Urban Ecosystems最新文献

The breeding period of birds is a critical and sensitive portion of the annual cycle. Understanding how human use of urban green spaces affects nest survival can improve our understanding of conserving breeding bird populations in cities and support science-based management of urban green spaces that benefit both people and nature. We conducted a nest survival field study between April and August of 2023 in multiple green spaces in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the country's second-largest city. We asked whether human presence (distance to trails and amount of human activity) influences the nest survival of four common open-cup nesting bird species: American robins (Turdus migratorius), gray catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis), Northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), and yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia). We also asked if variables traditionally associated with nest survival, such as vegetation concealment and seasonality, would influence nest survival. Our analyses surprisingly revealed no significant influence of human activity, vegetation concealment, and seasonality on nest survival for our target species. We found for nests that did fail, nests established during the earlier part of the nesting period failed faster. American robin nests were the most successful of our study's four target species, whereas Northern cardinal nests were the least successful. Within the limitations of our study system, our findings suggest that human presence on trails is not negatively impacting the nesting success for our target bird species using urban green spaces. Our study provides integrated science advice to land managers so they can support opportunities for people to connect with nature without causing trade-offs with biodiversity conservation.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11252-024-01669-0.

Various factors drive the decline of freshwater vertebrate biodiversity. These include changing landscape and urbanisation, introduced invasive species, altered habitat, water quality deterioration, instream barriers, and climate change. In the present study, we evaluated the impact of different habitat features on the fish assemblages in an urban river using catch per unit effort (CPUE) as a proxy for fish assemblage per site and season. We sampled 17 main sites and 21 ad-hoc sites in the uMsunduze Catchment in Pietermaritzburg, uMgungundlovu District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, during 2022-2023. We collected data using an electro-shocker, fyke nets, and gill nets, and we also recorded and calculated habitat features such as substrate types, hydraulic biotopes, in-situ water quality, ecohydraulics, average depth, and velocity. We used Generalised Linear Models to determine the habitat features driving fish communities. We calculated the Shannon-Weiner and Pielou diversity indices to compare between rivers. We used the Fish Response Assessment Index (FRAI) tool to understand each site's ecological integrity per season. Our results indicated that various features, including substrate (mud, sand, gravel), fast intermediate and fast deep ecohydraulics, electrical conductivity, habitat (glide, pool), and average velocity significantly impacted the CPUE of fish. There was no variation in diversity indices between tributaries, but there was a significant difference in fish diversity between the uMsunduze mainstream and its tributaries. The FRAI scores showed great deterioration in the system's ecological health, and most sites, especially the mainstream sites, were critically or extremely modified. We suggest that the relevant authorities take action to mitigate the pressures compromising the uMsunduze Catchment's ecological integrity. There is an urgent need for conservation measures for the two "near threatened" species, Enteromius gurneyi and Amphilius natalensis, the former now extirpated as per our study.

Green-blue urban infrastructures potentially offer win-win benefits for people and nature in urban areas. Given increasing evidence of widespread declines of insects, as well as their ecological importance, there is a need to better understand the potential role of green-blue urban infrastructure for insect conservation. In this review, we evaluated 201 studies about the ability of green-blue infrastructure to support insect diversity. Most studies were focused on the role of local and landscape-level characteristics of green-blue infrastructure. Fewer studies explicitly compared one type of infrastructure to another, and even fewer compared insect communities between green-blue infrastructure and traditional infrastructure. Overall, the body of research highlights the importance of plant diversity and reduced intensity of management (e.g., mowing) for most insect taxon groups. While local characteristics seem to be generally more important than landscape factors, insect communities within green-blue infrastructures can also depend on their connectivity and landscape context. Some infrastructure types are generally more beneficial than others; for instance, ground-level habitats tend to support more insects than green roofs. Few studies simultaneously studied synergies or trade-offs with other services provided by green-blue infrastructure, but environmental variables, such as tree cover and plant diversity, that affect insects are likely to also affect the provision of other services such as improving thermal comfort and the well-being of people. Our review offers some initial evidence for how green-blue infrastructure could be designed for multifunctionality with insects in mind.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11252-024-01649-4.

