Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Cecilie S. Svenningsen, Diana E. Bowler, Susanne Hecker, Jesper Bladt, Volker Grescho, Nicole M. van Dam, Jens Dauber, David Eichenberg, Rasmus Ejrnaes, Camilla Flojgaard, Mark Frenzel, Tobias G. Froslev, Anders J. Hansen, Jacob Heilmann-Clausen, Yuanyuan Huang, Jonas C. Larsen, Juliana Menger, Nur L. B. M. Nayan, Lene B. Pedersen, Anett Richter, Robert R. Dunn, Anders P. Tottrup, Aletta Bonn
Summary: This study assessed the importance of local- to landscape-scale effects of land cover and land use on flying insect biomass in Denmark and parts of Germany. The results showed that land cover has an impact on flying insect biomass across different spatial scales, with urban areas having a direct negative impact on insect biomass. Urban green spaces were found to reduce the negative association between insect biomass and urban land cover.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2022)
Article
Geography
Ziyu Liu, Yi Zhou, Haiyan Yang, Zhenhuan Liu
Summary: Urban green infrastructure (UGI) in Shenzhen plays a crucial role in bird diversity conservation. This study finds that UGI characteristics, such as size and surrounding environment, have significant effects on bird diversity. Migratory birds are particularly sensitive to the negative impact of surrounding impervious surfaces and nighttime light.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Thomas Meixner, Alan R. Berkowitz, Alisen E. Downey, Jose Pillich, Reese LeVea, Brianne K. Smith, Mark Chandler, Neha Gupta, Stan Rullman, Anna Woodroof, Jennifer Cherrier
Summary: Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) is a promising decentralized management approach to urban stormwater challenges, but a lack of data about its performance hinders its widespread adoption. A citizen science program, along with an open-source protocol, was developed to study the performance of GSI, which was tested in six North American cities by citizen scientists. The results indicate that citizen scientist teams can effectively collect information on the post-installation function of GSI, leading to changes in understanding of urban stormwater challenges and the role of GSI in solving these problems.
Article
Remote Sensing
Xiao Huang, Di Yang, Yaqian He, Peder Nelson, Russanne Low, Shawna McBride, Jessica Mitchell, Michael Guarraia
Summary: This study assessed the efficacy of the GLOBE Observer Land Cover program's multi-directional data-collecting protocol and found that multi-directional views benefit land cover classification. They developed a classification framework using various deep learning architectures and observed that classification performance improved when more directional views were involved.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yang Ju, Iryna Dronova, Xavier Delclos-Alio
Summary: This study focuses on the mapping of urban green space (UGS), highlighting the limited efforts dedicated to UGS mapping. By applying supervised classification to Sentinel-2 satellite images and UGS samples from OpenStreetMap, the first 10m resolution UGS map for major urban clusters in Latin America was successfully produced. The resulting map allows for the measurement of UGS area, spatial configuration, and human exposures, facilitating research on the relationship between UGS and environmental hazards, public health outcomes, urban ecology, and urban planning.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Manfred Pendl, Raja Imran Hussain, Dietmar Moser, Thomas Frank, Thomas Drapela
Summary: Butterfly species richness in private gardens is positively correlated with butterfly species richness in the surrounding landscapes, and increases with higher proportions of area relevant for butterflies in the surrounding landscape.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Dawn Millicent Scott, Robert Fowler, Ariadna Sanglas, Bryony Anne Tolhurst
Summary: Hedgehogs are one of several mammals that occur in urban areas in the United Kingdom and are fed by people. In this study, the researchers analyzed videos submitted by the public to determine the interactions between hedgehogs, foxes, badgers, and cats. They found that agonistic interactions were more common than neutral interactions, and interactions between different species showed greater aggression. The species interacting affected the level of aggression, with cats and foxes showing the highest level when together. Hedgehogs dominated access to food over cats, but badgers outcompeted cats in contests over food.
