Urban biodiversity

The conversion of a grass oval to synthetic turf at Hosken Reserve, Coburg North, is about a failure in transparency and consultation with the local community, and poorly framed triple bottom line decision making by Moreland Council. There are questions about the integrity of the triple bottom line decision making embracing the social, environmental and economic impacts, costs and benefits, that was used in the process in the past decade for this site. And there are questions how triple bottom line decision making and weighting of factors will be applied for the current process.

This literature review provides numerous reasons why conversion of a natural grass oval and open space to a fenced synthetic soccer pitch should not take place. It finds that there are two primary reasons against synthetic turf at Hosken Reserve, and that either reason is significant in itself for the primary project not to go ahead. These two essential reasons are - synthetic turf carbon footprint (up to 1500 CO2e tonnes) in total life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, and synthetic turf increasing waste to landfill contributing to toxic leachates pollution and microplastics pollution. On both these grounds conversion of a shared use natural grass oval to synthetic turf would appear to conflict with existing Council policy and frameworks related to climate change and the climate emergency, and Council’s zero waste to landfill by 2030 target.

On the triple bottom line factors we found the social factors weighed up with some positive and some negative, the environmental factors were mostly against, and the economics didn’t stack up, even after factoring in 2 to 1 equivalence usage factor for synthetic turf. This review investigated peer reviewed science, grey literature and relevant policy documents to ascertain the following issues with synthetic turf::

1. Derived from fossil fuel petrochemical industry
2. Produces greenhouse gas emissions during manufacturing and as it degrades
3. Increases landfill at end of life
4. Produces microplastics pollution
5. Increases urban heat island effect on local residents.
6. Replaces natural grass which allows soil organic carbon sequestration, provides oxygen
7. Reduces soil biota, grass seeds and insects with a trophic impact on local biodiversity primarily birdlife.
8. Compacts the soil increasing stormwater runoff
9. Toxic Chemical leachates from rubber infill pollute waterways
10. Results in increased lower extremity injuries in elite players
11. Long term human health impacts uncertain, but vertebrate model confirms toxicity to human health of rubber infill leachates
12. Enhances infection transmission risk. Encourages a microbial community structure primarily defined by anthropic contamination.
13. Appears to improve water conservation, but the situation is far more complex when life-cycle assessment and irrigation to reduce heat for playability is taken into account
14. Other issues: increased fire risk, increase in traffic, parking on quiet residential streets
15. Alternative Solutions
16. Economic Costs
17. Discussion
18. Conclusions

Planting trees in urban areas has a number of environmental, social and ecological benefits, and roadside trees are an integral part of urban green space. Having a broad diversity of trees in urban roadsides can guard against the possibility of large-scale devastation by both native and introduced insect and disease pests. Urban foresters and municipal arborists are advised to follow guidelines for tree diversity within their areas of jurisdiction: (1) plant no more than 10% of any species, (2) no more than 20 % of any genus, and (3) no more than 30 % of any family. The aim of the study was to assess biological diversity on the five major urban roadsides (Atatürk Boulevard, Yüzüncüyıl Boulevard, Hürriyet Street, Serik Street, Palmiye Street). The species are identified and counted. Face to face interviews were carried out with landscape architects/municipal arborists to understand decision making process on selecting and deciding the species to be planted. Results showed that three species and one genus do not fit to the expected ratio. Municipals lacked an inventory list and a biodiversity scale for planning and planting in ratios necessary to keep a diverse biological environment. Based on the shortcomings, we would recommend to establish an inventory to do more informed decision first, and plan new plantings in a way that would increase biodiversity in species and genus level.

