Prucelle Elisée Zohoun, E. M. Azalou-Tingbe, S. Zakari, I. Yabi
Nature-based solutions hold promise for cities, given their development challenges and vulnerability to climate change. This research is based on the fact that knowledge of public perceptions of trees is necessary for planning tree conservation and planting initiatives in rapidly changing landscapes. This article aims to identify the assets and constraints related to the promotion of trees in the compounds of the cities of Central Benin (cities of Parakou, Dassa-Zoumè and Savalou) based on the perceptions of urban residents. Samples of 370, 365 and 360 inhabitants respectively in Parakou, Dassa-Zoumè and Savalou are used to collect information. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis was performed on the responses obtained to identify assets (strengths and opportunities) and constraints (weaknesses and threats). The decision of the landowner, the lack of place, the lack of technicality, the socio-economic problems constitute the main constraints of the promotion of the tree in the cities of Centre-Benin. To meet the challenge, these cities have assets such as the majority proportion of landowners, the high level of education, the presence of several socio-cultural groups, the climate and favorable soils, the presence of nurserymen and the availability of seedlings, the national tree day.
{"title":"Promotion of tree in the compounds of Central-Benin cities (West Africa): an assessment of its assets and constraints","authors":"Prucelle Elisée Zohoun, E. M. Azalou-Tingbe, S. Zakari, I. Yabi","doi":"10.1093/jue/juad004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juad004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Nature-based solutions hold promise for cities, given their development challenges and vulnerability to climate change. This research is based on the fact that knowledge of public perceptions of trees is necessary for planning tree conservation and planting initiatives in rapidly changing landscapes. This article aims to identify the assets and constraints related to the promotion of trees in the compounds of the cities of Central Benin (cities of Parakou, Dassa-Zoumè and Savalou) based on the perceptions of urban residents. Samples of 370, 365 and 360 inhabitants respectively in Parakou, Dassa-Zoumè and Savalou are used to collect information. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis was performed on the responses obtained to identify assets (strengths and opportunities) and constraints (weaknesses and threats). The decision of the landowner, the lack of place, the lack of technicality, the socio-economic problems constitute the main constraints of the promotion of the tree in the cities of Centre-Benin. To meet the challenge, these cities have assets such as the majority proportion of landowners, the high level of education, the presence of several socio-cultural groups, the climate and favorable soils, the presence of nurserymen and the availability of seedlings, the national tree day.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42501741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nina S Fogel, Lara Zwarun, Cody D Schrock, Gerardo R Camilo
Abstract Residential gardens constitute a large percentage of the greenspace in urbanized areas. In aggregate, these gardens can provide a significant amount of habitat if they are managed with the aim of supporting wildlife. Recognizing this, there has been an increase in the number of programs that seek to guide homeowners to reform their landscaping practices to create habitat within their yard. These programs offer certification to participants once they have implemented the suggested criteria, which usually consist of installing native plants, providing habitat elements, and eliminating practices that degrade habitat. We used systematic Google searches to identify 115 such residential garden conservation programs in the United States, with the intention of determining how they differ or are the same across their aims, affiliations, certification criteria, and rigor. Results indicate that programs vary greatly across these measures, making collective evaluation of programs to advance the field of residential conservation difficult. Further, the programs vary in how they connect to enrollees and the community through their social media usage, language on yards signs that are awarded with certification, and support they provide through the certification process. These programs may have the potential to engage a substantial number of homeowners and increase urban habitat in the process, but at this juncture more investigations into their conservation outcomes and their interactions with potential and current enrollees are warranted. We follow our analysis with a self-assessment for managers to consider as they design and improve their program’s conservation potential and outreach.
