Habitat connectivity shapes urban arthropod communities: the key role of green roofs

Braaker, Sonja; Ghazoul, Jaboury; Obrist, Martin К.; Moretti, Marco

doi:10.1890/13-0705.1

Cited by 212 publications

(181 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Since mistletoes are bird-dispersed, they are likely to follow a similar pattern. Connectivity is important for a variety of organisms in human-transformed landscapes such as urban areas and agricultural lands [36,37]. These results suggest the importance of street trees in facilitating movement between urban green spaces.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Do Indigenous Street Trees Promote More Biodiversity than Alien Ones? Evidence Using Mistletoes and Birds in South Africa

Shackleton

2016

Forests

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Trees in urban landscapes provide a range of ecosystem services, including habitat, refugia, food, and corridors for other fauna and flora. However, there is some debate whether the richness and abundance of other biodiversity supported is influenced by the provenance of trees, i.e., native or non-native. This study assessed the presence of mistletoes and birds (and nests) in 1261 street trees. There were marked differences between native and non-native street trees, with the former having a significantly higher prevalence of birds (and nests) and supporting more species and in greater densities, whilst the latter supported a higher prevalence of mistletoes. Additionally, for birds, the proximity to green space, tree size and species were also important, whilst for mistletoes, the proximity to green space, slope aspect, and tree species were significant. Preference ratios indicated that some tree species had a higher than random occurrence of birds or mistletoes, whilst others had a low abundance. The indigenous tree species, Acacia karroo Hayne was the only reasonably abundant street tree species that was important for birds, nests, and mistletoes. At the street scale, there was a positive relationship between street tree species richness and bird species richness. These results emphasise the importance of selecting appropriate tree species if biodiversity conservation is a core outcome.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Do Indigenous Street Trees Promote More Biodiversity than Alien Ones? Evidence Using Mistletoes and Birds in South Africa

Shackleton

2016

Forests

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“…Thus, connectivity provided by watercourses may have a negative effect on biodiversity in highly-developed catchments with a high percentage of impervious surface. In contrast, connectivity facilitated by vegetated terrestrial habitats may be positive, at least for insect with aerial life stages (Braaker et al 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there a relationship between socio-economic factors and biodiversity in urban ponds? A study in the city of Stockholm

et al. 2017

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Urban small water bodies, such as ponds, are essential elements of human socio-economic landscapes. Ponds also provide important habitats for species that would otherwise not survive in the urban environment. Knowledge on the biodiversity of urban ponds and the relationship between their ecological value and factors linked to urbanization and socio-economic status is crucial for decisions on where and how to establish and manage ponds in cities to deliver maximum biodiversity benefits. Our study investigates if the pattern of urban-pond biodiversity can be related to different socio-economic factors, such as level of wealth, education or percentage of buildings of different types. Because of lack of previous studies investigating that, our study is of exploratory character and many different variables are used. We found that the biodiversity of aquatic insects was significantly negatively associated with urbanisation variables such as amount of buildings and number of residents living around ponds. This relationship did not differ depending on the spatial scale of our investigation. In contrast, we did not find a significant relationship with variables representing socio-economic status, such as education level and wealth of people. This latter result suggests that the socio-economic status of residents does not lead to any particular effect in terms of the management and function of ponds that would affect biodiversity. However, there is a need for a finer-scale investigation of the different potential mechanism in which residents in areas with differing socio-economic status could indirectly influence ponds.

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“…A weak positive association between green roof size and species abundance or diversity [50,65] has been found, and Kyro et al (2018) [51] recently added that roof species that are not sensitive to reduced patch size will typically benefit from small roofs, unlike species that require a large area of continuous habitat (e.g., running spiders).…”

Section: Are Green Walls and Green Roofs Large Enough For Supporting mentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Roofs and Green Walls for Biodiversity Conservation: A Contribution to Urban Connectivity?

2018

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Green roofs and walls have recently emerged as conservation tools, and they offer promising additional opportunities to enhance biodiversity in cities. However, their ecological conditions remain poorly considered when planning wildlife corridors. To discuss the role of vegetated buildings in landscape connectivity, we reviewed the ecological and technical specificities of green walls and green roofs in light of the key factors concerning urban wildlife (patch size, quality, abundance, and isolation). Green roofs and walls show limited patch sizes, distinct habitat quality at the building scale, and limited redundancy of patch quality within the landscape. We also highlight that the abundance of roof and wall patches is often low. Future research is needed to establish if walls can be vertical corridors for wildlife, thereby reducing the isolation of green roofs. We argue that creating 3D ecological connectivity within the city requires substantial modifications of the design and maintenance of existing green building systems. We suggest that research is needed to integrate the biotic and abiotic characteristics of green buildings to make them more closely resemble those of open green spaces.

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Habitat connectivity shapes urban arthropod communities: the key role of green roofs

Cited by 212 publications

References 58 publications

Do Indigenous Street Trees Promote More Biodiversity than Alien Ones? Evidence Using Mistletoes and Birds in South Africa

Do Indigenous Street Trees Promote More Biodiversity than Alien Ones? Evidence Using Mistletoes and Birds in South Africa

Is there a relationship between socio-economic factors and biodiversity in urban ponds? A study in the city of Stockholm

Green Roofs and Green Walls for Biodiversity Conservation: A Contribution to Urban Connectivity?

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