La ausencia de una metodología de evaluación del arbolado urbano viario que contemplase todos aquellos atributos fundamentales del mismo, de modo tal que constituya una apreciación completa y abarcativa de todos y cada uno de los ejemplares, implica un desconocimiento de la real situación del mismo, el cual puede llevar a la adopción de sistemas de gestión inapropiados que pueden llegar a comprometer la sustentabilidad del arbolado urbano en su totalidad.
El evaluar al arbolado a través de una caracterización basada solo en algunos aspectos parciales del mismo no podría de ningún modo definir su grado de sustentabilidad, ya que por ejemplo un atributo de suma relevancia como la biodiversidad no puede por sí solo brindar una acabada idea de lo sustentable o no del arbolado de una ciudad, comuna, región, etc., sino que solamente lo hace en uno de sus aspectos.
La adopción de un grupo de indicadores permitiría tener un diagnóstico de la situación de la sustentabilidad general de la ciudad y para cada una de las comunas en particular, facilitando el  detectar cuales son las áreas más críticas dentro de la ciudad y cuales los aspectos que más pesan a la hora de determinar la sustentabilidad ambiental del arbolado urbano viario.
La existencia de este sistema de indicadores y su monitoreo posibilitaría efectuar un seguimiento permanente y actualizado, y la formulación de acciones correctivas, preventivas y de mejoras.
Actuando dentro de ese sistema de variables se encontrarían respuestas más integrales y eficientes tanto de la ampliación o mantenimiento del arbolado urbano viario.

Biodiversity loss is an urgent global problem that is both caused by and has impacts on humans. Because most humans now live in cities there is a need to understand how cities impact biodiversity and how urban biodiversity impacts people. Ways of integrating biodiversity concerns into urban planning and architectural design are urgently needed. This mini review communicates the basis of a developing design and policy making strategy for urban environments that is based on an ecosystem services model.

La réduction du dioxyde de carbone par les arbres est un important service écosystémique pour le bien-être humain. Dans les milieux urbains, ce processus est souvent négligé ou mal connu. La présente étude, réalisée au Plateau, à Abidjan, a permis d'évaluer la diversité des espèces végétales et le taux de carbone stocké par les arbres. Des jardins, des boulevards ainsi que l'espace de la gare Sud des bus, ont été les sites inventoriés. La présence/absence des espèces végétales ainsi que les circonférences de tous les individus d'arbres de dbh ≥ 10 cm, ont été notées. Au total 91 espèces végétales ont été recensées dont, Milicia regia, endémique et menacée d'extinction, pouvant éveiller la prise de conscience de l'environnement, peut être qualifiée d'emblématique.Dans l'ensemble des espaces, l'équivalent CO 2 stocké par individu d'arbre est de 388,9 Kg ; ce qui témoigne du rôle compensatoire des espèces arborescentes, dans les émissions du dioxyde de carbone issu des activités anthropiques. L'ensemble des espaces étudiés, constitue donc un écosystème représentatif de la ville d'Abidjan.

A study has been conducted on the diversity of woody plants which are wild and native in Universitas Indonesia, an urban ecosystem in the area of Jakarta Capital Region. This work is part of the flora inventory in Universitas Indonesia. A number of 118 species (34 families) were recorded, with three largest families are Fabaceae (14 species), Moraceae (12 species) and Phyllanthaceae (10 species). Among those numbers, 26 species are climbers, which is considerably remarkable for urban ecosystem. Twenty four were considered as lowland species. Five were exclusively distributed in Western Java. Twenty six species have been included in Flora van Batavia which showed that Universitas Indonesia will be an important component for the conservation of plants diversity in Jakarta and surroundings. An estimation on abundance also given for all species recorded, which resulting that about 41.52% species were locally rare. Discussion in future conservation in local scales also briefly discussed. Two species, namely Helicteres viscida and Phoebe declinata, are proposed for main conservation priorities of wild and native woody plants species in Universitas Indonesia.

Des recherches à vue et des prélèvements volumiques
ont été effectués sur le site Natura 2000 du parc des
Beaumonts (Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis) afin d’étudier sa
faune de mollusques continentaux. Situé dans une commune à
6 km du centre de Paris, ce parc permet d’étudier la malacofaune
d’un espace anthropisé. L’objectif principal de l’étude
est de compléter les inventaires partiels précédemment effectuées
et documenter les espèces du département de la Seine-
Saint-Denis. Au total 43 taxons dont 9 d’eau douce sont reconnus
dans le parc. Le second objectif est de mettre en oeuvre une
approche écologique. L’analyse des données des prélèvements
volumiques à partir des groupes écologiques a permis
d’appréhender la malacofaune sous un aspect qualitatif et
quantitatif. Les cinq groupes écologiques sont présents dans
chacun des prélèvements mais dans des proportions différentes.
Les résultats montrent l’impact de l’anthropisation sur
les populations malacologiques. Bien que certaines espèces forestières
ou xérothermiques se cantonnent à leur milieu préférentiel,
l’anthropisation donne lieu à un effet de
d’homogénéisation des faunes où les espèces à forte capacité
d’adaptation sont favorisées. L’impact de l’homme est également
illustré par la présence d’espèces introduites telles
qu'Helix lucorum. Ces éléments relativisent la forte biodiversité
apparente suggérée par la liste d’espèces.

