Avian population dynamics and human induced change in an urban environment

The predominantly urban boroughs of Warrington and Halton straddle the river Mersey in northwest England. Since the 1970s there has been a major change in land-use associated with both innovative town design and the decline of manufacturing and chemical industries in the boroughs. Also, co-ordinated programmes have directly addressed air and water pollution. The breeding birds of the two boroughs were surveyed in 1978–84 and 2004–06 as part of the bird atlases of Cheshire and Wirral, based on tetrads (2 × 2 km squares). We divided the breeding species into eight guilds based on broad ecological characteristics of habitat or food, omitting the generalists and colonial species, and compared the change between our two atlases in the number of occupied tetrads in Halton and Warrington and in the rest of the county. Four of our eight guilds have fared significantly better within our study area: waterbirds (24 species), those feeding on invertebrates (16 species), woodland specialists (21 species) and the two species that decorate their nests with lichens. The remaining four guilds showed no difference between Halton and Warrington and the rest of Cheshire and Wirral: raptors (5 species) have increased throughout, while breeding waders (7 species), farmland seedeaters (7 species) and aerial insectivores (5 species) have declined throughout. We interpret these results in relation to improved quality of water and air and changing patterns of land-use in the urban greenspace, especially an increase in woodland cover and connectivity.     

建在果岭上的家--天津第六田园生态住宅小区

天津市第六田园生态住宅区位于天津市的南部．项目地点位于自然环境优美的梅江南地区。以多层、低密度住宅为主要建筑形式。社区整体环境设计极具特色．以起伏的坡地为主体环境基调．房子在不同高差的丰富变幻下依坡而建．力求突破传统住宅模式．以艺术化的田园风光．打造天津市独具特色的半坡生态住宅社区。     

Birds and the urban environment: the value of green walls

The simplest form of a ‘green wall’ is where self-adhering climbing plants colonise vertical surfaces, an approach that has been used on buildings for millennia (Koehler 2008). Green walls in urban areas are now well-known for their insulation and air cleaning capacities, but little is known of their value as habitats for wildlife. This paper presents preliminary findings of their value for urban birds. The abundance of birds, on 27 green walls and within the area enclosed by a semi-circle of 10 m radius immediately surrounding them, was compared with 27 walls without vegetation (bare walls) and similar surroundings. The study was carried out during the summer and winter of 2010–11 in north Staffordshire (UK). Birds exploited the green walls for various reasons (including nesting, food and shelter) but were never found on bare control walls. The roofs of buildings and the surrounding vegetation were used by birds in both regimes, but birds were more abundant in areas with green walls. The use of green walls by birds depended on the time of day, the season and whether the vegetation was evergreen or deciduous. The birds’ activity was always restricted to the upper half of the wall vegetation. Green walls and the immediate surroundings were used by some species of conservation concern in Great Britain (e.g. Passer domesticus and Sturnus vulgaris). Therefore, encouraging householders and businesses to grow vegetation up walls may be an effective way of providing a range of resources for birds in urban areas without the need for expensive additional land-take.     

Spatial distribution and the value of green spaces for urban red-tailed hawks

Raptors increasingly live and nest successfully in urban areas. In the urban landscape of Hartford, CT, red-tailed hawks established home ranges in large green spaces such as parks, golf courses, and cemeteries but also nested successfully in the commercial district of downtown and in densely built urban and suburban neighborhoods. Data collected from 11 radio-tagged breeding adult hawks indicated that year-round home ranges averaged 107.7 ha, much smaller than home ranges reported for hawks inhabiting rural areas. Most hawk home ranges had multiple core areas that were usually associated with favored perches or larger patches of ‘usable’ green space, defined as patches ≥0.25 ha in size, and home range size was positively associated with larger usable green space patches in core areas. Most nests were located in the largest core area and were within a larger patch of green space within the largest core area. Rather than just the amount or size of green space patches, the value of urban green spaces for these hawks likely also varies with the number and proximity of suitable perches such as buildings or tall trees, types and density of prey, and amount of human activity in and adjacent to these spaces. Territoriality and intraspecific competition may also influence home range size and dispersion of red-tailed hawks nesting in Hartford. In this urban area, mortality due to ingestion of rodenticides and collisions with vehicles affected hawk reproductive success.

