Category: Urban ecosystems

Citizen science, Research summaries, Themed collections, Urban ecosystems

Tanja Petersen: Uncovering biases in Citizen Science data

Photo © Andreas Frisch In this Q&A, we ask author Tanja Petersen about her team’s research on the GBIF database, and find out a little bit more about the author herself. This article is part of the BES cross-journal special feature on Citizen Science. The research What’s your article about? The article is about skews and biases in GBIF data. Specifically, how the origin of … Continue reading Tanja Petersen: Uncovering biases in Citizen Science data

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Human-wildlife interactions, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries, Urban ecosystems

Least‐cost path analysis for urban greenways planning: A test with moths and birds across two habitats and two cities

Urbanization is a major threat to biodiversity. In a new paper, Balbi and colleagues test the efficiency and ecological validity of least-cost path modelling in predicting effective corridors in urban environments. Urban biodiversity contributes to global biodiversity conservation and provides multiple ecosystem services. The growth of human populations living in urban environments and the associated expansion of urbanized land therefore means that conserving urban biodiversity … Continue reading Least‐cost path analysis for urban greenways planning: A test with moths and birds across two habitats and two cities

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Grasslands, Research summaries, Urban ecosystems, Video

Age is a better indicator of biodiversity for road verges than surrounding landscape

In their recently published article, Alistair Auffret and Evelina Lindgren show how historical maps can be a useful tool to identify which road verges can best support grassland habitats. Here the authors provide a summary of their work Road verges are by now quite well known to provide valuable habitat for grassland species if they are managed appropriately (Phillips et al., 2019; Vanneste et al., … Continue reading Age is a better indicator of biodiversity for road verges than surrounding landscape

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Research summaries, Urban ecosystems

Urban wetland conservation may unintentionally benefit mosquitoes

As urban wetlands become more prevalent, Jayne Hanford and colleagues look into how other species, not just those of conservation focus, might benefit from our management efforts. What happens when those additional species could be problematic for nearby human populations? Wetlands are one of the world’s most valuable but also most threatened ecosystems. The services they provide include biodiversity conservation, flood mitigation, water purification, and … Continue reading Urban wetland conservation may unintentionally benefit mosquitoes

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Urban ecosystems

Green infrastructure: greenwashing or a tangible contribution to urban biodiversity?

What impact does green infrastructure really have on biodiversity in our cities? Associate Editor, Margaret Stanley looks at the recent synthesis and meta-analysis on this topic from Alessandro Filazzola and colleagues. Given the impact of urbanisation on biodiversity, there’s been growing momentum around the world for putting green infrastructure into cities. It’s often designed to support ecosystem services, such as stormwater regulation, but with implied … Continue reading Green infrastructure: greenwashing or a tangible contribution to urban biodiversity?

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Citizen science, Research summaries, Urban ecosystems

Measuring the ‘urbanness’ of a bird community

Harnessing the power of global citizen science data sets to improve local understanding, Corey T. Callaghan (Centre for Ecosystem Science, UNSW Sydney) introduces the Urban Greenspace Integrity Index as a means to track restoration efforts in urban areas. Restoring urban biodiversity has many benefits (for examples, see here, here, or here), but what should we actually be focusing on in our restoration efforts? If we … Continue reading Measuring the ‘urbanness’ of a bird community

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Research summaries, Themed collections, Urban ecosystems

Virtual Issue: Urban Ecosystems

An increasingly prevalent part of applied ecology, urban ecosystems provide us with both new challenges and opportunities to make the most of the natural resources around us. In a new Virtual Issue, Executive Editor Marc Cadotte brings together some of the recent research published in the journal that aims to bring environmental benefits to our cities’ inhabitants. The articles are free to read for a … Continue reading Virtual Issue: Urban Ecosystems

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Research summaries, Urban ecosystems

How to manage city trees in a changing climate?

Without sufficient water, urban trees are susceptible to other stressors, including insect pests. Associate Editor, Pieter De Frenne (Ghent University, Belgium) explains how Meineke and Frank’s recent paper, Water availability drives urban tree growth responses to herbivory and warming, provides key research into the management of a vital ecosystem service. Cities are hot. Not only to taste the best latte macchiato in the fanciest coffee … Continue reading How to manage city trees in a changing climate?

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Plant and soil ecology, Research summaries, Urban ecosystems

More than just a pretty cover – enhancing plant conservation on green roofs

Following Walker and Lundholm’s recent Journal of Applied Ecology paper, Designed habitat heterogeneity on green roofs increases seedling survival but not plant species diversity, Associate Editor Cate Macinnis-Ng discusses enhancing the ecological benefits of the green roof. Famed for their spectacular and lush green terraces of trees, shrubs and vines, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were perhaps amongst the first green roofs. Modern-day green roofs are … Continue reading More than just a pretty cover – enhancing plant conservation on green roofs

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