation to novel anthropogenic environments.
The extent to which urban open space corridors meet recreational, habitat and wildlife needs is highly dependent on the degree to which the interactive effects of these uses are identified and incorporated into planning, design and management decisions. For managers who aim to enhance compatibility between people and wildlife, the challenge is to bridge the gap between established practice and a more multi-functional approach. Ultimately the aim should be to put in place an enlightened and sympathetic management regime that supports indigenous biodiversity maintainable at an acceptable cost and is compatible with providing sufficient access to cater for a wide range of recreational activities. Principles relating to site evaluation and corridor management are discussed in the context of a case study in Singapore.