Biodiversity conservation in urban parks: a study of ground-dwelling ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Rio de Janeiro City

Urban Ecosystems - Urban green recreational spaces may provide habitat for animals and plants. We investigated the importance of urban public parks in the city of Rio de Janeiro with regard to the...     

Local and landscape drivers of bird abundance,species richness,and trait composition in urban agroecosystems

Urban Ecosystems - Urban gardens, or spaces that include vegetables, fruit trees, and ornamental plants, can support bird species and communities by providing food and nesting habitat within urban...     

Species-specific facilitation shapes primary successional communities under nurse trees in an abandoned slag dump

Urban Ecosystems - Facilitation by nurse plants shapes community development during primary succession. Human activity—especially in urban settings—has created environments like...     

Ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) communities on green roofs in Switzerland: synthesis and perspectives

Urban Ecosystems - Green roofs have recently gained recognition for their potential contribution to urban ecosystems by providing, among other services, habitat for plants and animals, and stepping...     

The influence of garden flowers on pollinator visits to forest flowers: comparison of bumblebee habitat use between urban and natural areas

Urban Ecosystems - As garden plants in urbanized environments provide considerable diverse floral resources to pollinators, the availability of floral resources has changed as a consequence of...     

Urbanization decreases the extent and variety of leaf herbivory for native canopy tree species Quercus rubra,Quercus alba,and Acer saccharum

Urban Ecosystems - The extent to which urban trees can support associated biodiversity and provide ecosystem services depends on how urbanization affects the relationship between plants and the...     

If you plant it,they will come: quantifying attractiveness of exotic plants for winter-active flower visitors in community gardens

Urban community gardens are potentially important sites for urban pollinator conservation because of their high density, diversity of flowering plants, and low pesticide use (relative to agricultural spaces). Selective planting of attractive crop plants is a simple and cost-effective strategy for attracting flower visitors to urban green spaces, however, there is limited empirical data about which plants are most attractive. Here, we identified key plant species that were important for supporting flower visitors using a network-based approach that combined metrics of flower visitor abundance and diversity on different crop species. We included a metric of ‘popularity’ which assessed how frequently a particular plant appeared within community gardens. We also determined the impact of garden characteristics such as size, flower species richness, and flower species density on the abundance and diversity of flower visitors. Two plant species, Brassica rapa and Ocimum basilicum were identified as being particularly important species for supporting flower visitor populations. Flower species richness had a strong positive effect on both the abundance and diversity of flower visitors. We suggest that gardeners can maximise the conservation value of their gardens by planting a wide variety of flowering plants including attractive plants such as B. rapa and O. basilicum.

     

Native plants are the bee’s knees: local and landscape predictors of bee richness and abundance in backyard gardens

Urban gardens may support bees by providing resources in otherwise resource-poor environments. However, it is unclear whether urban, backyard gardens with native plants will support more bees than gardens without native plants. We examined backyard gardens in northwestern Ohio to ask: 1) Does bee diversity, abundance, and community composition differ in backyard gardens with and without native plants? 2) What characteristics of backyard gardens and land cover in the surrounding landscape correlate with changes in the bee community? 3) Do bees in backyard gardens respond more strongly to local or landscape factors? We sampled bees with pan trapping, netting, and direct observation. We examined vegetation characteristics and land cover in 500 m, 1 km, and 2 km buffers surrounding each garden. Abundance of all bees, native bees, and cavity-nesting bees (but not ground-nesting bees) was greater in native plant gardens but only richness of cavity-nesting bees differed in gardens with and without native plants. Bee community composition differed in gardens with and without native plants. Overall, bee richness and abundance were positively correlated with local characteristics of backyard gardens, such as increased floral abundance, taller vegetation, more cover by woody plants, less cover by grass, and larger vegetable gardens. Differences in the amount of forest, open space, and wetlands surrounding gardens influenced abundance of cavity- and ground-nesting bees, but at different spatial scales. Thus, presence of native plants, and local and landscape characteristics might play important roles in maintaining bee diversity within urban areas.     

Multiscale drivers of amphibian community occupancy in urban ponds

Urban Ecosystems - Urbanization has driven the loss of natural aquatic habitats while concurrently increasing the abundance of artificial urban ponds. Urban ponds are not typically designed for...     

Winter habitat selection of Corvids in an urban ecosystem

Urban Ecosystems - Urban areas attract birds during the winter when cities provide a predictable source of food and relatively stable weather conditions. However, many other factors determine the...     

Herbert Sukopp – an inspiring pioneer in the field of urban ecology

Urban Ecosystems - Urban ecology is a well-established integrative discipline with many historical roots. One of the eminent pioneers of urban ecology is the German ecologist Herbert Sukopp, who...     

The use of geotechnologies for the identification of the urban flora in the city of Teresina,Brazil

Urban Ecosystems - Urban greenness is an element of vital importance for the population quality of life, and forest inventory is considered the most appropriate method for its assessment. Remote...     

Effects of forest type and urbanization on species composition and diversity of urban forest in Changchun,Northeast China

Urban Ecosystems - Urban forest is considered as the most important component of urban green infrastructure and can make vital contributions to urban biodiversity. Understanding the species...     

Response of urban tree DBH to fast urbanization: Case of coastal Zhanjiang in south China

Urban Ecosystems - Urban trees perform various ecosystem services, and tree DBH (trunk diameter at breast height, 1.3 m above the ground) can act as a surrogate measure of these important...     

Parent tree distance-dependent recruitment limitation of native and exotic invasive seedlings in urban forests

Urban Ecosystems - Urban forests are more vulnerable to exotic species invasions than natural forests and are often a pathway for exotic invasions into natural areas. Investigating the mechanisms...     

A fig tree in a concrete jungle: fine-scale population genetic structure of the cluster fig Ficus racemosa in an urban environment

Urban Ecosystems - Urban vegetation is an essential requirement in cities for mitigating pollution, heat island effects and providing food and shelter to urban fauna. Efforts to conserve and...     

Large-scale commonness is the best predictor of bird species presence in European cities

Urban Ecosystems - Urban bird communities are homogenized across large spatial scales, suggesting that the urban environment acts as an environmental filter. We hypothesize that large scale...     

Ecological performance evaluation of urban agriculture in Beijing based on temperature and fractional vegetation cover

Urban Ecosystems - Urban agriculture (UA) is an important socio-ecosystem in the urban–rural ecotone. Previous studies focused on the production and leisure service of UA, ignoring the...     

Fungal community composition analysis of 24 different urban parks in Shanghai,China

Urban Ecosystems - Urban parks are an important constituent of cities; they harbour microbial diversity which plays a key role in soil ecosystem functioning. The bacterial diversity of many urban...     

Floristic and structural differentiation between gardens of primary and secondary residences in the Costa Brava (Catalonia,Spain)

Urban Ecosystems - Urban sprawl along the Mediterranean coast is characterized by single-family houses and domestic gardens. Many new residences are secondary homes for socio-demographically...