Intended wilderness as a Nature-based Solution: Status, identification and management of urban spontaneous vegetation in cities

Sikorska, Daria; Ciężkowski, Wojciech; Babańczyk, Piotr; Chormański, Jarosław; Sikorski, Piotr

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127155

Cited by 34 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…They boost the aesthetics of rural landscapes [ 194 ]. Greening interventions in cities promoting wilderness and spontaneous flowering vegetation have become widely applied [ 198 ]. Indeed, flower meadows are easy to manage and offer an extraordinary opportunity to reconnect citizens with the wilderness within the urban environment, boosting the awareness that nature is not just a decoration but provides a living infrastructure as important as power grids and public transport [ 199 ].…”

Section: Cultural Ecosystem Services and Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Honey Bee Apis mellifera: An Insect at the Interface between Human and Ecosystem Health

Papa

Maier

Durazzo³

et al. 2022

Biology

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The concept of ecosystem services is widely understood as the services and benefits thatecosystems provide to humans, and they have been categorised into provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. This article aims to provide an updated overview of the benefits that the honey bee Apis mellifera provides to humans as well as ecosystems. We revised the role of honey bees as pollinators in natural ecosystems to preserve and restore the local biodiversity of wild plants; in agro-ecosystems, this species is widely used to enhance crop yield and quality, meeting the increasing food demand. Beekeeping activity provides humans not only with high-quality food but also with substances used as raw materials and in pharmaceuticals, and in polluted areas, bees convey valuable information on the environmental presence of pollutants and their impact on human and ecosystem health. Finally, the role of the honey bee in symbolic tradition, mysticism, and the cultural values of the bee habitats are also presented. Overall, we suggest that the symbolic value of the honey bee is the most important role played by this insect species, as it may help revitalise and strengthen the intimate and reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world, avoiding the inaccuracy of considering the ecosystems as mere providers of services to humans.

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Section: Cultural Ecosystem Services and Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Honey Bee Apis mellifera: An Insect at the Interface between Human and Ecosystem Health

Papa

Maier

Durazzo³

et al. 2022

Biology

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“…This includes maintaining existing vegetation (Coville et al, 2022) and verifying that green spaces designed together with new developments are actually implemented (Gałecka-Drozda et al, 2021). But it also entails selecting the most appropriate governance structures for green areas, as highlighted in the comparison between private and public allotments in Seville (Maćkiewicz and Puente-Asuero, 2021), as well as the proper management actions, as discussed in the context of spontaneous vegetation (Sikorska et al, 2021).…”

Section: Urban Policy For Nbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coville et al (2022) andKampelmann (2021) focus on urban forests in two residential catchments in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (USA), and the two cities of Brussels (Belgium) and Montreal (Canada), respectively. Maćkiewicz and Puente-Asuero (2021) investigate private and public allotment gardens in Seville (Spain) Sikorska et al (2021). emphasize the importance of spontaneous vegetation in cities and bring into the framework of NbS an intentional abandonment of green space cultivation and promotion of wilderness to maximize the provisioning of ecosystem services and improve the life quality of city dwellers.Three other studies reflect on NbS as actions to integrate green spaces and green elements into the grey matrix.Tan et al (2021) provide detailed insight into the potential to mitigate the urban heat island of ten plant species (turf grasses, shrubs, and climber/creeper plants) under different shade conditions, emphasizing the importance of site scale design for the efficiency of NbS.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban transitions towards Nature-based Solutions

Zwierzchowska

Cortinovis

Collier

et al. 2022

Urban Forestry & Urban Greening

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“…Potencjał do pochłaniania pyłów jest zależny od struktury warstwowej roślinności, gdzie wysokie stare zadrzewienia mają najwyższy potencjał do ich pochłania (Derkzen et al, 2015;Mexia et al, 2018). W przypadku nieużytków warto rozważyć tworzenie ostoi usług ekosystemowych (Sikorska et al, 2021), które pozwolą je uchronić przed przekształceniem w tereny zabudowane.…”

Section: Struktura Roślinności I Wielkość Usług Ekosystemowychunclassified

Roślinność wieloletnich nieużytków miejskich – systematyka zbiorowisk, ich struktura i pełnione usługi ekosystemowe = Vegetation of perennial urban wastelands – syntaxonomy, structure and ecosystem services

et al. 2021

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There is wide recognition that urban green space provides city residents with considerable benefits, inter alia of an environmental, economic and health-related profile. However, the different types of urban greenery include a rather large proportion taking the form of vegetation on abandoned sites that remain uncultivated, to the extent that a plant cover develops without much active human involvement. Almost by definition, there is only a poor level of recognition of the ecological potential such sites (here referred to as “informal green spaces” – IGS) enjoy, or of their capacity to render a variety of different ecosystem services. Against that background, the work presented here entailed in-depth study of the flora and plant communities present in Warsaw’s informal green spaces, the aim being to better ascertain their role in preserving biodiversity and delivering ecosystem services. Specifically, we identified the plant species composition present at 75 different locations within the urban green space of Poland’s capital city. To qualify for consideration, these sites had to be identified as entirely bereft of vegetation maintenance, or else only minimally subject to it, to the extent that it is largely processes of natural succession that are ongoing. The sites in fact range from wastelands with stabilised vegetation, via urban scrub and forest, through to non-forest habitats, sporadically cultivated and established over 20 years. We determined the density of vegetation present, and examined its structure in relation to various known classes of green space. We further determined the role of various vegetation types in rendering ecosystem services, be that surface cooling, substrate moisture maintenance or a capacity to remove particulate matter from the air. The informal green spaces we investigated are in fact found to comprise mainly-stable forest communities dominated by invasive species of tree (phytosociological Classes Robinietea and Salicetea purpureae), as well as non-forest communities (of Classes Molinio-Arrhenatheretea, Epilobietea and Artemisietea) again largely dominated by invasive plant species. The level of biodiversity here is average, it mostly being common forest and non-forest species that are preserved. However, in exceptional cases, the habitats constituted here do support species rare on a regional scale. It emerges that the forest vegetation is of weakly-diversified structure, as a reflection of the specific strategy invasive species pursue as they form monospecific communities. As noted already, the vegetation of the informal green spaces is seen to be largely dominated by such invasive species. Nevertheless, despite their evidently limited role in preserving biodiversity, these sites represent such a high density and volume of vegetation that their provisioning of ecosystem services is on a high level, especially where forest plant communities are involved. Sites that have come to be dominated by invasive plant species are shown to render ecosystem services comparable with (or sometimes even surpassing) those provided by native species, and this is especially the case when it comes to the removal of particulate matter from air and the exerting of a cooling effect.

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Intended wilderness as a Nature-based Solution: Status, identification and management of urban spontaneous vegetation in cities

Cited by 34 publications

References 73 publications

The Honey Bee Apis mellifera: An Insect at the Interface between Human and Ecosystem Health

The Honey Bee Apis mellifera: An Insect at the Interface between Human and Ecosystem Health

Urban transitions towards Nature-based Solutions

Roślinność wieloletnich nieużytków miejskich – systematyka zbiorowisk, ich struktura i pełnione usługi ekosystemowe = Vegetation of perennial urban wastelands – syntaxonomy, structure and ecosystem services

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