Urbanization is a global phenomenon which is projected by the United Nations to grow annually at 65 million between 2000 and 2030 in developing countries. As an archipelagic nation, the Philippines is considered to be a highly urbanized nation where over three-fourths of its population is estimated to reside in urban areas, posting a proportion of one person residing in rural areas for every three in urban areas. The National Capital Region (NCR), the core region of the counry, registers a 100% urbanization level, and it is where the most densely populated areas converge.
It generally exhibits an urban population growth rate that exceeds the national growth rate. Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, is the second largest and the world’s most densely populated city given its small land area and huge
human population. The concentration of people in this city and the urbanization processes are foreseen to create environmental stress leading to potential biodiversity losses coupled with other urban environmental occurrences such
as flooding, air pollution, sea level rise, earthquakes, subsidence, traffic congestion, water pollution, among others. These natural and man-made hazards pose a challenge to the multi-functional uses and various benefits of urban green
spaces (UGS). UGS play a significant role in enhancing the quality and resiliency of the environment as well as in improving the health and general well being of city dwellers. It is in this context that the challenges and opportunities
of UGS are examined. This paper attempts to identify and determine the factors that influence UGS as a basis for urban biodiversity planning and management.

In the face of growing urban densification, green spaces in cities, such as gardens, are increasingly important for biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, the influences of urban green space management on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships is poorly understood. We investigated the relationship between soil fauna and litter decomposition in 170 urban garden sites along a gradient of urbanisation intensity in the city of Zurich, CH. We used litter bags of 1 and 4mm mesh size to evaluate the contribution of soil meso- and macrofauna on litter decomposition. By using multilevel structural equation models (SEM), we investigated direct and indirect environmental effects and management practices on litter decomposition and litter residue quality. We evaluated the role of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of soil fauna species on litter decomposition, based on a sample of 120 species (81,007 individuals; 39 collembola, 18 earthworm, 16 isopod, 47 gastropod species). We found highest litter decomposition rates using 4mm mesh size litter bags, highlighting the importance of soil macrofauna. Urban warming, a proxy for urbanisation intensity, covaried positively, whereas soil disturbances, such as intensive soil and crop management, were negatively correlated with decomposition rates. Interestingly, soil fauna species richness decreased, with the exception of gastropods, and soil fauna abundance increased with urban warming. Our data also show that plant species richness positively affected litter decomposition by increasing soil fauna species richness and microbial activity. A multivariate analysis of organic compounds in litter residues confirmed the importance of soil fauna species richness and garden management on litter decomposition processes. Overall, we showed, that also in intensively managed urban green spaces, such as gardens, biodiversity of plants and soil fauna drives key ecosystem processes. Urban planning strategies that integrate soil protecting management practices may help to maintain important ecosystem services in this heavily used urban environment.

Manicured urban greenery is the norm in Singapore, but this approach to landscape obstructs the accommodation of ecosystem dynamics, and misses an opportunity to benefit from the region’s tropicality. Based on an understanding of floral succession gleaned from pilot tests and perception studies that identified factors in the preference for wilder landscapes in Singapore, this article proposes intended wildness as a novel approach to designing and managing urban green spaces. More specifically, it advocates a stepwise application of strategies that promote diverse and spontaneous growth of urban green spaces and public acceptance for them. Promoting spontaneous growth through management and maintenance can lead to floral and faunal diversity at nested scales, address social concerns and demands within a compact city, and provide a strong ecological incentive that works in harmony with the region’s characteristics.

