Is biodiversity needed for sustainability? A spotlight on urban landscapes

Behm, Jocelyn E.

doi:10.1002/ajb2.1465

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Andreucci (2013) [50] proposed an scheme on major EU initiatives, based on a series of key specific leading objectives that primarily included (1) to protect biodiversity decline and/or damage (i.e. enhance, conserve, and restore) in natural and semi-natural areas (see also [70]);…”

Section: Nature-based Solutions and Major European Union Research Policy Prioritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2) to protect ecosystem functioning (maintain, strengthen, and restore), and to promote ecosystem and cultural services [70]; (3) to mitigate and to adapt against climate change impacts and scenarios, evaluating its options and strategies [59], and to intensify resilience by implementing approaches to vulnerability reduction toward pressures on environment and climate risks as combination of environmental issues (natural disasters) and anthropogenic factors (e.g. floods, urban heat island (UHI) effect); (4) to ensure adequate opportunities for health and well-being, creating and promoting open green spaces for relaxation, recreation and social interaction [71], getting stronger urban-rural connections, supporting the development of affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems and, strengthening the 'sense of community' and community building as basic human needs in the urban environment; and (5) to boost the scientific, economic, cultural and societal resources' connections among nature, biodiversity and ES values, and to conceive new policies and incentive structures seeking to build capacity for it [13,72,73].…”

Section: Nature-based Solutions and Major European Union Research Policy Prioritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nature-Based Solutions in Cities—Contribution of the Portuguese National Association of Green Roofs to Urban Circularity

Pineda-Martos

Calheiros

2021

Circ.Econ.Sust.

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Green building-integrated systems and technologies (e.g., green roofs (GR) and walls (GW)) are classified as nature-based solutions (NBS) in the context of urban green infrastructure (GI), which contribute to add both natural elements and processes, as a result of locally designed, resource-efficient, and systemic interventions in cities. They have also been considered to address several urban challenges towards cities' circularity. The European Union (EU) Biodiversity Strategy and the Action Plan recently adopted by the European Commission, represent a comprehensive long-term programme aspiring to protect nature and reversing the ecosystem degradation by 2030. Sustainable and resilient societies under the challenge 'innovating with nature' are the leading aim of the EU Research and Innovation (R&I) policy agenda goals on NBS and re-naturing urban areas. The European GI/NBS Associations build the bridge to provide a network among stakeholders from academia, municipalities, entrepreneurs and private-sector entities and other non-governmental organisations, by creating a platform to build and share knowledge and create collaboration on sustainable GI/NBS, regarding building-integrated vegetation approaches as well as related policies, regulations and technical guidelines. The commitments of the foundations to encourage and promote the advanced adoption of green urban infrastructure practice and planning as part of the built environment, drive active efforts to support NBS innovation objectives and the transition from 'grey to green' infrastructure. The present manuscript aims at reflecting the crucial role of the Associations on GI/NBS, mainly GR and GW, to develop local frameworks applying innovative plans of action, and allocate R&I opportunities implementing relevant and inclusive urban regeneration solutions. Within this context, it will be highlighted the example of the Portuguese National Association of Green Roofs.

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Section: Nature-based Solutions and Major European Union Research Policy Prioritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Nature-based Solutions and Major European Union Research Policy Prioritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature-Based Solutions in Cities—Contribution of the Portuguese National Association of Green Roofs to Urban Circularity

Pineda-Martos

Calheiros

2021

Circ.Econ.Sust.