Article
Plant Sciences
Helena Hanson, Emma Eckberg, Malin Widenberg, Johanna Alkan Olsson
Summary: Private gardens play a crucial role in supporting urban biodiversity and providing cultural ecosystem services. Factors such as design, management, and plant selection influence the ecological services of gardens and the wellbeing of owners. Urban development impacts the potential of gardens mainly through space limitations and reduced vegetation.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Rion E. Lerm, David Ehlers A. Smith, Dave I. Thompson, Colleen T. Downs
Summary: Protected areas and land-use diversity significantly influence bird species richness and biodiversity in Kruger National Park and its adjacent areas. Water sources, human infrastructure, and tree cover are the main drivers of bird diversity. This study highlights the negative impact of tree cover and human infrastructure on bird diversity, while showing the positive effect of water sources on species richness.
Article
Plant Sciences
Jordan P. Smith, Sara Meerow, B. L. Turner
Summary: Urban agriculture is promoted as a strategy for sustainability, with community gardens providing social and environmental benefits. Research on siting such gardens is limited, but a systematic stakeholder-driven approach using Multicriteria Decision Analysis was applied in Phoenix. Criteria weighted by stakeholders were used to develop siting indices that prioritize disadvantaged communities in the urban core. Stakeholders prioritize social criteria when assessing siting, highlighting a potential tradeoff between maximizing co-benefits and ensuring long-term success.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Piata Marques, Andrey Santos Silva, Yane Quaresma, Luisa Resende Manna, Newton de Magalhaes Neto, Rosana Mazzoni
Summary: The current COVID-19 pandemic poses a major threat to human populations, causing both physical and mental distress. Urban green infrastructures, such as parks and gardens, play an important role in mitigating mental distress among residents, with home gardens being the most efficient in reducing psychological symptoms. This information can guide public programs in promoting mental health practices and help plan cities that are more resilient to future pandemics.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Danjing Zhao, Linna Ji, Fengbao Yang, Xiaoxia Liu
Summary: Airborne LiDAR is a reliable and accurate measurement tool in various applications such as forest volume estimation, urban scene reconstruction, and land cover classification. However, accurately classifying land cover in complex urban environments from remotely sensed data is challenging. To address this, a novel method based on the DS evidence theory is proposed, which significantly improves classification accuracy compared to the basic DS method.
Article
Plant Sciences
L. Best, N. Schwarz, D. Obergh, A. J. Teuling, R. Van Kanten, L. Willemen
Summary: Urban green spaces are crucial in mitigating the urban heat island effect and adapting to climate change. This study in Paramaribo, Suriname, shows that urban green spaces can lower temperatures by up to 2.5 degrees Celsius, with distinct seasonal patterns. More trees and complex vegetation structure contribute to further temperature reduction, but this effect diminishes with an increase in impervious surfaces.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Vijay Ramesh, Pratik Rajan Gupte, Morgan W. Tingley, V. V. Robin, Ruth DeFries
Summary: Understanding the relationship between species occupancy and climate and land cover in tropical mountains is crucial for predicting future changes in species distribution. This study used a large dataset of citizen science observations to examine the association between climatic and landscape variables and bird species occurrence in the southern Western Ghats in India. The results showed that temperature seasonality, precipitation seasonality, and the proportion of evergreen forests were significantly associated with species-specific probabilities of occupancy. Forest birds were negatively associated with temperature seasonality, while the probability of occupancy for certain forest and generalist species was positively associated with precipitation seasonality. A smaller number of generalist species were positively associated with human-modified land cover types. This study demonstrates the importance of environmental factors and natural land cover types in sustaining montane bird species in tropical mountains.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jinlin Jia, Wenhui Cui, Junguo Liu
Summary: This study proposes a framework for classifying blue-green-gray infrastructure based on machine learning algorithms and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images. By using different machine learning algorithms to classify UAV images, the researchers successfully identified the blue, green, and gray infrastructure on a campus, and discovered key factors influencing classification accuracy.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Fanhua Kong, Weijiao Yan, Guang Zheng, Haiwei Yin, Gina Cavan, Wenfeng Zhan, Ning Zhang, Liang Cheng