In the Natura 2000 site of Beaumonts Park (Montreuil,
Seine-Saint-Denis), located 6 km east of Paris, handcollecting
and litter sampling has been undertaken in order to
study land and freshwater molluscs. This park provides a good
example of a highly modified environment in which the effects
of disturbance on the land snail fauna can be studied. The main
aim of this study is to provide more complete inventories and
to document the species of snails and slugs from Seine-Saint-
Denis. Altogether 43 molluscan taxa were recovered in the
park, of which 9 were freshwater species. The assemblages
were classified into the ecological groups commonly used in
palaeoecological research to characterize the nature of the different
environments. Five ecological groups are recognizable in
each litter sample but they occur in different proportions, depending
on the extent of human disturbance. Although some
woodland or xerophilous species are restricted to their preferential
environment, human disturbance gives rise to the homogenization
of the fauna where highly adaptable species
have an advantage over others. Human impact is also illustrated
by the presence of introduced species such as Helix lucorum.
These elements provide a perspective on the relatively
high biodiversity suggested by the species list.

This work details the spontaneous vascular plant flora of New York City's Central Park for the period 2013 to 2017. We divided the 341-ha (843-acre) park into 36 zones and used a modified timed-meander sampling method to collect herbarium specimens and silica-dried samples (for DNA analysis) of spontaneous, naturalized plants. We collected each new species until we ceased to find any species that had not been previously encountered in any zone. We collected 1,468 specimens, representing 438 species and two subspecific taxa from 262 genera and 89 families, and a number of cultivated species not analyzed is this work. We find that 45% of the flora are native (198 species) and 54% (240 species) are nonnative. Three species are of unknown native status (,1%). The largest families are Poaceae (56 species), Asteraceae (55), Rosaceae (27), Fabaceae (20), and Polygonaceae (17). The largest genera are Persicaria (8 species), Carex (7), Acer (7), Cyperus (6), Rubus (6), and Eragrostis (6).

Odonata are usually regarded as bioindicators and model organisms in many studies and are subjected to increasing threats worldwide. Such insects populate freshwater ecosystems at both natural and urban landscapes and they are also well-known by common people. This work is aimed at summarizing and updating the current knowledge concerning Odonata species inhabiting two parks located at the northern boundary of the Milan outskirts (Italy, Lombardy). Occupancy status for odonate species were obtained merging the field data of surveys conducted during 2014 and 2015 with spare information from specialistic websites and forums, grey literature, and pictures collected at the same sites by occasional observers. The total number of species found in both parks showed an increase of species richness when compared with two previous studies. Morevoer, Odonata communities of the two parks showed a common chorological composition and similarity in the species assemblages. This work had also a positive impact about the perception of urban biodiversity: some of the untrained observers, who shared their pictures for species identification, rapidly acquired sufficient knowledge to easily recognize the most common species present in both parks.

Negli anni recenti il progetto di architettura del paesaggio ha rivolto un'attenzione crescente ai temi della conservazione della biodiversità, esplorando le possibilità per una sua migliore integrazione nelle città. Mentre in contesti internazionali questo paradigma sembra ormai sedimentato, in Italia la salvaguardia della biodiversità urbana è diventata solo da qualche tempo strumento propulsore per il disegno di spazi aperti urbani e periurbani. Il libro dà conto della progressiva apertura del progetto di paesaggio ai temi della conservazione e dell'incremento della biodiversità urbana nel contesto italiano, evidenziandone modalità, strumenti e approcci prevalenti. Attraverso alcuni saggi di inquadramento, volti ad analizzare i caratteri e le condizioni - fisiche, normative, politiche, culturali - che influenzano le strategie progettuali, e attraverso la disamina di diversi casi studio, il volume discute le prospettive che si aprono oggi per il progetto di paesaggi urbani biodiversi in Italia.

La gestion de la biodiversité dans les territoires métropolitains est un des enjeux importants des politiques publiques. Un des objectifs de ces politiques est de maintenir la biodiversité proche des citadins. Nous proposons de travailler cette question à partir des jardins privés de l'habitat pavillonnaire des grandes agglomérations. Cette proposition s'appuie sur plusieurs constats étayés par la littérature. Le premier est l'importance de la figure du pavillon individuel dans le développement urbain de ces dernières décennies. Le deuxième constat est l'importance des relations tissées avec cet espace privé. Le jardin est un lieu de possibles relations de proximité à la biodiversité qu'il reste à découvrir pour évaluer leurs conséquences sur les comportements quotidiens de nos concitoyens. Enfin, les jardins forment une mosaïque d'espaces verts distribués dans de multiples quartiers. La gouvernance territoriale de la biodiversité y prend alors des formes originales où les relations de voisinage occupent sans doute une place centrale.