{"title":"A survey of American residential garden conservation programs","authors":"Nina S Fogel, Lara Zwarun, Cody D Schrock, Gerardo R Camilo","doi":"10.1093/jue/juad017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juad017","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Residential gardens constitute a large percentage of the greenspace in urbanized areas. In aggregate, these gardens can provide a significant amount of habitat if they are managed with the aim of supporting wildlife. Recognizing this, there has been an increase in the number of programs that seek to guide homeowners to reform their landscaping practices to create habitat within their yard. These programs offer certification to participants once they have implemented the suggested criteria, which usually consist of installing native plants, providing habitat elements, and eliminating practices that degrade habitat. We used systematic Google searches to identify 115 such residential garden conservation programs in the United States, with the intention of determining how they differ or are the same across their aims, affiliations, certification criteria, and rigor. Results indicate that programs vary greatly across these measures, making collective evaluation of programs to advance the field of residential conservation difficult. Further, the programs vary in how they connect to enrollees and the community through their social media usage, language on yards signs that are awarded with certification, and support they provide through the certification process. These programs may have the potential to engage a substantial number of homeowners and increase urban habitat in the process, but at this juncture more investigations into their conservation outcomes and their interactions with potential and current enrollees are warranted. We follow our analysis with a self-assessment for managers to consider as they design and improve their program’s conservation potential and outreach.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136204733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ussawit Srisakrapikoop, Tara J. Pirie, M. Fellowes
Urbanization can change interactions in insect communities, and the few studies of tritrophic interactions in urban settings focus on interactions between plants, herbivorous insects and their mutualists and natural enemies. Plant pathogen infection is also widespread and common, and infection may also alter such interactions, but we have no understanding of whether the ecological consequences of pathogen infection vary with urbanization. Using replicated aphid colonies on experimental plants, we investigated how infection by the plant pathogen Botrytis cinerea influences interactions between plants, aphids and the aphid natural enemies and ant mutualists in highly urbanized, suburban and rural study sites. Aphid and natural enemy abundance were highest in the suburban site, while mutualist ants were most abundant in the urban site, reversing the usual positive density-dependent relationship between natural enemies and aphids. The effect of pathogen infection varied with trait and site, mediated by natural enemy preference for hosts or prey on uninfected plants. The effect of infection on aphid abundance was only seen in the suburban site, where natural enemies were most abundant on uninfected plants and aphid numbers were greatest on infected plants. In the urban site, there was no effect of infection, while in the rural site, aphid numbers were lower on infected plants. Uninfected plants were smaller than infected plants and differed between locations. This study suggests that the effects of urbanization on ecological interactions may become more complex and difficult to predict as we study ecological assemblages and communities at greater levels of structural complexity.
{"title":"Urbanization and plant pathogen infection interact to affect the outcome of ecological interactions in an experimental multitrophic system","authors":"Ussawit Srisakrapikoop, Tara J. Pirie, M. Fellowes","doi":"10.1093/jue/juab039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juab039","url":null,"abstract":"Urbanization can change interactions in insect communities, and the few studies of tritrophic interactions in urban settings focus on interactions between plants, herbivorous insects and their mutualists and natural enemies. Plant pathogen infection is also widespread and common, and infection may also alter such interactions, but we have no understanding of whether the ecological consequences of pathogen infection vary with urbanization. Using replicated aphid colonies on experimental plants, we investigated how infection by the plant pathogen Botrytis cinerea influences interactions between plants, aphids and the aphid natural enemies and ant mutualists in highly urbanized, suburban and rural study sites. Aphid and natural enemy abundance were highest in the suburban site, while mutualist ants were most abundant in the urban site, reversing the usual positive density-dependent relationship between natural enemies and aphids. The effect of pathogen infection varied with trait and site, mediated by natural enemy preference for hosts or prey on uninfected plants. The effect of infection on aphid abundance was only seen in the suburban site, where natural enemies were most abundant on uninfected plants and aphid numbers were greatest on infected plants. In the urban site, there was no effect of infection, while in the rural site, aphid numbers were lower on infected plants. Uninfected plants were smaller than infected plants and differed between locations. This study suggests that the effects of urbanization on ecological interactions may become more complex and difficult to predict as we study ecological assemblages and communities at greater levels of structural complexity.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yury Glebskiy, Roxana ACOSTA-GUTIÉRREZ, Z. Cano-Santana
Urban animals can be an important threat to human health as possible hosts of zoonotic diseases and their susceptibility to these diseases can depend on their overall health conditions. Thus, it is important to understand the factors that determine their health conditions. For this, we studied Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana) in six locations with different urbanization levels and types in Mexico City, Mexico. We trapped opossums and measured eight health-related characteristics (number of ectoparasites and tartar severity, among others) and estimated the percentage of area covered by the four main types of terrain (natural vegetation, managed vegetation, impermeable terrain and constructions). Data were analyzed by a canonical correspondence analysis. We found that impermeable terrain was related to negative health characteristics, while the constructions were opposite to impermeable terrain and mostly related to good health characteristics. At the same, time constructed areas held a smaller population than the natural areas. This suggests that constructed areas provide few shelters, but opossums are healthier there, while impermeable areas provide more shelter but cause more health problems to the animals, thus increasing the chances of zoonotic diseases. We recommend reducing the impermeable areas in city planning to contribute to a better health of the urban animals and therefore reduce risks of zoonotic diseases with potentially disastrous results.
