Scaling up from gardens: biodiversity conservation in urban environments

Goddard, Mark A.; Dougill, Andrew J.; Benton, Tim G.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2009.07.016

Cited by 1,254 publications

(925 citation statements)

References 110 publications

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“…UA is connected to multiple metabolic pathways in the urban ecosystem including food provisioning (Zezza & Tasciotti, 2010), regulation of local microclimate and hydrology (Oberndorfer et al, 2007), consumption of nutrient rich "waste" water and biosolids/organic matter (Armstrong, 2009;de Zeeuw et al, 2011;Smit & Nasr, 1992), and fixation of atmospheric nitrogen (Herridge et al, 2008) and carbon (Beniston & Lal, 2012). For pollinators and other wildlife, habitat is created in the city (Goddard et al, 2010). It has been suggested that UA can also alleviate poverty (van Veenhuizen & Danso, 2007;Zezza & Tasciotti, 2010), increase resiliency (to market fluctuations and climate change) (de Zeeuw et al, 2011), serve as a repository of agricultural knowledge (Koohafkan & Altieri, 2010) and an incubator of new technologies (Despommier, 2010), provide measurable improvements to human health and wellbeing (Joye, 2007;Ulrich, 2006), and reunite urbanites with natural systems from which they have been separated (McClintock, 2010;Turner, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Global Geospatial Ecosystem Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture

et al. 2018

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Though urban agriculture (UA), defined here as growing of crops in cities, is increasing in popularity and importance globally, little is known about the aggregate benefits of such natural capital in built‐up areas. Here, we introduce a quantitative framework to assess global aggregate ecosystem services from existing vegetation in cities and an intensive UA adoption scenario based on data‐driven estimates of urban morphology and vacant land. We analyzed global population, urban, meteorological, terrain, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) datasets in Google Earth Engine to derive global scale estimates, aggregated by country, of services provided by UA. We estimate the value of four ecosystem services provided by existing vegetation in urban areas to be on the order of $33 billion annually. We project potential annual food production of 100–180 million tonnes, energy savings ranging from 14 to 15 billion kilowatt hours, nitrogen sequestration between 100,000 and 170,000 tonnes, and avoided storm water runoff between 45 and 57 billion cubic meters annually. In addition, we estimate that food production, nitrogen fixation, energy savings, pollination, climate regulation, soil formation and biological control of pests could be worth as much as $80–160 billion annually in a scenario of intense UA implementation. Our results demonstrate significant country‐to‐country variability in UA‐derived ecosystem services and reduction of food insecurity. These estimates represent the first effort to consistently quantify these incentives globally, and highlight the relative spatial importance of built environments to act as change agents that alleviate mounting concerns associated with global environmental change and unsustainable development.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Global Geospatial Ecosystem Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture

et al. 2018

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“…The process of urbanization is one of the most important factors affecting natural ecosystems at the beginning of the 21 st century (Ricketts and Imhoff 2003;Goddard et al 2010). Urban areas of the world are expected to absorb all the human population growth expected over the next four decades (United Nations 2011), and as urban populations expand, so do urbanized landscapes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The spatial genetic structure of the yellow-necked mouse in an urban environment – a recent invader vs. a closely related permanent inhabitant

et al. 2016

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We analyse the genetic variability in the yellownecked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) population in the city of Warsaw, Poland, and its surroundings -a species that has begun to occupy the city only in the last 30 years. We also compare the genetic variability of this species with corresponding data collected in the same time and areas for another species -the striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius). The results indicate a gradual decrease in genetic diversity and increase in relatedness in the population of A. flavicollis from non-urban locations towards sites with the highest anthropopressure. The genetic structure was more pronounced in the 'recent invader' (A. flavicollis) than in the 'permanent inhabitant' (A. agrarius), which has a much longer city colonization history (more than 100 years). In general, FST was higher in A. flavicollis, which may indicate different and independent ways of city colonization by the species. The process by which urban areas are settled by a new, typically forest-dwelling species such as A. flavicollis, more 'sensitive' to the conditions of life in a city, probably includes not only successful events of penetration of the city by small groups of individuals (the founder effect), but also temporary extinctions of local urban populations of A. flavicollis or at least marked fluctuations in species population numbers. Suitably planned areas at the city borders could play an important role as 'gateways' through which individuals from non-urban populations could migrate into the city and join urban populations.

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“…Ants, arthropod predators and microbial communities are the major regulators of pest populations in urban soils and they can probably be harnessed to control insect pests affecting UA (Yadav et al 2012;Gardiner et al 2014). These studies suggest that, when integrated in the network of gardens and green space in the urban landscape (Goddard et al 2010;Cameron et al 2012), UA can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and its regulating services in the urban ecosystem.…”

Section: Additional Regulating Servicesmentioning

confidence: 92%

Potential ecosystem services of urban agriculture: a review

Aerts

Dewaelheyns

Achten

2016

Preprint

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Urban agriculture (UA) is increasingly proposed as an environmentally friendly answer to global challenges including urbanization, public health, food security and climate change. We provide an overview of present evidence of ecosystem services delivered by UA that could potentially increase the sustainability of the urban ecosystem, including the often claimed reduced greenhouse gas emissions. There is general agreement that UA is important for local food production, especially in the south; that UA has a role in regulating green and blue water flows, organic waste flows and pollination; and that UA has important socio-cultural values, including an improved quality of city life and increased local community capacity. There is some evidence that UA may also improve human health because of dietary changes in certain social classes, but these are potentially confounded by environmental pollution in the city. Quantitative evidence is very limited for all ecosystem services, but the available data nevertheless suggests that the overall food productivity and the total reductions in greenhouse gas emission are low at global or city-wide scale despite the fact that UA has potential strong effects on food security at the local scale. The current eagerness of industrialized cities to integrate UA into their food policies as an approach to become "climate neutral" or to rely on ecosystem services to become more resilient calls for life cycle assessment studies that accurately quantify emission reductions and other urban ecosystem services of urban agriculture.

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Scaling up from gardens: biodiversity conservation in urban environments

Cited by 1,254 publications

References 110 publications

A Global Geospatial Ecosystem Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture

A Global Geospatial Ecosystem Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture

The spatial genetic structure of the yellow-necked mouse in an urban environment – a recent invader vs. a closely related permanent inhabitant

Potential ecosystem services of urban agriculture: a review

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