Vegetation in Bangalore’s Slums: Boosting Livelihoods, Well-Being, and Social Capital

doi:10.1201/b18713-13

Cited by 18 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…This reflects previous findings of studies comparing arthropod communities in cities and rural areas which found similar diversity in both ecosystems (e.g. Magura et al ., ; Jones & Leather, ; Baldock et al ., ; Turrini & Knop, ). Further, the results suggest that the species removed from rural communities were replaced with new species in the urban communities which do not have their origin in the rural areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic homogenization of three insect groups due to urbanization

Knop

2015

Global Change Biology

154

120

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Cities are growing rapidly, thereby expected to cause a large-scale global biotic homogenization. Evidence for the homogenization hypothesis is mostly derived from plants and birds, whereas arthropods have so far been neglected. Here, I tested the homogenization hypothesis with three insect indicator groups, namely true bugs, leafhoppers, and beetles. In particular, I was interested whether insect species community composition differs between urban and rural areas, whether they are more similar between cities than between rural areas, and whether the found pattern is explained by true species turnover, species diversity gradients and geographic distance, by non-native or specialist species, respectively. I analyzed insect species communities sampled on birch trees in a total of six Swiss cities and six rural areas nearby. In all indicator groups, urban and rural community composition was significantly dissimilar due to native species turnover. Further, for bug and leafhopper communities, I found evidence for large-scale homogenization due to urbanization, which was driven by reduced species turnover of specialist species in cities. Species turnover of beetle communities was similar between cities and rural areas. Interestingly, when specialist species of beetles were excluded from the analyses, cities were more dissimilar than rural areas, suggesting biotic differentiation of beetle communities in cities. Non-native species did not affect species turnover of the insect groups. However, given non-native arthropod species are increasing rapidly, their homogenizing effect might be detected more often in future. Overall, the results show that urbanization has a negative large-scale impact on the diversity specialist species of the investigated insect groups. Specific measures in cities targeted at increasing the persistence of specialist species typical for the respective biogeographic region could help to stop the loss of biodiversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic homogenization of three insect groups due to urbanization

Knop

2015

Global Change Biology

154

120

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…For example Rota et al (2015) found that taxonomic richness of soil fauna increased with distance from roads whereas evenness showed higher values at both ends of the gradient. Similarly, Turrini and Knop (2015), found in a study of six cities, that a high amount of vegetated area in the cities increased species richness and abundance of the majority of investigated arthropod groups, whereas evenness showed no clear pattern within cities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there a relationship between socio-economic factors and biodiversity in urban ponds? A study in the city of Stockholm

et al. 2017

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Urban small water bodies, such as ponds, are essential elements of human socio-economic landscapes. Ponds also provide important habitats for species that would otherwise not survive in the urban environment. Knowledge on the biodiversity of urban ponds and the relationship between their ecological value and factors linked to urbanization and socio-economic status is crucial for decisions on where and how to establish and manage ponds in cities to deliver maximum biodiversity benefits. Our study investigates if the pattern of urban-pond biodiversity can be related to different socio-economic factors, such as level of wealth, education or percentage of buildings of different types. Because of lack of previous studies investigating that, our study is of exploratory character and many different variables are used. We found that the biodiversity of aquatic insects was significantly negatively associated with urbanisation variables such as amount of buildings and number of residents living around ponds. This relationship did not differ depending on the spatial scale of our investigation. In contrast, we did not find a significant relationship with variables representing socio-economic status, such as education level and wealth of people. This latter result suggests that the socio-economic status of residents does not lead to any particular effect in terms of the management and function of ponds that would affect biodiversity. However, there is a need for a finer-scale investigation of the different potential mechanism in which residents in areas with differing socio-economic status could indirectly influence ponds.

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“…We considered multiple spatial scales because organisms and associated ecosystem processes, such as predation, are affected by factors that act at multiple spatial scales (Levin, ; Ryall & Fahrig, ). Based on previous research on urban birds and arthropods (i.e., small insectivorous birds and ground‐dwelling arthropod predators) in Zurich and elsewhere we opted for a combination of several small (i.e., 50–250 m) and one large (≥500 m) spatial scale (Braaker et al., ; Fontana, Sattler, Bontadina, & Moretti, ; Hostetler & Holling, ; Litteral & Shochat, ; Turrini & Knop, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predation risk shaped by habitat and landscape complexity in urban environments

Frey

Vega

Zellweger

et al. 2018

Journal of Applied Ecology

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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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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Vegetation in Bangalore’s Slums: Boosting Livelihoods, Well-Being, and Social Capital

Cited by 18 publications

References 0 publications

Biotic homogenization of three insect groups due to urbanization

Biotic homogenization of three insect groups due to urbanization

Is there a relationship between socio-economic factors and biodiversity in urban ponds? A study in the city of Stockholm

Predation risk shaped by habitat and landscape complexity in urban environments

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