Biodiversity management into the urban areas is one of the public policies' main stakes. One of these policies' objectives is to maintain biodiversity among the city-dwellers. We propose to work on this question using the large cities' residential areas' private gardens. This proposal is based on several observations supported in the literature. The first one is the predominance of stand-alone houses regarding to the city development, these latest decades. The second observation is the forged links' importance with this private area. The garden is a place where some connections to biodiversity still need to be explored in order to assess their consequences on the citizens' everyday life behaviours. Finally, gardens form a set of green spaces located into numerous neighbourhoods. The biodiversity's territorial governance takes original shapes in which the neighbourly relations are certainly predominant.

Unsere Städte und Gemeinden stehen vor vielfältigen Herausforderungen. Dazu zählen etwa die Anpassung an den Klimawandel, die Anpassung technischer und sozialer Infrastruktur oder auch der Verlust der urbanen biologischen Vielfalt. Um sich diesen Herausforderungen stellen zu können, unterstützen Bund und Länder die Kommunen mit umfangreichen Finanzhilfen. Ziel ist die Behebung städtebaulicher und sozialer Missstände. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, wurden und werden vielfach urbane Grünflächen entwickelt. Allerdings, so der Eindruck, tragen diese Flächen nur selten zum Schutz und zur Weiterentwicklung der urbanen biologischen Vielfalt bei, sondern orientieren sich vor allem an ökonomischen, sozialen und städtebaulichen Aspekten. Wenngleich die Städtebauförderung vielfältige Anknüpfungs-punkte für den Schutz der urbanen biologischen Vielfalt bietet, bedarf es einer Weiterentwicklung der rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen und der Aktivierung der prozessgestaltenden Akteure auf allen relevanten Handlungsebenen. Stadtentwicklung-Naturschutz-Städtebauförderung-biologische Vielfalt Abstract Our cities and towns face many challenges. These include adaptation to climate change, the transformation of technical and social infrastructure, and the loss of urban biodiversity. To meet these challenges, federal and state governm~nts support local authorities with extensive grants. The aim is to remedy urban and social ills. To achieve this goal, urban green spaces are often developed. However, the impression is that these areas rarely contribute to the conservation and development of urban biodiversity, but are primarily oriented to economic, social and urban-planning aspects. While urban development offers many starting points for the conservation of urban biodiversity, a need remains to refine the legal framework and activate the stakeholders who shape processes at all relevant levels of action. Urban development-Nature conservation-National urban development programme-Urban biodiversity

Notes about the feeding behavior in a reproductive couple of the Roadside Hawk Rupornis magnirostris
observed in an urban area of Caracas, Venezuela.– The Roadside Hawk is a common bird of prey in Central and South America. Its general diet is relatively well known, but little is known about its diet and feeding behavior in urban areas. In this work, I describe the feeding routine, vocalizations, preys, and general behavior of a couple Roadside Hawks in El Valle, an urban area of Caracas, Venezuela, between March and May 2017. During eight weeks, 25 records were obtained. In most records, the Roadside Hawk was seen perched with a prey in its talons. At same time, it uttered a vocal sound. After 1–6 minutes, another Roadside Hawk individual, larger, took the prey and consumed it. Consumed items included rodents (probably Rattus norvergicus among them), reptiles (probably Cnemidophorus lemniscatus among them), and birds. In natural areas similar items have been recorded, but unlike them, I report an important proportion of rodents (40%). Several behavioral variables lead me to conclude that the events observed correspond to a Roadside Hawk male carrying preys to a female during the beginning of the breeding season. This note represents the fi rst description of the Roadside Hawk’s feeding behavior during breeding season in an urban area of Venezuela, an important contribution to the knowledge of the Roadside Hawk’s natural history.

Lepidodactylus lugubris is a small gekkonid lizard, predominantly parthenogenetic, with a widespread distribution in Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean islands, continental Asia, and well established exotic populations in the continental America and the Caribbean. Herein, we report the second inland locality for this gecko in Venezuela, extending its distribution ca. 126 km east from the only locality previously reported for the country (Naguanagua, Carabobo state). Based on the first record, the species was introduced in Venezuela at least seven years ago, but until now apparently remains uncommon and localized.