{"title":"Effect of urbanization on the opossum Didelphis virginiana health and implications for zoonotic diseases","authors":"Yury Glebskiy, Roxana ACOSTA-GUTIÉRREZ, Z. Cano-Santana","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac015","url":null,"abstract":"Urban animals can be an important threat to human health as possible hosts of zoonotic diseases and their susceptibility to these diseases can depend on their overall health conditions. Thus, it is important to understand the factors that determine their health conditions. For this, we studied Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana) in six locations with different urbanization levels and types in Mexico City, Mexico. We trapped opossums and measured eight health-related characteristics (number of ectoparasites and tartar severity, among others) and estimated the percentage of area covered by the four main types of terrain (natural vegetation, managed vegetation, impermeable terrain and constructions). Data were analyzed by a canonical correspondence analysis. We found that impermeable terrain was related to negative health characteristics, while the constructions were opposite to impermeable terrain and mostly related to good health characteristics. At the same, time constructed areas held a smaller population than the natural areas. This suggests that constructed areas provide few shelters, but opossums are healthier there, while impermeable areas provide more shelter but cause more health problems to the animals, thus increasing the chances of zoonotic diseases. We recommend reducing the impermeable areas in city planning to contribute to a better health of the urban animals and therefore reduce risks of zoonotic diseases with potentially disastrous results.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the northernmost latitude of North America, the evergreen bagworm, Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis (Haworth), distribution is limited by overwintering temperatures. Urban impervious surfaces such as roads, buildings and parking lots can warm microclimates and create ecological temperature gradients that have the potential to increase the winter survival of insects. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated survival of bagworms over gradients of microclimatic conditions. Bagworms live within spindle-shaped bags constructed from fragments of foliage. In late summer, adult male bagworms fly to bags containing wingless adult females. Mated neotenous females lay eggs within their pupal case. These eggs hatch into larvae during the late spring of the following year and disperse to hosts by ballooning. A total of 2255 bagworm bags were collected from 119 sites in Indiana and Illinois prior to egg hatch in the spring of 2018 and 2019. The maximum temperature during the coldest days of winter was recorded at each site. Up to 25 bagworms were removed from each host plant to assess the overwintering survival of eggs. Survivorship rose as estimates of impervious surface within a 20-m radius increased. Specifically, 50% of bagworm eggs survived at maximum daily temperatures of −19.4°C, −20°C and −20.6°C when plants were surrounded by 25.7%, 48.39% and 50.75% impervious surface, respectively. Egg mortality was not buffered by impervious surfaces at temperatures at or below −21.67°C. Our findings provide insights about how impervious surface in urban areas can provide refugia for marginally hardy insects and improve their chances of surviving the cold of winter.
