Resources at the landscape scale influence possum abundance

Abstract There is increasing realization that human perceptions of a ‘patchy’ environment do not necessarily relate to that of a particular organism and ecological characteristics of land adjacent to patches of natural vegetation (‘remnants’) may influence the ecological processes within. We investigated how the distribution and abundance of resources within and surrounding 39 small remnants located within the city of Melbourne, Australia, influenced the abundance of common brushtail possums Trichosurus vulpecula (Phalangeridae) and common ringtail possums Pseudocheirus peregrinus (Pseudocheiridae), two primarily folivorous marsupials. Bayesian modelling techniques were used to relate the abundance of both possum species to estimates of den and food availability both within the remnant and within a 100‐m buffer strip extending out into adjacent residential development. We found that both brushtail and ringtail possum abundance within remnants increased with the density of potential den sites within the remnant and food availability within the surrounding landscape. Ringtail possum density within the remnant further increased with den availability within the surrounding landscape. Our results lend support to the hypothesis that, in highly modified landscapes, processes originating outside a remnant vegetation patch may influence the abundance of species within.     

经济快速增长区城市用地空间扩展对生态安全的影响

目前我国正处于经济快速发展、城市化进程加快阶段,承受着生态环境恶化的巨大压力,大多数城市已为环境污染、空间拥挤、绿化率低、秩序混乱等严重的城市问题所困扰.昆山市作为我国经济发展最为活跃的地区之一,其城市化过程与生态环境安全之间的矛盾更为突出.在总结国内外生态安全和城市生态研究的基础上,分析城市用地扩展对城市生态安全产生的影响.昆山市城市用地空间扩张经历了缓慢发展期(1949～1977年)、老城区改造期(1977～1985年)、新区开发期(1985～1999年)和快速扩展期(1999年至今)4个阶段,针对城市土地利用变化特征及其城市土地利用存在的问题,对昆山市城市用地空间扩展进程和模式及扩展的主要特征方面进行剖析.从城市废水、废气和固废排放量几个方面分析了昆山城市用地空间扩展过程中生态环境变化情况,指出高速工业化、城市化过程,快速增长的经济可能威胁到昆山城市的生态安全.同时建立城市生态安全评价模式,构建城市生态安全评价的指标体系,探讨城市生态安全评价的方法,评价了昆山市1985～2004年的城市生态安全,最后对昆山市未来城市生态安全进行预警.为维护昆山市的生态安全,实现可持续发展提供科学依据.     

太湖流域湖西区城市化空间过程及其生态效应

我国快速推进的城市化进程正对周围生态系统造成现实或潜在的威胁.基于RS和GIS技术,从镇域尺度探讨1984～2004年太湖流域城市化空间过程及其生态效应.(1)城镇用地轴向扩展明显:沿路三级邻域带R1、R2、R3在1984～2004年期间新增城镇用地面积累积平均百分比分别为88.24%、90.23%、94.68%.(2)城镇用地扩展形态指数MFD与城镇公路连接数UR存在关系:UR=UR3时,扩展形态指数MFD>=1.5;UR＝UR1时,1.250高值区占全区面积的66.33%,形成两核两带:两核位于溧阳经济开发区和镇江谏壁镇-丹徒镇附近;两带分别是两核连线地带和溧阳城区-宜兴新街镇附件一带.     

厦门海湾型城市发展累积生态效应动态评价

港湾地区的快速城市化使港湾湿地生态系统及其生产功能和服务功能发生急剧改变并在时间和空间上产生累积效应。以具有典型意义的厦门港湾湿地为研究对象，采用系统动力学方法，定性分析系统因子因果反馈关系，筛选港湾湿地水动力环境、水质环境、生物生态环境、地形地貌、景观环境作为厦门海湾型城市发展的累积生态效应指示因子。通过调整模型的相关政策变量及组合，仿真模拟了不同发展策略下厦门港湾湿地的累积生态效应，并结合灰色评估模型对累积生态效应进行量化，得出不同发展策略的累积生态效应指数，并对模型进行了模型验证与敏感性分析。设计三大未来发展情景，即基准情景（BS）、发展规划情景（S1）、生态城市发展情景（S2）。模型模拟结果表明：基准情景下2020年厦门城市发展对港湾湿地的累积生态效应指数为0.61;发展规划情景下对港湾湿地的累积生态效应指数为0.37;生态城市发展情景下对港湾湿地的累积生态效应指数为0.30，相对基准情景下可减少累积生态效应50%，建议厦门市按照海湾型生态城市模式进行发展。     

The Direct Material Inputs into Singapore's Development

Because human population and socioeconomic activity are both increasingly concentrated in cities, an improved understanding of the environmental consequences of urbanization is needed. A 41-year annual time series of direct material flows was compiled for Singapore, representing a case of fast, export-driven industrialization. Results show that the spectacular economic growth of Singapore by a factor of 20 was associated with a similar expansion of domestic material consumption (DMC). DMC remained closely coupled to economic activity, increasing from below 4 tonnes per capita annually in 1962 to more than 50 tonnes annually in 2000. Despite economic structural changes and a growing service sector, no significant improvements in overall material productivity have been observed.     