Sundarvan, Nature Discovery Centre set in the heart of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, is a unique facility of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE). Fifty species of trees, Eight species of mammals, 67 species of birds belonging to 39 families and 15 species of reptiles and one species of amphibian were recorded from Sundarvan. Besides providing foraging and breeding space to wide range of animal species, such small patches act as corridor to maintain links with larger green spaces around.

Introduction Urban growth is occurring at an extraordinary scale. In 2008, for the first time, more than 50% of the global human population lived in urban environments. Much of this urbanization is occurring in developing countries, which are predicted to harbour 80% of the urban population of the world by 2030 (UNFPA 2007). Although urban areas remain a relatively small fraction of the terrestrial surface (about 4% globally), the urban ecological footprint extends beyond city boundaries and drives environmental change at local to global scales (Grimm et al. 2008).

1. Habitat loss and modification are hallmarks of anthropogenic ecosystems, but the consequences for ecosystem functioning and service provisioning often remain unclear. Understanding these links in cities is complicated by strong but fine-scale differences in habitat structure among green space patches, and a high variance in habitat amount across urban landscapes. 2. We used airborne laser scanning data to disentangle the effects of 3D woody habitat heterogeneity of urban home gardens, and woody habitat amount at four landscape spatial scales (50, 100, 250, and 500 m), on the predation risk of artificial sentinel prey by birds and arthropods. 3. In both predator groups, and at all the investigated spatial scales, cross-scale interactive effects between garden habitat heterogeneity and habitat amount in the urban landscape were the main drivers of predation. Risk of predation by birds was highest in heterogeneous garden habitats, but only in densely built urban landscapes where habitat amount was low to intermediate (10%-20%) at large spatial scales (250-500 m). It dropped independently of garden habitat heterogeneity when habitat amount became too low (<10%) at small (50-100 m) spatial scales. In contrast, risk of predation by arthropods mostly peaked in homogeneous garden habitats when habitat amount was intermediate (20%) at large spatial scales. 4. Our findings show that the ability of urban green space patches, such as gardens, to sustain ecosystem functions in cities mainly depends on cross-scale interactive effects with larger scale habitat amount. In birds, predation activity can increase when high patch-scale habitat heterogeneity contrasts with reduced larger scale habitat amount, suggesting concentration effects. Yet, thresholds exist under which ecosystem functioning drops independently of habitat structure. 5. Synthesis and applications. The potential of small-scale interventions to enhance habitat heterogeneity (e.g., by planting native trees with understorey shrubs) for restoring ecosystem functions, such as bird predation, in urban areas is dependent on wider landscape habitat structure. Urban planning should therefore adopt a multiscale approach to sustain and restore ecosystem functions and services; a simple but still not broadly recognized finding. Airborne laser scanning is a useful tool to infer habitat structure across a hierarchy of scales in spatially heterogeneous anthropogenic ecosystems.

Lepidodactylus lugubris is a small gekkonid lizard, predominantly parthenogenetic, with a widespread distribution in Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean islands, continental Asia, and well established exotic populations in the continental America and the Caribbean. Herein, we report the second inland locality for this gecko in Venezuela, extending its distribution ca. 126 km east from the only locality previously reported for the country (Naguanagua, Carabobo state). Based on the first record, the species was introduced in Venezuela at least seven years ago, but until now apparently remains uncommon and localized.

1. Habitat loss and modification are hallmarks of anthropogenic ecosystems, but the consequences for ecosystem functioning and service provisioning often remain unclear. Understanding these links in cities is complicated by strong but fine-scale differences in habitat structure among green space patches, and a high variance in habitat amount across urban landscapes. 2. We used airborne laser scanning data to disentangle the effects of 3D woody habitat heterogeneity of urban home gardens, and woody habitat amount at four landscape spatial scales (50, 100, 250, and 500 m), on the predation risk of artificial sentinel prey by birds and arthropods. 3. In both predator groups, and at all the investigated spatial scales, cross-scale interactive effects between garden habitat heterogeneity and habitat amount in the urban landscape were the main drivers of predation. Risk of predation by birds was highest in heterogeneous garden habitats, but only in densely built urban landscapes where habitat amount was low to intermediate (10%-20%) at large spatial scales (250-500 m). It dropped independently of garden habitat heteroge-neity when habitat amount became too low (<10%) at small (50-100 m) spatial scales. In contrast, risk of predation by arthropods mostly peaked in homogeneous garden habitats when habitat amount was intermediate (20%) at large spatial scales. 4. Our findings show that the ability of urban green space patches, such as gardens, to sustain ecosystem functions in cities mainly depends on cross-scale interactive effects with larger scale habitat amount. In birds, predation activity can increase when high patch-scale habitat heterogeneity contrasts with reduced larger scale habitat amount, suggesting concentration effects. Yet, thresholds exist under which ecosystem functioning drops independently of habitat structure. 5. Synthesis and applications. The potential of small-scale interventions to enhance habitat heterogeneity (e.g., by planting native trees with understorey shrubs) for

