Reduced availability of habitat structures in urban landscapes: Implications for policy and practice

Roux, Darren S. Le; Ikin, Karen; Lindenmayer, David B.; Blanchard, Wade; Manning, Adrian D.; Gibbons, Philip

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.01.015

Cited by 87 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Bat chainsaw hollows had a vertical slit entrance 2 × 15 cm (width × height); plunge cuts angled upwards at approximately 60 • were then used to create a wedge-shaped internal cavity (maximum depth = 25-30 cm) with a volume of approximately 500 cm 3 ( Figure 1c,d and Appendix A). This design was intended to simulate natural tree roosts used by bats that have 'vertical fissure' type entrances [76].…”

Section: Bat Cavitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dimensions of the boxes were 43 × 7.5 × 50 cm (width × depth × height), with an internal volume of 9555 cm 3 and an open-bottom entrance with a width of 1.5 cm (Figure 2). Bat boxes were installed on the same trees as the bat chainsaw hollows, positioned 15-20 cm below the entrance of each hollow, so that every box was paired with a chainsaw hollow on a trunk (14 boxes) or branch (21 boxes).…”

Section: Bat Cavitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We selected logs with a diameter ranging from 25-29 cm and cut them in half, carved out a rectangular box with similar dimensions as the chainsaw hollows carved into trees: 16 × 18 × 28 cm (width × depth × height), 8064 cm 3 …”

Section: A12 Chainsaw-carved Glider Log Hollowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, large hollow-bearing trees continue to be removed from human-impacted landscapes due to land clearing, agricultural intensification, logging and expanding urbanization, resulting in significant negative impacts on native hollow-dependent fauna [2]. Long-term management strategies are urgently required to complement the revegetation and restoration of degraded areas, in conjunction with retaining the large hollow-bearing trees that persist in modified landscapes [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chainsaw-Carved Cavities Better Mimic the Thermal Properties of Natural Tree Hollows than Nest Boxes and Log Hollows

Griffiths

Lentini

Semmens

et al. 2018

Forests

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Abstract:The creation of supplementary habitats that effectively mimic the physical and thermal characteristics of natural tree hollows should be a key priority for landscape restoration and biodiversity offset programs. Here, we compare the thermal profiles of natural tree hollows with three types of artificial hollows designed for small marsupial gliders and tree-roosting insectivorous bats: (1) 'chainsaw hollows' carved directly into the trunks and branches of live trees, (2) 'log hollows', and (3) plywood nest boxes. Chainsaw hollows had thermal profiles that were similar to natural tree hollows: they were consistently warmer than ambient conditions at night, while remaining cooler than ambient during the day. In contrast, glider and bat boxes had the opposite pattern of heating and cooling, being slightly cooler than ambient at night and substantially hotter during the day. Glider log hollows had greater variation in internal temperatures compared to natural hollows and chainsaw hollows, but fluctuated less than glider boxes. Our results provide the first empirical evidence that artificial hollows carved directly into live trees can produce thermally stable supplementary habitats that could potentially buffer hollow-dependent fauna from weather extremes; whereas, poorly insulated plywood nest boxes produce lower-quality thermal environments. Together these findings provide positive impetus for stakeholders involved in conservation management and biodiversity offset programs to consider trialing chainsaw hollows in situations where target fauna require well-insulated supplementary habitats.

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Section: Bat Cavitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bat Cavitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A12 Chainsaw-carved Glider Log Hollowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Chainsaw-Carved Cavities Better Mimic the Thermal Properties of Natural Tree Hollows than Nest Boxes and Log Hollows

Griffiths

Lentini

Semmens

et al. 2018

Forests

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“…This will eventually be beneficial in dealing with emerging social, ecological, environmental, and aesthetic challenges of this expanding urban growth [23]. Neighborhood development per se inevitably reduces the availability of habitat structures in urban landscapes which can jeopardize urban ecological sustainability [24]. However, with the planning and utility of design tools such as ecological design, spatial zoning, and community engagement, the destruction of habitat structures can be minimized and the balance between socio-economic priorities and biodiversity conservation may become achievable even at the site scale when those strategies can be practically implemented in those individual neighborhoods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Preliminary Study on Connectivity and Perceived Values of Community Green Spaces