{"title":"Urban microclimate warming improves overwintering survival of evergreen bagworms","authors":"Sujan Dawadi, Clifford S. Sadof","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac014","url":null,"abstract":"In the northernmost latitude of North America, the evergreen bagworm, Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis (Haworth), distribution is limited by overwintering temperatures. Urban impervious surfaces such as roads, buildings and parking lots can warm microclimates and create ecological temperature gradients that have the potential to increase the winter survival of insects. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated survival of bagworms over gradients of microclimatic conditions. Bagworms live within spindle-shaped bags constructed from fragments of foliage. In late summer, adult male bagworms fly to bags containing wingless adult females. Mated neotenous females lay eggs within their pupal case. These eggs hatch into larvae during the late spring of the following year and disperse to hosts by ballooning. A total of 2255 bagworm bags were collected from 119 sites in Indiana and Illinois prior to egg hatch in the spring of 2018 and 2019. The maximum temperature during the coldest days of winter was recorded at each site. Up to 25 bagworms were removed from each host plant to assess the overwintering survival of eggs. Survivorship rose as estimates of impervious surface within a 20-m radius increased. Specifically, 50% of bagworm eggs survived at maximum daily temperatures of −19.4°C, −20°C and −20.6°C when plants were surrounded by 25.7%, 48.39% and 50.75% impervious surface, respectively. Egg mortality was not buffered by impervious surfaces at temperatures at or below −21.67°C. Our findings provide insights about how impervious surface in urban areas can provide refugia for marginally hardy insects and improve their chances of surviving the cold of winter.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61022167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Justin H White, Joshua S Snook, Zachary E Ormsby, K. Nussear
We examined Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) nestling diets in Reno and Sparks, NV, USA during the 2015 and 2016 breeding seasons. Field researchers and nest cameras recorded 1348 prey items spanning 28 species at 88 nests. Prey consisted of 86% mammalia, 10% aves and 4% reptilia. Differential prey selection occurred among the population and at individual nests relative to an expected diet. Diet breadth differed between nests and increased with urban density. Avian prey consumption increased relative to mammalian and reptilian prey in impervious areas. When prey items were plotted on a continuous urban density spectrum, mammalian prey increased in the suburban areas and decreased toward the urban core and was inversely correlated with avian prey. Mammalian prey consumption increased and decreased at the end of April and in mid-May before increasing through the remainder of the breeding season (mid-June). Avian prey consumption peaked in May and increased through the season, and reptilian prey varied little. The geographic patterns of prey species consumed in our study reflect those in cities elsewhere. As the urban area changes, we predict that the densest populations of Red-tailed Hawks will continue to reside in the suburban areas where prey diversity and abundance are highest. This was one of the first studies to record urban Red-tailed Hawk diet and revealed patterns in how an urban population used food resources.
{"title":"A spatial gradient analysis of urban Red-tailed Hawk nestling diet","authors":"Justin H White, Joshua S Snook, Zachary E Ormsby, K. Nussear","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac028","url":null,"abstract":"We examined Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) nestling diets in Reno and Sparks, NV, USA during the 2015 and 2016 breeding seasons. Field researchers and nest cameras recorded 1348 prey items spanning 28 species at 88 nests. Prey consisted of 86% mammalia, 10% aves and 4% reptilia. Differential prey selection occurred among the population and at individual nests relative to an expected diet. Diet breadth differed between nests and increased with urban density. Avian prey consumption increased relative to mammalian and reptilian prey in impervious areas. When prey items were plotted on a continuous urban density spectrum, mammalian prey increased in the suburban areas and decreased toward the urban core and was inversely correlated with avian prey. Mammalian prey consumption increased and decreased at the end of April and in mid-May before increasing through the remainder of the breeding season (mid-June). Avian prey consumption peaked in May and increased through the season, and reptilian prey varied little. The geographic patterns of prey species consumed in our study reflect those in cities elsewhere. As the urban area changes, we predict that the densest populations of Red-tailed Hawks will continue to reside in the suburban areas where prey diversity and abundance are highest. This was one of the first studies to record urban Red-tailed Hawk diet and revealed patterns in how an urban population used food resources.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61023111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fabio S. T. Sweet, Beate Apfelbeck, Maximilian Hanusch, Cynthia Garland Monteagudo, W. Weisser
Cities have been shown to be biodiverse, but it is unclear what fraction of a regional species pool can live within city borders and how this differs between taxa. Among animals, most research has focused on a few well-studied taxa, such as birds or butterflies. For other species, progress is limited by the paucity of data. We used species occurrence data for 11 taxa and 23 German cities from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the different German states, in a 50-km buffer around the city centre, to investigate what proportion of species of the regional species pools also occur in cities. While data could be obtained for all cities from GBIF, state databases only provided data for a subset of cities. Sample coverage of data from GBIF was higher across all taxa than of the state databases. For each database and taxon, we analysed (i) all cities where the number of occurrences of a taxon was >50 and (ii) only those cities where additionally sample coverage was >0.85. Across all taxa studied on average, 44.9 ± 7.2% (GBIF) and 40.8 ± 9.6% (German states) of the species of the regional species pool were also found in cities. When all cities were considered together, more than 76% of all species occurred within city borders. Our results show that German cities harbour a large part of the regional diversity of different taxa when city borders rather than the city centre is considered. This opens up ample opportunities for conservation and for fostering human–nature relationships.