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“…Municipalities face the challenge of managing urban vegetation, including species diversity and overall vegetation health [24,25]. The wide array of urban vegetation presents difficulties in acquiring specific information, as different plant species exhibit varying capacities to absorb airborne contaminants [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Sensor Classification Framework of Urban Vegetation for Improving Ecological Services Management

Tiwari,

Kira,

Bamah

et al. 2024

Remote Sensing

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Recent climatic changes have profoundly impacted the urban microclimate, exposing city dwellers to harsh living conditions. One effective approach to mitigating these events involves incorporating more green infrastructure into the cityscape. The ecological services provided by urban vegetation play a crucial role in enhancing the sustainability and livability of cities. However, monitoring urban vegetation and accurately estimating its status pose challenges due to the heterogeneous nature of the urban environment. In response to this, the current study proposes utilizing a remote sensing-based classification framework to enhance data availability, thereby improving practices related to urban vegetation management. The aim of the current research is to explore the spatial pattern of vegetation and enhance the classification of tree species within diverse and complex urban environments. This study combines various remote sensing observations to enhance classification capabilities. High-resolution colored rectified aerial photographs, LiDAR-derived products, and hyperspectral data are merged and analyzed using advanced classifier methods, specifically partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and object-based image analysis (OBIA). The OBIA method demonstrates an impressive overall accuracy of 95.30%, while the PLS-DA model excels with a remarkable overall accuracy of 100%. The findings validate the efficacy of incorporating OBIA, aerial photographs, LiDAR, and hyperspectral data in improving tree species classification and mapping within the context of PLS-DA. This classification framework holds significant potential for enhancing management practices and tools, thereby optimizing the ecological services provided by urban vegetation and fostering the development of sustainable cities.

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“…Many studies underscore the importance of city plant life to humans, but comparatively fewer evaluate urban forests as potentially biodiverse ecosystems ( Alvey, 2006 ). Through this ecological lens, it is important to understand species diversity ( Behm, 2020 ), nativity status ( Tallamy, 2004 ), and spatial arrangements of city trees ( Roman et al, 2018 ). In particular, we wanted to know whether local climatic conditions are associated with the species diversity of city tree communities, how species diversity was distributed in space within cities, and whether introduced tree species contribute to biotic homogenization among urban ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species clustering, climate effects, and introduced species in 5 million city trees across 63 US cities

McCoy

Goulet-Scott

Meng

et al. 2022

eLife

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Sustainable cities depend on urban forests. City trees-pillars of urban forests - improve our health, clean the air, store CO2, and cool local temperatures. Comparatively less is known about city tree communities as ecosystems, particularly regarding spatial composition, species diversity, tree health, and the abundance of introduced species. Here, we assembled and standardized a new dataset of N=5,660,237 trees from 63 of the largest US cities with detailed information on location, health, species, and whether a species is introduced or naturally occurring (i.e., 'native'). We further designed new tools to analyze spatial clustering and the abundance of introduced species. We show that trees significantly cluster by species in 98% of cities, potentially increasing pest vulnerability (even in species-diverse cities). Further, introduced species significantly homogenize tree communities across cities, while naturally occurring trees (i.e., 'native' trees) comprise 0.51%-87.3% (median=45.6%) of city tree populations. Introduced species are more common in drier cities, and climate also shapes tree species diversity across urban forests. Parks have greater tree species diversity than urban settings. Compared to past work which focused on canopy cover and species richness, we show the importance of analyzing spatial composition and introduced species in urban ecosystems (and we develop new tools and datasets to do so). Future work could analyze city trees and socio-demographic variables or bird, insect, and plant diversity (e.g., from citizen-science initiatives). With these tools, we may evaluate existing city trees in new, nuanced ways and design future plantings to maximize resistance to pests and climate change. We depend on city trees.

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Is biodiversity needed for sustainability? A spotlight on urban landscapes

Abstract: Citation: Behm, J. E. 2020. Is biodiversity needed for sustainability? A spotlight on urban landscapes.

Cited by 9 publications

References 17 publications

Nature-Based Solutions in Cities—Contribution of the Portuguese National Association of Green Roofs to Urban Circularity

Nature-Based Solutions in Cities—Contribution of the Portuguese National Association of Green Roofs to Urban Circularity

Multi-Sensor Classification Framework of Urban Vegetation for Improving Ecological Services Management

Species clustering, climate effects, and introduced species in 5 million city trees across 63 US cities

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