     

Adaptive governance to promote ecosystem services in urban green spaces

Managing urban green space as part of an ongoing social-ecological transformation poses novel governance issues, particularly in post-industrial settings. Urban green spaces operate as small-scale nodes in larger networks of ecological reserves that provide and maintain key ecosystem services such as pollination, water retention and infiltration, and sustainable food production. In an urban mosaic, a myriad of social and ecological components factor into aggregating and managing land to maintain or increase the flow of ecosystem services associated with green spaces. Vacant lots (a form of urban green space) are being repurposed for multiple functions, such as habitat for biodiversity, including arthropods that provide pollination services to other green areas; to capture urban runoff that eases the burden on ageing wastewater systems and other civic infrastructure; and to reduce urban heat island effects. Because of the uncertainty and complexities of managing for ecosystem services in urban settings, we advocate for a governance approach that is adaptive and iterative in nature—adaptive governance—to address the ever changing social order underlying post-industrial cities and offer the rise of land banks as an example of governance innovation.     

Urban bird community composition influenced by size of urban green spaces,presence of native forest,and urbanization

Urban Ecosystems - Understanding what determines wildlife species richness and community composition in urban green spaces is important for wildlife management and urban planning. Numerous studies...     

Globalization and the built environment in Kuwait

This paper discusses the impact of globalization on the built environment and the tension between the forces of globalization and localization as exemplified in the case of Kuwait. It claims that globalization has been active in the countries of the Gulf area since the middle of the 20th century when they witnessed rapid development and change that permitted globalization and localization processes to be more evident and magnified than in other parts of the world. The aim of this paper is to analyze manifestations and consequences of globalization and localization processes in the built environment in Kuwait by tracing the rapid transformation of the built environment in Kuwait during the second half of the 20th century. The paper claims that the clash of styles that exists in the built environment is a product of the tension between globalization and localization processes, and that the dichotomy between the cultural forces currently shaping the built environment, i.e. modern-traditional, Islamic-Western, and local-international, is the result of this tension. While some architects attempt to integrate the local architecture into global cultural trends, others try to revive the traditional architectural style to protect the local identity and heritage. The resulting built environment is chaotic and lacks identity and sense of place. The paper concludes that the processes of globalization and localization are inseparable and that they coexist, like in many other parts of the world, in continuous state of change and interaction. There is a need for an alternative understanding of what global architecture can be; one that understands the essential need to preserve and respect diversity as well as house seemingly disparate philosophies of space, people, and their interactions with and within the built form. This approach should be reflected in professional practice, education and building regulations that govern the production of the built environment.     

Habitat patch size and tree species richness shape the bird community in urban green spaces of rapidly urbanizing Himalayan foothill region of India

Urban Ecosystems - Rapid urbanization is emerging as one of the leading threats to the biodiversity globally. But is especially a cause of concern for tropical countries which are urbanizing much...     

City-wide relationships between green spaces,urban land use and topography

The growing proportion of human populations living in urban areas, and consequent trends of increasing urban expansion and densification fuel a need to understand how urban form and land use affect environmental quality, including the availability of urban green spaces. Here we use Sheffield as a case study of city-wide relationships between urban green space extent, quality (vegetation cover and tree-cover), and gradients in urban form and topography. The total area of buildings and length of the road network are equally strong negative predictors of extent of green space, while the former predictor is a more important negative influence upon green space quality. Elevation positively influences extent of green space but negatively influences tree-cover. In contrast, slope of terrain positively influences green space quality and is the best predictor of tree-cover. Overall housing density is a more important negative predictor of extent of green space and tree-cover than the densities of individual housing types. Nevertheless, the latter are more important influences upon levels of vegetation cover. Threshold effects of densities of different housing types suggest opportunities for optimising green space quality, with implications for housing policy. Variation in ecological quality of green space may partly reflect different historical intensities of industrial activity.     

Intensive management reduces butterfly diversity over time in urban green spaces

Urban Ecosystems - Loss and fragmentation of semi-natural grasslands have had negative consequences for grassland biodiversity, such as butterflies. Urban parks and other urban green spaces have so...     

