Variation in Vegetation Structure and Composition across Urban Green Space Types

Threlfall, Caragh G.; Ossola, Alessandro; Hahs, Amy K.; Williams, Nicholas S.G.; Wilson, Lee; Livesley, Stephen J.

doi:10.3389/fevo.2016.00066

Cited by 104 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…brownfields, derelict sites, vacant lots) environments have been documented to be rich in rare and endangered insect biodiversity3334. Additionally, in a parallel study the same golf course plots used in this study had higher native plant species richness than residential and park plots35, further supporting our findings that increases in the proportion of native plants may also benefit herbivore and predatory bugs in this system.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…For example, amongst the herbivorous species showing a mean positive response to plant species diversity, less than 5% showed a strong response, with the species showing the strongest response being the specialist non-native Azalea lacebug S. pyrioides . Azalea lacebugs, as their name implies, show strong host-specificity towards Rhododendron (Ericaceae), a genus that in our study occurred exclusively in association with garden sites characterised by high levels of exotic plant diversity35. Amongst the predators, only the stilt bug C. tasmaniensis showed a strong response to plant species diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

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Conserving herbivorous and predatory insects in urban green spaces

Mata

Threlfall

Williams

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Insects are key components of urban ecological networks and are greatly impacted by anthropogenic activities. Yet, few studies have examined how insect functional groups respond to changes to urban vegetation associated with different management actions. We investigated the response of herbivorous and predatory heteropteran bugs to differences in vegetation structure and diversity in golf courses, gardens and parks. We assessed how the species richness of these groups varied amongst green space types, and the effect of vegetation volume and plant diversity on trophic- and species-specific occupancy. We found that golf courses sustain higher species richness of herbivores and predators than parks and gardens. At the trophic- and species-specific levels, herbivores and predators show strong positive responses to vegetation volume. The effect of plant diversity, however, is distinctly species-specific, with species showing both positive and negative responses. Our findings further suggest that high occupancy of bugs is obtained in green spaces with specific combinations of vegetation structure and diversity. The challenge for managers is to boost green space conservation value through actions promoting synergistic combinations of vegetation structure and diversity. Tackling this conservation challenge could provide enormous benefits for other elements of urban ecological networks and people that live in cities.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Conserving herbivorous and predatory insects in urban green spaces

Mata

Threlfall

Williams

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…We demonstrate that urban areas can retain significant amounts of functional diversity, adding to previous work indicating that they can support a large and diverse range of species including endangered ones (Müller et al, 2013;Aronson et al, 2014;Threlfall et al, 2016). Remarkably, urban areas can contain significantly higher avian functional diversity than natural habitats, a pattern that is probably a reflection of greater habitat diversity in the urban areas facilitating the occurrence of species with a greater range of functional types than more specialized FIGURE 6 | Regression trees of differences in the functional diversity between urban and non-urban avian assemblages as a function of city traits EVI, a measure of the amount of vegetation, log area, log 10 of the spatial extent of the urban area (km 2 ) and log.pop.density, log 10 of the human population density (km −2 ), nature of the non-urban assemblages (natural habitat or agricultural land) and bio-region.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Impacts of Urban Areas and Their Characteristics on Avian Functional Diversity

Hagen

Ibáñez‐Álamo

et al. 2017

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Urban development is rapidly expanding across the globe and is a major driver of environmental change. Despite considerable improvements in our understanding of how species richness responds to urbanization, there is still insufficient knowledge of how other measures of assemblage composition and structure respond to urban development. Functional diversity metrics provide a useful approach for quantifying ecological function. We compare avian functional diversity in 25 urban areas, located across the globe, with paired non-urban assemblages using a database of 27 functional traits that capture variation in resource use (amount and type of resources and how they are acquired) across the 529 species occurring across these assemblages. Using three standard functional diversity metrics (FD, MNTD, and convex hull) we quantify observed functional diversity and, using standardized effect sizes, how this diverges from that expected under random community assembly null models. We use regression trees to investigate whether human population density, amount of vegetation and city size (spatial extent of urban land), bio-region and use of semi-natural or agricultural assemblages as a baseline modulate the effect of urbanization on functional diversity. Our analyses suggest that observed functional diversity of urban avian assemblages is not consistently different from that of non-urban assemblages. After accounting for species richness avian functional diversity is higher in cities than areas of semi-natural habitat. This creates a paradox as species responses to urban development are determined by their ecological traits, which should generate assemblages clustered within a narrow range of trait space. Greater habitat diversity within cities compared to semi-natural areas dominated by a single habitat may enhance functional diversity in cities and explain this paradox. Regression trees further suggest that smaller urban areas, lower human population densities and increased vegetation all enhance the functional diversity of urban areas. A city's attributes can thus influence the functional diversity of its biological assemblages, and their associated ecological functions. This has important implications for the debate regarding how we should grow the world's cities whilst maintaining their ecological function.