Urbanization continues to be a major threat to biodiversity. The knowledge of local and site characteristics that influence species diversity within cities is of importance to design and manage urban spaces that promote biodiversity and ecosystem services. While the characteristics of urban green spaces for biodiversity have been studied in detail, the urban matrix has received less attention. We, therefore, studied the role of sampling site and local-scale parameters at different urbanization intensities on bird and tree communities during the breeding season across the city of Salzburg encompassing the heterogeneity of the urban landscape. We found more exotic than native tree species, however areas with many trees, were dominated by native tree species. Although building cover negatively related to bird species richness at all scales, bird species richness increased with the amount of grass cover, the number of trees and the number of native tree species at the smallest, i.e. sampling site, scale. Building cover and the number of trees in a sampling site also influenced bird community composition. At larger scales, land cover (i.e., building cover and green urban area) was more strongly related to bird community composition than sampling site characteristics. Relationships with community composition can partly be explained by species-specific responses as the occurrence of different species was associated with different sampling site characteristics. Our study shows the importance of unsealed soil, i.e. grass cover, and native trees on bird communities within cities, but different species may require different configurations of these habitat parameters. Furthermore, also within the urban matrix site characteristics can promote avian diversity even in areas with high building cover.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11252-025-01738-y.

Transforming complex adaptive social-ecological systems, such as urban areas, requires collaboration with stakeholders to address multifaceted challenges. Co-design is a participatory decision-making process during which diverse knowledge and perspectives inform transformative solutions. As urban wilding gains momentum as a strategy for reimagining green space, co-design provides a way to collaboratively explore the values, conflicts, and possibilities that arise when planning for multispecies cohabitation. Urban wilding is an increasingly prominent approach to urban green space design, which emphasises the cohabitation of human and non-human species to foster biodiversity and ecological resilience. To integrate non-human perspectives into urban ecology practice, researchers from the participatory science project NovelEco developed the Future Novel Ecologies co-design workshop, which utilised multispecies methods to incorporate non-human perspectives into the design process. This paper outlines the workshop methodology for planning and conducting a workshop effectively, reflects on the workshop's effectiveness in fostering collaborative visioning, and suggests adaptations for implementation in alternative settings. Further, the integration of the workshop's methods into learning environments is discussed to reflect on how they can equip educators, students, and other stakeholders with tools that help reimagine urban ecologies. Insights are also provided about the value of municipalities, planning agencies, and local community groups adopting this workshop to enhance participatory planning and collaborative urban governance. This ecology-with-cities approach advances new inclusive, adaptive urban transformation frameworks by bridging participatory design and ecological, multispecies thinking.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11252-025-01846-9.

Private gardens contribute to a large area of land within cities. Yet, little is known about the value of private gardens in pollinator conservation in terms of their management and position within the urban matrix. We investigated seasonal patterns in how environmental variables influenced plant-flower visitor interactions and the network structure in private gardens. We collected plant-flower visitor data in 18 private gardens, across Glasgow, Scotland, simultaneously recording floral abundance and richness, plant origin, garden size, land use diversity and the area of green space surrounding gardens. We observed a decline in native plant abundance from June until September, but flower visits to native and non-native plants did not track this seasonal pattern. Flower visits to native and non-native plants differed depending on whether visits were analysed at the community or plant species level. Furthermore, increasing non-native floral abundance showed a greater increase in flower visitors compared to when native floral abundance increased. Plant-flower visitor networks varied seasonally, becoming more specialised in June and September, but were not influenced by other environmental variables. Overall, higher floral richness and abundance within a garden influenced flower visits, independent of the surrounding landscape. Our results indicate that private gardens can support pollinators in cities, regardless of the urban context in which they are situated and that pollinator diversity may be improved in gardens by increasing floral diversity. We provide a list of attractive plants species to help inform floral plantings in gardens.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11252-025-01848-7.

Scavenging removes carrion or littered food waste from the environment, promoting nutrient cycling, and reducing waste management costs. These ecosystem services are important in urban environments, where high human population densities result in increased littered food waste. It is unclear how the magnitude of scavenging across urban-rural gradients is influenced by agent, land-cover type, and patch size. We investigated scavenging provision by vertebrates and invertebrates across a gradient of urbanisation, based on impervious surface cover, in woodlands and gardens in Liverpool, UK. The percentage dry weight loss of bait after 48 h, deployed within vertebrate exclusion cages or exposed to vertebrates and invertebrates, was used to quantify scavenging provision. General linear mixed effects models were used to assess the relative contributions of vertebrates and invertebrates across an urban-rural gradient, variation in scavenging between woodlands and gardens, and the effects of semi-natural vegetation cover on scavenging in gardens. We consider patch size as a preliminary assessment of how fragmentation influences scavenging. Vertebrates contributed substantially more to scavenging than invertebrates across the urbanisation gradient. Vertebrate scavenging was greater in woodlands than gardens, while invertebrate scavenging remained consistent. Scavenging increased with patch size in gardens, but not woodlands. Vertebrate scavenging increased with patch size and garden semi-natural vegetation cover. Urban woodlands and gardens make important contributions to scavenging-mediated ecosystem services. There is a need to increase the cover of semi-natural vegetation in gardens to increase their contributions, and protect and expand woodlands, especially in areas with a high demand for scavenging-mediated ecosystem services.