Determinants of species richness within and across taxonomic groups in urban green spaces

Urban green spaces provide habitat for numerous plant and animal species. However, currently we have little knowledge on which determinants drive the species richness within and across taxonomic groups. In this paper we investigate the determinants of total, native, and endangered species richness for vascular plants, birds, and mammals within and across taxonomic groups. We examined a stratified random sample of 32 urban green spaces in Hannover, Germany. Species inventories for plants and birds were generated on the basis of line transect surveys. Mammals were surveyed by means of point counts using camera traps. Using a principal component analysis and multiple regression models, we tested 10 explanatory variables for species-area effects, distance effects, and the effects of habitat structure of green spaces on species richness. When analyzing single explanatory variables, we determined that the species richness of all groups was significantly positively correlated to patch area, number of habitat types, and a short distance to the nearest green space. Testing combined effects of variables showed that patch area in combination with habitat heterogeneity was most important for plants (total, native, and endangered), birds (total and native), and overall species richness. This emphasizes the importance of the species-area effect and the effects of habitat structure on species richness in urban green spaces. We conclude that, in the context of urban planning, it is important to conserve large green spaces that include a high diversity of habitats to maintain high species richness.     

Diversity,abundance, and species composition of ants in urban green spaces

Urbanization threatens biodiversity, yet the number and scope of studies on urban arthropod biodiversity are relatively limited. We sampled ant communities in three urban habitats (forest remnants, community gardens, vacant lots) in Detroit and Toledo, USA, to compare species richness, abundance, and species composition. We measured 24 site characteristics to examine relationships between richness and composition and habitat patch size, vegetation, and urban features. Ant richness was higher in forests (26) than in gardens (14) and intermediate in vacant lots (20). Ant richness in gardens and vacant lots negatively correlated with abundance of an exotic ant species (Tetramorium caespitum); thus this ant may affect native ant richness in urban habitats. Ant composition differed with habitat type, and abundance was lowest in forests. Site characteristics varied with habitat type: forests were larger, had more woody plants, higher woody plant richness, more branches, and leaf litter whereas lots and gardens had more concrete and buildings. Vacant lots had taller herbaceous vegetation, and gardens had higher forb richness, density, and more bare ground. Differences in vegetation did not correlate with ant richness, but several vegetation factors (e.g. patch size, number and size of trees, leaf litter, and amount of concrete and buildings) correlated with differences in ant species composition. Additional factors relating to soil, nests, or microclimatic factors may also be important for urban ant communities. Implications for biodiversity conservation in urban ecosystems are discussed.     

Relation between green spaces and bird community structure in an urban area in Southeast Brazil

Increased urbanization typically leads to an increase in abundance of a few species and a reduction in bird species richness. Understanding the structure of biotic communities in urban areas will allow us to propose management techniques and to decrease conflicts between wild species and human beings. The objective of this study was to describe the structure of the bird community in an urban ecosystem. The study was carried out in the city of Taubaté in southeastern Brazil. Point-counts were established in areas with different levels of tree density ranging from urban green spaces to predominantly built-up areas. We looked for a correlation between the richness/abundance of birds and the size of the area surveyed, the number of houses, the number of tree species and the number of individual trees. The results of multiple regression showed that bird richness had a direct relationship with vegetation complexity. The abundance and diversity of tree species were better predictors of bird species than the number of houses and size of the area surveyed. We discuss implications of this study for conservation and management of bird diversity in urban areas, such as the need to increase green areas containing a large diversity of native plant species.     

Differential community and the perception of urban green spaces and their contents in the megacity of Karachi, Pakistan

Urban green spaces (UGS) denote the chief representative of biodiversity and provider of ecosystem services (especially social and cultural) in urban landscapes. Socio-economic circumstances of individuals are significantly derived from their psychometric settings–which ultimately affect their preferences in urban landscapes–more so for multicultural and multifaceted social environments. This paper investigates the coupling of distinct socio-economic (life quality) standards and urban natural spaces (and their content) in the megacity of Karachi, Pakistan. The main research question was how the socio-economic conditions of the differentiated and multicultural community influence their preferences of urban green spaces. It was tested at three systematically selected research sites of distinct structural and functional characteristics but the results and discussion are presented in an integrative form. The study sites were selected using Karachi’s urban-rural gradient to deduce representative samples from different land use and urbanization zones. Public interviews of 340 respondents were conducted with a structured questionnaire. The findings contradict generalizations made in other international studies. Results show that the presumption of tightly coupled social settings and nature space preferences could not be validated empirically for varying types of cities in the world. This is because people perceive their heterogeneous natural and artificial environment differently in different regional settings. The multicultural environment dissembles the choices of people and vice versa. This is true regardless of the sampling strategy for such studies that had been the focus in the past. Community revitalization is deemed necessary for better design, facilities and functions of UGS to foster social wellbeing of residents as well as sustainable urban development.     

