Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends...
Transcript of Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends...
![Page 1: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Urban biodiversity conservation:Sharing the human habitat
Yusef Samari
![Page 2: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Outline
• Urbanisation trends• Characteristics of the urban habitat• Why conserve urban biodiversity?• Managing urban green spaces for biodiversity: quantifying potential trade-offs
![Page 3: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
All organisms change their environment
• Ecosystem engineers• “It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures.” - Charles Darwin 1881
![Page 4: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Yiwu, east China
Competition for the earthworm?
![Page 5: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Humans are becoming an urban species
• 30% urban in 1950 – 66% urban 2050United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014).World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/352).
![Page 6: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
What is urban?
• Scotland – settlement of 3,000+• England/ Wales– settlement of 10,000+• Finland – settlement of 200, no more than 50m between buildings
• India – settlement of 5000, min density of 400/ km2, >75% “main male working population not employed in agriculture”
• Increase in population density• Increase in concentration of built structures
![Page 7: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Extent of the urban habitat
Due to increase by 1.2 million km2 by 2030 – 300% compared to 2000Seto, K. C., Güneralp, B., & Hutyra, L. R. (2012). Global forecasts of urban expansion to 2030 and direct impacts on biodiversity and carbon pools. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(40): 16083-16088.
![Page 8: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Characteristics of the urban habitat
![Page 9: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
• Converting land• Changing climate
• Moving species around
The Anthropocene epoch
Steffen, W., Broadgate, W., Deutsch, L., Gaffney, O., & Ludwig, C. (2015). The trajectory of the Anthropocene: the great acceleration. The Anthropocene Review 2(1): 81-98.
![Page 10: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Cities are habitat mosaics Urban Savanna
• High habitat heterogeneity (scale dependent)
• Fragmented vegetation
![Page 11: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
A global city environment?
Groffman, P. M., Cavender-Bares, J., Bettez, N. D., Grove, J. M., Hall, S. J., Heffernan, J. B., ... & Nelson, K. (2014). Ecological homogenization of urban USA. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 12(1): 74-81.
![Page 12: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Socioeconomics / culture as ecological drivers
Hope, D., Gries, C., Zhu, W., Fagan, W. F., Redman, C. L., Grimm, N. B., ... & Kinzig, A. (2003). Socioeconomics drive urban plant diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100(15): 8788-8792.
![Page 13: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Why conserve urban biodiversity?
![Page 14: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Threats: homogenisation
• Urban environments are more similar to each other than their rural counterparts
• Humans may have similar preferences around the world
• May filter a suite of closely related species, from the regional pool – Generalists that are well adapted to the urban environment
– Plant species that people like
![Page 15: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Threats: homogenisation
Groffman, P. M., Cavender-Bares, J., Bettez, N. D., Grove, J. M., Hall, S. J., Heffernan, J. B., ... & Nelson, K. (2014). Ecological homogenization of urban USA. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 12(1): 74-81.
![Page 16: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Threats: extinctions
Aronson, M. F., La Sorte, F. A., Nilon, C. H., Katti, M., Goddard, M. A., Lepczyk, C. A., ... & Dobbs, C. (2014, April). A global analysis of the impacts of urbanization on bird and plant diversity reveals key anthropogenic drivers. Proc. R. Soc. B 281 (1780) 20133330
![Page 17: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Jennifer Owen’s garden
A suburban garden in Leicester with 2,673 species of flora and fauna, including474 different plants, 80 spiders, 183 bugs,375 moths442 beetles.
Cities are not biodiversity deserts
![Page 18: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Cities are not biodiversity deserts
Sirohi, M. H., Jackson, J., Edwards, M., & Ollerton, J. (2015). Diversity and abundance of solitary and primitively eusocial bees in an urban centre: a case study from Northampton (England). Journal of Insect Conservation, 19(3), 487-500.
![Page 19: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Cities are hotspots for threatened species
• Challenge: Most areas of forecasted future urban expansion are in “biodiversity hotspots” – high biodiversity threat through habitat loss
• Opportunity: We can protect a relatively large number of species through a relatively small land area (with appropriate management)
Ives, C. D., Lentini, P. E., Threlfall, C. G., Ikin, K., Shanahan, D. F., Garrard, G. E., ... & Rowe, R. (2016). Cities are hotspots for threatened species. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 25(1), 117-126.
![Page 20: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Human benefits of urban biodiversity
Fuller, R. A., Irvine, K. N., Devine-Wright, P., Warren, P. H., & Gaston, K. J. (2007). Psychological benefits of greenspace increase with biodiversity. Biology Letters 3(4): 390-394.
![Page 21: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
How to conserve urban biodiversity?
• Grow cities in ways that minimise their impact on existing biodiversity
• Improve habitat in cities to support more biodiversity
![Page 22: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Enhancing biodiversity in urban green spaces
![Page 23: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Why green spaces?
• Urban green spaces such as parks, roadside verges and golf courses typically cover a large proportion of urban area
• Recent research has shown they support low pollinator populations per unit area
• Good target for improvement
![Page 24: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
• City councils manage large areas on limited budgets
• Floral meadows are expensive
Constraints: cost
![Page 25: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
Urban green spaces are highly managed ecosystems
• Mowed 2-6 times per month for 9 months• Herbicide, fertiliser, etc.
![Page 26: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
Biodiversity could be improved by managing more
![Page 27: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
…or managing less
![Page 28: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
What is the relationship between investment and biodiversity value per
unit area?
![Page 29: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
Constraints: public appreciation
• Biodiversity is (often) messy
• Features that people don’t like, don’t tend to stick around
![Page 30: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
What is the relationship between biodiversity value and public
appreciation?
![Page 31: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
Does biodiversity influence human behaviour?
![Page 32: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
What are the trade-offs between management cost, biodiversity value
and amenity value?
![Page 33: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
Edinburgh as a testing ground
• ~60 floral meadows throughout the city– High investment
• “Naturalised Grassland” created by relaxing mowing regime– Low investment
![Page 34: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
Questions
• How do the management cost and biodiversity value of the different management options vary with area?
• Do the different options vary in the biodiversiy they support?
• Which of the different management options is preferred by humans?
• How do the different management options influence human behaviour (litter, dog fouling)?
![Page 35: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
Measurements
• 20-30 sites, each with annual meadow, naturalised grassland and amenity grassland (control) areas
• Survey for plants, pollinators, ground-dwelling invertebrates, birds
• Measure human behaviour (litter, dog fouling, time spent in area)
• Measure human perception
![Page 36: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
ExpectationsNaturalised grassland Floral meadow
![Page 37: Urban biodiversity conservation: Sharing the human habitat · Outline •Urbanisation trends •Characteristics of the urban habitat •Why conserve urban biodiversity? •Managing](https://reader034.fdocuments.us/reader034/viewer/2022050715/5e08cfa16ca68e773c392fa3/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
Outcomes
• Platform for future experiments• A model to inform city councils how to best manage an urban green space for biodiversity and people, on a given budget