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2016)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Fanhua Kong, Changfeng Sun, Fengfeng Liu, Haiwei Yin, Fei Jiang, Yingxia Pu, Gina Cavan, Cynthia Skelhorn, Ariane Middel, Iryna Dronova
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Rachael Reynolds, Gina Cavan, Mark Cresswell
Article
Ecology
Fraser Baker, Claire Smith
LANDSCAPE AND URBAN PLANNING
(2019)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Fraser Baker, Graham R. Smith, Stuart J. Marsden, Gina Cavan
Summary: This study examines the deprivation of multiple urban regulating ecosystem services in Manchester, UK through a high-spatial resolution approach, defining poorly performing UES areas as the lowest 10% combined ecosystem service indicator values and comparing them to population demand levels. Ambiguity in proxy method implementation is assessed through combinations of UES parameter settings, revealing how input parameters affect uncertainty in map outputs.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Matthew Geary, Celia J. Brailsford, Laura I. Hough, Fraser Baker, Simon Guerrero, Yolanda M. Leon, Nigel J. Collar, Stuart J. Marsden
Summary: Although urbanization poses a major threat to biodiversity, urban areas can also be crucial in protecting endangered species like parrots. The Hispaniolan Parakeet population thrives in the capital city of Santo Domingo, positively correlated with tree species richness and green patches within the city. Most breeding of parakeets occurs in old buildings, emphasizing the significance of parks and gardens in providing feeding resources for this vulnerable species.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Daniel Niepsch, Leon J. Clarke, Konstantinos Tzoulas, Gina Cavan
Summary: The study used a passive diffusion tube sampling method to investigate spatial and temporal variability of NO2 concentrations in Manchester. It found elevated NO2 concentrations exceeding EU/UK limits throughout the study period, especially in colder months and residential areas. Sampling at 45 locations provided detailed spatial and temporal information.
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOCHEMISTRY AND HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Matthew Dennis, Adam Barker, Jamie Anderson, Jenna C. Ashton, Gina Cavan, Penny A. Cook, David French, Anna Gilchrist, Philip James, Christopher Phillipson, Konstantinos Tzoulas, C. Philip Wheater, Ada Wossink, Sarah Lindley
Summary: Ageing and urbanisation present challenges to public health and urban planning. To mitigate the negative effects on ageing populations, leveraging the benefits of urban green infrastructure as a public health intervention is proposed. However, a comprehensive framework for understanding the socio-cultural-ecological determinants of health is currently lacking. Principles for overcoming knowledge integration challenges in the intersection of green infrastructure, ageing, health, and well-being are presented.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Daniel Niepsch, Leon J. J. Clarke, Jason Newton, Konstantinos Tzoulas, Gina Cavan
Summary: Air pollution and poor air quality have a global impact on human health, leading to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and damage to organ systems. Lichens are commonly used as biomonitors to assess pollution and monitor air quality. This study used a high-spatial resolution lichen biomonitoring approach to investigate the finer spatial variability of air quality in Manchester, UK, and identify pollution sources. Lichen elemental contents and stable-isotope-ratio signatures can be used to identify areas of poor air quality not covered by automated air quality monitoring stations.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Daniel Niepsch, Leon J. Clarke, Konstantinos Tzoulas, Gina Cavan
Summary: This study developed a novel method to separate and quantify NO3- and NH4+ in lichen material, investigating the effects of atmospheric nitrogen loadings on lichens. By comparing urban and rural lichen samples, differences in nitrogen compound concentrations were found, suggesting varying sources and impacts in different environments.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE-PROCESSES & IMPACTS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Iliya Ishaku Nababa, Elias Symeonakis, Sotirios Koukoulas, Thomas P. Higginbottom, Gina Cavan, Stuart Marsden
Article
Environmental Studies
Matthew Dennis, David Barlow, Gina Cavan, Penny A. Cook, Anna Gilchrist, John Handley, Philip James, Jessica Thompson, Konstantinos Tzoulas, C. Philip Wheater, Sarah Lindley