Surabaya green and clean: Protecting urban environment through civic engagement community

ABSTRACT

This study explores the involvement of townspeople in efforts to protect their environment through environmental awareness program. The environmental program implemented is Surabaya Green and Clean (SGC) which was initiated by Surabaya City government since 2005 in kampung (community-based housing) in Surabaya (Indonesia). This study employed a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews, observations, and literature studies as data collection technique. The data were taken in Kampung Margorukun with a total of 14 informants involving the head of kampung, environmental cadres, and residents who are engaged in developing Kampung Margorukun to be one of the ecotourism models. The research results indicate that the resident involvement in SGC includes environmental cadres formation, environmental awareness education, waste recycling, waste bank management, and ecotourism development. The implementation of SGC in Kampung Margorukun is a form of operationalization of residents’ concern for environmental protection and sustainable development from ecological citizenship perspective.     

Analyzing the pattern and connectivity of urban green spaces: A case study of Izmir, Turkey

The primary concerns in this study were to quantify the connectivity and green space pattern using landscape metrics (PLAND, NP, AREA_MN and CONNECT) in the central districts of the city of Izmir. The primary research materials included thirteen 1:25,000 scale standard topographical maps and IKONOS satellite image with 1 m resolution. The PLAND scores revealed that while the urban fabric occupied almost 26 % of the study area, the urban green spaces covered only 1.45 %. This was also the lowest score in proportion to the areas of other land-use/cover classes. Furthermore, the results of NP and MPS indicated that the configuration of urban green spaces was very patchy and highly fragmented. Likewise, using CONNECT, the overall connectivity score of urban green spaces was 0.12, which was the lowest score of all areas measured the metrics. The Güzelbahçe district seemed to hold the most promise for connectivity, with a CONNECT score of 3.75. On the other hand, the Bornova district presented the least promising case in terms of connectivity, with a score of 0.59. In the study area, the correlations between the size of the districts/built-up areas and the CONNECT scores of the urban green spaces were found to be “non-significant” (P?<?0.01). The ultimate goals were to increase the amount of systematically planned urban green spaces and set up a green infrastructure in Izmir. In the case of Izmir, a master planning approach, which uses a systematic and comprehensive method to guide urban green spaces, is necessary to develop planning and design strategies for fully functional and multi-purpose urban green space systems.     

Seasonal patterns of urban bird diversity in a Mediterranean coastal city: the positive role of open green spaces

Urban Ecosystems - Urbanization causes rapid changes in the landscape and land use, exerting a significant pressure on bird communities. The effect of urbanization on bird diversity has been widely...     

Crime and the city: Domestic burglary and the built environment in Tehran

Environmental criminologists have correlated crime patterns with the environmental and physical layout of places where crimes occur. This paper reports on some of the findings derived from a major research carried out in Tehran, focusing on the link between built environment and residential burglary. After a brief review of crime prevention approaches in the built environment and their theoretical basis, the paper examines how burglars select their targets, and investigates the significance of geographical distance and target hardening for crime prevention. It shows the limitations of distance and target hardening as deterrents, their potential impact on deepening the city's socio-spatial divide, and their negative implications for the quality of the urban environment.     

The role of dispersal and local environment in urban land snail assemblages: an example of three cities in Central Italy

Ecologists increasingly appreciate the central role that urban biodiversity plays in ecosystems, however much urban biodiversity is neglected, especially some very diverse groups of invertebrates. For the first time in southern Europe, land snail communities are analysed in four urban habitats along a geographical gradient of three cities, using quantitative methods and assessing the relative roles of local environmental conditions (“distance from sea”, “distance from city centre”, “vegetation cover”) and spatial effects by principal coordinate analysis of neighbour matrices, redundancy analysis and variation partitioning. A total of 53 species was recorded, a richness similar to that of natural areas. At habitat level, species richness did not show a clear increasing trend from more to less urbanized habitats, but rather a homogeneous pattern. At city level, study areas hosted rather heterogeneous species assemblages and biotic homogenization did not seem to have any impact; indeed, only three species could be considered alien. Variation partitioning showed that land snail communities were mostly structured by environmental factors, even when spatial structures independent of measured environmental variables were included: “vegetation cover” and “distance from city centre” were the environmental variables that explained most of the variation in species composition. The lack of strong spatial structure also unexpectedly suggested that transport by humans aids dispersal of organisms with low mobility, which are usually limited by spatial constraints in natural environments. These results provide ecological and conservation implications for other invertebrate groups, suggesting to set priorities in management strategies that include habitat conservation at local scale.