Park

2017

Sustainability

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Green spaces in residential communities are important yet understudied features of the urban ecological system. While large urban parks and remnant wildlands in urban areas tend to receive public attention from conservation and management perspectives, less is known about the importance of spatial and ecological characteristics of the community-scale green space. This study investigates natural elements in four planned communities in the Phoenix metropolitan area, Arizona; two of which represent conventional types of neighborhoods and two which exemplify community development type with a proclaimed vision of sustainability. These distinct types of communities, which illustrate variations in age, location, open space type, and a cross-section of housing density, are compared with regard to landscape connectivity as a means of gauging the ecological condition for community sustainability. Using Geographical Information Systems and landscape connectivity indices, a community's green space features were examined including size, physical connectedness, and ecological potential. Furthermore, a questionnaire survey was designed and implemented to examine the perceptional differences between the two types of community residents. The findings demonstrate that the green spaces in conventional communities are more physically connected than their counterparts, but the naturalness and ecological qualities manifested in the amount of the land that may serve as potential urban desert habitats were higher in the sustainable communities. The results of the survey indicated that the respondents inhabiting sustainable communities possess a higher level of satisfaction than the people in conventional types of communities. This is due mainly to the amount of easy access to, and the perceived ecological values of the green spaces in their neighborhoods and surrounding areas. The study concludes that careful community design with ecological consideration can help create sustainable communities which can benefit both site-scale ecosystems and perceived human well-being.

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Indigenous plants promote insect biodiversity in urban greenspaces

Mata

Andersen

Morán‐Ordóñez

et al. 2021

Ecological Applications

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The contribution of urban greenspaces to support biodiversity and provide benefits for people is increasingly recognized. However, ongoing management practices favor vegetation oversimplification, often limiting greenspaces to lawns and tree canopy rather than multi-layered vegetation that includes under-and midstorey, and the use of nonnative species. These practices hinder the potential of greenspaces to sustain indigenous biodiversity, particularly for taxa like insects that rely on plants for food and habitat. Yet, little is known about which plant species may maximize positive outcomes for taxonomically and functionally diverse insect communities in greenspaces. Additionally, while cities are expected to experience high rates of introductions, quantitative assessments of the relative occupancy of indigenous vs. introduced insect species in greenspace are rare, hindering understanding of how management may promote indigenous biodiversity while limiting the establishment of introduced insects. Using a hierarchically replicated study design across 15 public parks, we recorded occurrence data from 552 insect species on 133 plant species, differing in planting design element (lawn, midstorey, and tree canopy), midstorey growth form (forbs, lilioids, graminoids, and shrubs) and origin (nonnative, native, and indigenous), to assess (1) the relative contributions of indigenous and introduced insect species and (2) which plant species sustained the highest number of indigenous insects. We found that the insect community was overwhelmingly composed of indigenous rather than introduced species. Our findings further highlight the core role of multi-layered vegetation in sustaining high insect biodiversity in urban areas, with indigenous midstorey and canopy representing key elements to maintain rich and functionally diverse indigenous insect communities. Intriguingly, graminoids supported the highest indigenous insect richness across all studied growth forms by plant origin groups. Our work highlights the opportunity presented by indigenous understory and midstorey plants, particularly indigenous graminoids, in our study area to promote indigenous insect biodiversity in urban greenspaces. Our study provides a blueprint and stimulus for architects, engineers, developers, designers, and planners to incorporate into their practice plant species palettes that foster a larger presence of indigenous over regionally native or nonnative plant species, while incorporating a broader mixture of midstorey growth forms.

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Reduced availability of habitat structures in urban landscapes: Implications for policy and practice

Cited by 87 publications

References 39 publications

Chainsaw-Carved Cavities Better Mimic the Thermal Properties of Natural Tree Hollows than Nest Boxes and Log Hollows

Chainsaw-Carved Cavities Better Mimic the Thermal Properties of Natural Tree Hollows than Nest Boxes and Log Hollows

A Preliminary Study on Connectivity and Perceived Values of Community Green Spaces

Indigenous plants promote insect biodiversity in urban greenspaces

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