Urbanization in tropical landscapes is a complex phenomenon that can lead to community shifts rather than simple species extinction in response to multiple stressors in peri-urban and urban settings. We have investigated the impacts of different stressors along a tropical urban-peri-urban gradient on the bee community, the health of which is a global conservation concern. Several stressors such as increased built-up area, pesticide application and air pollution may effectively regulate bee community composition and corresponding functional diversity along urban-peri urban gradients. We investigated the changes in bee community structure in response to associated stressors in 20 locations including parks and gardens along an urban-peri-urban gradient surrounding the megacity of Kolkata. Bee community structure differed significantly between urban and peri-urban sites with urban sites showing lower value of nestedness. Network analysis also revealed that Apis florea and Lasioglosssum sp. 1 were the most important species in the urban and peri-urban areas respectively, as they had the highest values in bee-site network parameters. Functional diversity increased with urbanization and decreased with pesticide toxicity. Functional redundancy decreased with urbanization. Individual stressors impacted the bee assemblage differentially along the urbanization gradient. SO₂ and pesticide toxicity negatively influenced bee abundance and diversity. Urban sites sustained more specialized species and therefore are more vulnerable to shocks while peri-urban sites had a more functionally redundant community making it comparatively more resilient.

Soil unsealing, the process of removing the impermeable top layer of soil, is increasingly advocated by urban planning policies. The role of unsealed areas in biodiversity conservation, particularly soil biodiversity, remains strongly understudied and especially in understanding the recolonization dynamics of soil biodiversity in these new habitats. Besides, the various types of soil cover resulting from soil unsealing could potentially influence the recolonization kinetics. This study focused on 79 unsealed plots located in 14 schoolyards along the French Mediterranean coast, investigating ant communities through the placement of 485 baits on unsealed plots. Two variables were considered: the duration since soil unsealing (1 or 2 years) and the type of soil cover (wood chips, plantations mulched with wood chips or lawns). Remarkably, these unsealed areas act as habitats for ants from their very first years of creation: a rich number of ant species (21 species; a fifth of the regional pool and 10% of the metropolitan French species) has been observed. Additionally, notable changes in ant communities were evident within a single year: plots unsealed for 2 years exhibited significantly higher indices of ant abundance and species richness compared to those unsealed for 1 year. However, the construction of these spaces influences the present communities, with wood chip-covered areas significantly less rich and abundant in ants compared to other ground cover types. These findings represent a promising starting point and offer insights into the potential of such projects for soil biodiversity conservation.

Many authors have described ‘urban ecology’ as a subfield of ecology that emerged in the 1990s and has expanded exponentially. We propose to take a step further and analyse the expansion of the ‘urban’ in ecology with a novel quantitative approach, with the aim to better understand the relationship between ecology and the urban. Previous quantitative assessments of the urban in ecology have focused on short to medium time spans (5 to 40 years) and on research coined as ‘urban ecology’, and have rarely considered the content of publications (e.g., vocabulary and topics) using quantitative methods. In this paper, we conduct a bibliometric assessment and an in-depth quantitative textual data analysis of a corpus of 960 articles published from 1922 to 2018 in 10 leading English-language journals in ecology and conservation biology. We address the following questions: (1) When and how have urban environments been integrated into ecological research during the past century? (2) What urban research topics have been investigated in ecology during the same period? (3) How have these research topics changed through time? Our results show that the urban was never entirely absent from publications in ecology. The quantitative analyses highlight three turning points (1970s, 1990s and 2000s) in the relationship between ecology and the urban. Moreover, they help visualize the shift from particularly scattered publications at the beginning of the period to publications characterized by a more homogeneous vocabulary, reflecting the stabilization of a research field focused on the urban in ecology.