{"title":"Data from public and governmental databases show that a large proportion of the regional animal species pool occur in cities in Germany","authors":"Fabio S. T. Sweet, Beate Apfelbeck, Maximilian Hanusch, Cynthia Garland Monteagudo, W. Weisser","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac002","url":null,"abstract":"Cities have been shown to be biodiverse, but it is unclear what fraction of a regional species pool can live within city borders and how this differs between taxa. Among animals, most research has focused on a few well-studied taxa, such as birds or butterflies. For other species, progress is limited by the paucity of data. We used species occurrence data for 11 taxa and 23 German cities from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the different German states, in a 50-km buffer around the city centre, to investigate what proportion of species of the regional species pools also occur in cities. While data could be obtained for all cities from GBIF, state databases only provided data for a subset of cities. Sample coverage of data from GBIF was higher across all taxa than of the state databases. For each database and taxon, we analysed (i) all cities where the number of occurrences of a taxon was >50 and (ii) only those cities where additionally sample coverage was >0.85. Across all taxa studied on average, 44.9 ± 7.2% (GBIF) and 40.8 ± 9.6% (German states) of the species of the regional species pool were also found in cities. When all cities were considered together, more than 76% of all species occurred within city borders. Our results show that German cities harbour a large part of the regional diversity of different taxa when city borders rather than the city centre is considered. This opens up ample opportunities for conservation and for fostering human–nature relationships.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021462","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Growing plants along the vertical axis of a building façade is currently re-emerging as a technique for (re)integration of greening into the urban fabric. This article reports an exploratory study that involved the design, development and evaluation of vertical greening within low-income communities in Lagos, Akure (Nigeria) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). We highlight the vertical gardens’ contributions to food production (vegetables). Challenges identified include high maintenance, pests, vandalism, tenure status and socio-cultural misgivings about growing vegetables on walls. It is crucial to evolve policy initiatives and programmes that promote citizen-led, community-based vertical farming within the urban fabric in sub-Sahara Africa.
{"title":"Prospects and problems of vertical greening within low-income urban settings in sub-Sahara Africa","authors":"O. Adegun, Olawale Olusoga, E. Mbuya","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac016","url":null,"abstract":"Growing plants along the vertical axis of a building façade is currently re-emerging as a technique for (re)integration of greening into the urban fabric. This article reports an exploratory study that involved the design, development and evaluation of vertical greening within low-income communities in Lagos, Akure (Nigeria) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). We highlight the vertical gardens’ contributions to food production (vegetables). Challenges identified include high maintenance, pests, vandalism, tenure status and socio-cultural misgivings about growing vegetables on walls. It is crucial to evolve policy initiatives and programmes that promote citizen-led, community-based vertical farming within the urban fabric in sub-Sahara Africa.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban forests are critically important for providing ecosystem services to rapidly expanding urban populations, but their health is threatened by invasive insect herbivores. To protect urban forests against invasive insects and support future delivery of ecosystem services, we must first understand the factors that affect insect density across urban landscapes. This study explores how a variety of environmental factors that vary across urban habitats influence density of invasive insects. Specifically, we evaluate how vegetational complexity, distance to buildings, impervious surface, canopy temperature, host availability and density of co-occurring herbivores impact three invasive pests of elm trees: the elm leaf beetle (Xanthogaleruca luteola), the elm flea weevil (Orchestes steppensis) and the elm leafminer (Fenusa ulmi). Insect responses to these factors were species-specific, and all environmental factors were associated with density of at least one pest species except for distance to buildings. Elm leafminer density decreased with higher temperatures and was influenced by an interaction between vegetational complexity and impervious surface. Elm flea weevil density increased with greater host availability, and elm leaf beetle density increased with higher temperatures. Both elm leaf beetle and elm flea weevil density decreased with greater leafminer density, suggesting that insect density is mediated by species interactions. These findings can be used to inform urban pest management and tree care efforts, making urban forests more resilient in an era when globalization and climate change make them particularly vulnerable to attack.