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“…For example, in the parks of Aracaju (Brazil), 58% of the plants are exotic species (Linhares de Souza et al, 2012). Changes in plant species have also been documented across urban gradients (Aronson et al, 2015;Threlfall et al, 2016). On analyzing the pattern of urbanization and the species richness of native and non-native woody species in the metropolitan region of New York, an urban-rural gradient was registered such that native species decrease and non-native species increase with urban coverage, and the flora is dominated by non-native species (Aronson et al, 2015), a pattern similar to that registered in the city of Berlin (Kowarik et al, 2013), and in other European cities.…”

Section: The Largest Oldest Parks Hold More Anthropized Exotic Vegetmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this sense, urban green spaces could be scenarios where, through the action of their inhabitants, the horizontal and vertical diversification of species in the landscape is enriched, or simply where small patches of native plants from the surrounding area are conserved (Ospina-Ante, 2003). The function and ecological sustainability of urban landscapes is strongly influenced by the composition and structure of the local plant community (Threlfall et al, 2016). However, they may also be a source of propagules of invasive species which can cause serious environmental and economic damage (Ladio and Damascos, 2000;Rovere and Molares, 2012;Rovere et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incipient Domestication Processes in Multicultural Contexts: A Case Study of Urban Parks in San Carlos de Bariloche (Argentina)

2017

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Up to now, the processes of domestication of urban landscapes have been little studied. The public green spaces in the city of Bariloche, an enclave with growing urbanization which lies within the Andino Norpatagonica Biosphere Reserve, offer an opportunity to evaluate cultural molding of the environment. We analyzed different management methods of woody species, both in situ and ex situ, in parks located in sectors with different environmental, socioeconomic, size, age and administration characteristics. Our hypotheses were: (1) Species richness will be higher for exotic plants, in accordance with global patterns of ornamental species selection. (2) Species richness and type of management practice will vary according to the kind of environment, the socioeconomic profile of the neighborhood, the age and size of the park, and type of administration (bottom-up or top-down). (3) Bottom-up park administration will lead to a different landscape than top-down administration. Thirty randomly selected parks of both local council and neighborhood administration and varying environmental and socioeconomic conditions were examined and the composition of their woody species identified. In addition, semi-structured and free interviews were carried out with those responsible for park management, both in situ (tolerance, enhancement, protection) and ex situ (sowing, use of cuttings or transplanting). In accordance with our hypothesis, the processes of domestication of the urban landscape show a tendency toward an anthropized diversity of 130 species, mainly exotic in origin (72%), and principally from the Holarctic region (67%). However, multinomial logistic analysis revealed that in parks under neighborhood administration tolerance of native species is higher (13 times) than in parks administrated by the local council. Species richness increases along an environmental and socioeconomic gradient, and with the age of parks, but does not vary with size. We conclude that urban parks are constructed cultural niches which, as in an agroforestry system, are scenarios which reveal processes of incipient domestication that reflect different cosmovisions and drivers typical of multicultural contexts.

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Variation in Vegetation Structure and Composition across Urban Green Space Types

Cited by 104 publications

References 40 publications

Conserving herbivorous and predatory insects in urban green spaces

Conserving herbivorous and predatory insects in urban green spaces

Impacts of Urban Areas and Their Characteristics on Avian Functional Diversity

Incipient Domestication Processes in Multicultural Contexts: A Case Study of Urban Parks in San Carlos de Bariloche (Argentina)

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