Environmental,geographical and time-related impacts on avian malaria infections in native and introduced populations of house sparrows (Passer domesticus), a globally invasive species

Aim

The increasing spread of vector-borne diseases has resulted in severe health concerns for humans, domestic animals and wildlife, with changes in land use and the introduction of invasive species being among the main possible causes for this increase. We explored several ecological drivers potentially affecting the local prevalence and richness of avian malaria parasite lineages in native and introduced house sparrows (Passer domesticus) populations.

Location

Global.

Time period

2002–2019.

Major taxa studied

Avian Plasmodium parasites in house sparrows.

Methods

We analysed data from 2,220 samples from 69 localities across all continents, except Antarctica. The influence of environment (urbanization index and human density), geography (altitude, latitude, hemisphere) and time (bird breeding season and years since introduction) were analysed using generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) and random forests.

Results

Overall, 670 sparrows (30.2%) were infected with 22 Plasmodium lineages. In native populations, parasite prevalence was positively related to urbanization index, with the highest prevalence values in areas with intermediate urbanization levels. Likewise, in introduced populations, prevalence was positively associated with urbanization index; however, higher infection occurred in areas with either extreme high or low levels of urbanization. In introduced populations, the number of parasite lineages increased with altitude and with the years elapsed since the establishment of sparrows in a new locality. Here, after a decline in the number of parasite lineages in the first 30 years, an increase from 40 years onwards was detected.

Main conclusions

Urbanization was related to parasite prevalence in both native and introduced bird populations. In invaded areas, altitude and time since bird introduction were related to the number of Plasmodium lineages found to be infecting sparrows.     

Avian diversity and function across the world's most populous cities

Understanding the composition of urban wildlife communities is crucial to promote biodiversity, ecosystem function and links between nature and people. Using crowdsourced data from over five million eBird checklists, we examined the influence of urban characteristics on avian richness and function at 8443 sites within and across 137 global cities. Under half of the species from regional pools were recorded in cities, and we found a significant phylogenetic signal for urban tolerance. Site-level avian richness was positively influenced by the extent of open forest, cultivation and wetlands and avian functional diversity by wetlands. Functional diversity co-declined with richness, but groups including granivores and aquatic birds occurred even at species-poor sites. Cities in arid areas held a higher percentage of regional species richness. Our results indicate commonalities in the influence of habitat on richness and function, as well as lower niche availability, and phylogenetic diversity across the world's cities.     

长三角地区植被覆盖演变城乡差异及其原因

城市生态环境和城市化之间的关系是城市可持续发展的关键。研究不同城市化水平下植被覆盖的长时间演变趋势,对理解城市化过程对植被生长动态的影响,城市更新以及推进城市绿化的科学管理具有重要意义。然而,目前对城市内部沿城乡梯度植被生长趋势差异的认识还比较有限。以我国城市化发展最为强烈的长三角地区为研究对象,基于2000-2020年长三角归一化植被指数数据,采用趋势分析和地理探测器方法,探究了长三角地区城市内部植被覆盖演变城乡差异,并从土地利用/覆被变化和城市化发展的角度解析其成因。研究结果表明：（1）2000-2020年长三角地区植被总体呈绿化趋势,植被明显绿化占最大比例（52.06%）,轻微绿化与稳定不变地区占31.68%,零星分布的褐化区占6.82%。（2）城市老城区植被覆盖变化总体呈现返绿趋势（0.016/10 a）,新城区褐化明显（-0.019/10 a）,农郊区绿化突出（0.023/10 a）。在上海、南京和杭州等人口城市化水平较高的城市中,老城区土地利用变化强度最高,其绿化趋势也最高,体现了城市更新过程对绿地空间的促进作用;而在人口城市化水平相对较低的宣城、蚌埠和阜阳等城市,土地利用变化强度相对较低的农郊区也呈现明显的绿化趋势,更多的是受到区域生态保护的影响。（3）土地城市化是长三角地区老城区和新城区植被覆盖变化的主导因子,而城市化因子对农郊区解释程度总体不显著。从长三角总体区域看,城镇人口比重、不透水面积/总面积以及地区生产总值三者对植被覆盖演变存在显著影响,其中城镇人口比重影响最大。     

基于不同网格尺度福州主城区鸟类多样性与景观特征的关系研究

理解城市鸟类多样性与景观特征的关系对城市生物多样性保护和可持续发展具有重要意义。通过爬取中国观鸟记录中心网站2020年福州主城区436份观鸟报告数据计算鸟类丰富度指数(S)、Shannon-Wiener多样性指数(H)和Simpson多样性指数(D);基于谷歌地球引擎和高分辨率Worldview影像量化景观特征因子;在此基础上,采用Mann-Whitney U检验了两个网格尺度(300 m和1000 m)下S、H和D指数的差异性;运用广义线性模型探究了两个尺度下影响鸟类多样性指数的关键景观因子及其重要性。结果表明：(1)2020年研究区内共观测到242种鸟类,隶属19目59科,雀形目鸟类为优势种;数量占比从高到低依次为留鸟、冬候鸟、旅鸟和夏候鸟,分别为63.53%、25.83%、6.71%和3.93%;(2)两个尺度下鸟类多样性指数差异明显,1000 m尺度下S和H指数均显著高于300 m尺度(0.05相似文献