{"title":"Urban environments have species-specific associations with invasive insect herbivores","authors":"Jacqueline H Buenrostro, R. Hufbauer","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac011","url":null,"abstract":"Urban forests are critically important for providing ecosystem services to rapidly expanding urban populations, but their health is threatened by invasive insect herbivores. To protect urban forests against invasive insects and support future delivery of ecosystem services, we must first understand the factors that affect insect density across urban landscapes. This study explores how a variety of environmental factors that vary across urban habitats influence density of invasive insects. Specifically, we evaluate how vegetational complexity, distance to buildings, impervious surface, canopy temperature, host availability and density of co-occurring herbivores impact three invasive pests of elm trees: the elm leaf beetle (Xanthogaleruca luteola), the elm flea weevil (Orchestes steppensis) and the elm leafminer (Fenusa ulmi). Insect responses to these factors were species-specific, and all environmental factors were associated with density of at least one pest species except for distance to buildings. Elm leafminer density decreased with higher temperatures and was influenced by an interaction between vegetational complexity and impervious surface. Elm flea weevil density increased with greater host availability, and elm leaf beetle density increased with higher temperatures. Both elm leaf beetle and elm flea weevil density decreased with greater leafminer density, suggesting that insect density is mediated by species interactions. These findings can be used to inform urban pest management and tree care efforts, making urban forests more resilient in an era when globalization and climate change make them particularly vulnerable to attack.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61022072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urbanization represents a multi-dimensional ecological ‘filter’ for birds determined by a myriad of variables that can change over time. Birds colonising an urban system or staying in a habitat that has been recently urbanised need to overcome both the extrinsic (e.g. food predictability, human activities, and inter-specific interaction) and intrinsic filter variables, ranging from genetic to behavioural changes and/or adjustments. An increasing body of knowledge has identified the behavioural component as crucial for individuals facing the spatiotemporal dynamic urban filters, often after other traits and mechanisms have played their role. Through both developmental (i.e. variability in the expression of genes during ontogeny) and activation plasticity (i.e. alteration of behaviour as a result of individual experience), studies have shown that the identification of cues in novel systems—often determined by extrinsic factors—and learning processes, among other factors, have important impacts on decision-making and innovation. The latter are crucial behavioural traits for thriving in urban settings. Thus, we propose an integrative mechanistic framework based on the process experienced by birds who reach a city and manage to persist in the novel system (becoming urban ‘utilisers’) or those that dwell in an urbanised region who increase their fitness through behavioural responses and adaptations, leading to population persistence (becoming ‘dwellers’). Future field research efforts ought not only to widen the range of focal species, regions, and temporal scales of studies, but also to assess behavioural responses in highly urbanised settings, given that much of our knowledge comes from studies performed in urban greenspaces. Additionally, experimental studies are needed to complement the evidence from field research and to determine causal links.
{"title":"Keys to the city: an integrative conceptual framework on avian urban filtering","authors":"I. MacGregor‐Fors, M. García-Arroyo, J. Quesada","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac026","url":null,"abstract":"Urbanization represents a multi-dimensional ecological ‘filter’ for birds determined by a myriad of variables that can change over time. Birds colonising an urban system or staying in a habitat that has been recently urbanised need to overcome both the extrinsic (e.g. food predictability, human activities, and inter-specific interaction) and intrinsic filter variables, ranging from genetic to behavioural changes and/or adjustments. An increasing body of knowledge has identified the behavioural component as crucial for individuals facing the spatiotemporal dynamic urban filters, often after other traits and mechanisms have played their role. Through both developmental (i.e. variability in the expression of genes during ontogeny) and activation plasticity (i.e. alteration of behaviour as a result of individual experience), studies have shown that the identification of cues in novel systems—often determined by extrinsic factors—and learning processes, among other factors, have important impacts on decision-making and innovation. The latter are crucial behavioural traits for thriving in urban settings. Thus, we propose an integrative mechanistic framework based on the process experienced by birds who reach a city and manage to persist in the novel system (becoming urban ‘utilisers’) or those that dwell in an urbanised region who increase their fitness through behavioural responses and adaptations, leading to population persistence (becoming ‘dwellers’). Future field research efforts ought not only to widen the range of focal species, regions, and temporal scales of studies, but also to assess behavioural responses in highly urbanised settings, given that much of our knowledge comes from studies performed in urban greenspaces. Additionally, experimental studies are needed to complement the evidence from field research and to determine causal links.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61022944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：