Urban habitats are often studied as green fragments in a developed landscape, with opinions diverged
on the importance of local versus landscape effects. We propose to replace this “local” versus
“landscape” framework with a more precise construct using urban greenspace as the focal scale. Withingreenspace
heterogeneity was defined by the multiple elements within each greenspace, whereas
beyond-greenspace heterogeneity was defined by the green versus grey elements surrounding each
greenspace. The avifauna species in 283 Taipei greenspaces were surveyed and analyzed using this
framework. The urban avifauna was found to be associated with five different habitat types, conferring
upcoming opinions that highlight the importance of fine-scaled heterogeneity in urban landscapes.
Within-greenspace factors were more important than beyond-greenspace ones in explaining species
composition and richness. Isolation effects were found only for birds associated with forests but not others
because the large natural areas around the city were all forests. Although the city sits at the convergence
of two rivers, the tall-grass/shrub and water-related birds associated with riparian systems were poorly
represented. Synanthropics and exotics were mostly open woodland and ground/short-grass birds, whose
habitat preferences overlapped with human preferences in landscaping. This suggests that human preferences
in landuse and landscaping may affect ecosystems in ways beyond mere fragmentation. Ecosystem
types that coincide in location with human preference in landuse or exhibit physical structures that do
not meet human preferences are particularly at risk. The implications of such human impacts should be
seriously considered in the conservation of biodiversity in an increasingly human-dominated world.

This work details the spontaneous vascular plant flora of New York City&#39;s Central Park for the period 2013 to 2017. We divided the 341-ha (843-acre) park into 36 zones and used a modified timed-meander sampling method to collect herbarium specimens and silica-dried samples (for DNA analysis) of spontaneous, naturalized plants. We collected each new species until we ceased to find any species that had not been previously encountered in any zone. We collected 1,468 specimens, representing 438 species and two subspecific taxa from 262 genera and 89 families, and a number of cultivated species not analyzed is this work. We find that 45% of the flora are native (198 species) and 54% (240 species) are nonnative. Three species are of unknown native status (,1%). The largest families are Poaceae (56 species), Asteraceae (55), Rosaceae (27), Fabaceae (20), and Polygonaceae (17). The largest genera are Persicaria (8 species), Carex (7), Acer (7), Cyperus (6), Rubus (6), and Eragrostis (6).

Copyright © 2015 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT: Ornithological surveys were conducted in the city of Grand-Bassam from April 2010 to March 2011 in order to improve the knowledge on urban coastal birds in Côte d’Ivoire. Point count method was used to identify 165 species of birds belonging to 45 families of 19 orders. Five of these species are classified on the IUCN Red List of threatened species. These species are mostly residents (56%), migratories (18%) among which, 14 % are Palearctic migrants and 4 % are intra-African. 25 % of the species have a mixed status. One species is vagrant. The bird community has a preference for open habitat (45%) and wetlands (34%). Secondary forest species represent 19 % while those of primary forest account for only 4%.

Kurzfassung: Es wird über mehrere Funde des bislang in Deutschland noch seltenen Neophyten Cyperus eragrostis im Ruhrgebiet berichtet sowie die Herkunft der Pflanzen, das Einbürgerungspotenzial und eine mögliche zukünftige Ausbreitung der Art diskutiert. Des Weiteren wird die Vergesellschaftung der Art an zwei Standorten anhand von Vegetationsaufnahmen dokumentiert.

Abstract: It is reported about several occurrences of Cyperus eragrostis in the Ruhr Area with a discussion regarding the origin of the plants, the degree of naturalization in the Ruhr Area and a possible dispersal of this rare neophyte in Germany in the upcoming future. Further, the phytosociological behavior of the species in the Ruhr Area is characterized by some relevés.