Functional diversity of urban bird communities: effects of landscape composition,green space area and vegetation cover

In this study, we aim to gain a better insight on how habitat filtering due to urbanization shapes bird communities of Vienna city parks. This may help to derive implications for urban planning in order to promote and maintain high diversity and ecosystem function in an increasing urbanized environment. The structure of wintering bird communities of 36 Vienna city parks – surveyed once a month in January 2009, December 2009, December 2012, and January 2013 – was described by species richness and the functional diversity measurements FRic (functional richness), FEve (functional evenness), and FDiv (functional divergence). Environmental filtering was quantified by park size, canopy heterogeneity within the park, and the proportion of sealed area surrounding each park. Species richness, FRic, and FDiv increased with increasing park size. Sealed area had a strong negative effect on species richness and FDiv. Canopy heterogeneity played a minor role in explaining variance in FDiv data. FEve did not respond to any of these park parameters. Our results suggest a loss of species richness and functional diversity, hence most likely indicate a decline in ecosystem function, with decreasing park size and increasing sealed area of the surrounding urban landscape matrix.     

Methane emissions from contrasting urban freshwaters: Rates,drivers, and a whole‐city footprint

Global urbanization trends impose major alterations on surface waters. This includes impacts on ecosystem functioning that can involve feedbacks on climate through changes in rates of greenhouse gas emissions. The combination of high nutrient supply and shallow depth typical of urban freshwaters is particularly conducive to high rates of methane (CH₄) production and emission, suggesting a potentially important role in the global CH₄ cycle. However, there is a lack of comprehensive flux data from diverse urban water bodies, of information on the underlying drivers, and of estimates for whole cities. Based on measurements over four seasons in a total of 32 water bodies in the city of Berlin, Germany, we calculate the total CH₄ emission from various types of surface waters of a large city in temperate climate at 2.6 ± 1.7 Gg CH₄/year. The average total emission was 219 ± 490 mg CH₄ m^?2 day^?1. Water chemical variables were surprisingly poor predictors of total CH₄ emissions, and proxies of productivity and oxygen conditions had low explanatory power as well, suggesting a complex combination of factors governing CH₄ fluxes from urban surface waters. However, small water bodies (area <1 ha) typically located in urban green spaces were identified as emission hotspots. These results help constrain assessments of CH₄ emissions from freshwaters in the world's growing cities, facilitating extrapolation of urban emissions to large areas, including at the global scale.     

城市公共绿地常见木本植物组成对鸟类群落的影响

快速城市化背景下, 城市公共绿地已经成为重要的鸟类栖息地, 其中的木本植物群落构成对鸟类群落结构有显著影响, 研究木本植物配置与鸟类多样性的关系对提升城市公共绿地作为鸟类栖息地的生态服务功能有重要的理论和应用价值。我们于2009–2010年间在上海市滨江森林公园就木本植物和鸟类群落的相互关系展开研究。样线法结合样点调查共记录到鸟类10目25科64种5,368只(次), 鸟类多度全年变化显著, 峰值分别出现在4月和11月。丰富度全年也呈现双峰型变化, 峰值出现在4月和12月。全年鸟类多样性(Simpson指数)差异显著, 10月最高, 8月最低。样方调查共记录到77种木本植物, 其中有14种(乔木9种、灌木5种)出现率超过5个样方, 定义为常见种, 其果期主要集中在9月到翌年2月, 其上常见林业致病害虫的发生盛期集中在5–11月。主成分分析显示, 常见木本植物上观察到的鸟类可划分为8个鸟类集团, Spearman秩相关检验显示秋冬季常见木本植物果期与植食性、肉食性、食虫性、杂食性等多个鸟类集团的多度均呈显著正相关。说明在秋冬季鸟类迁徙高峰期不同鸟类集团均能获得丰富的食物资源。就常见木本植物对鸟类群落的重要值进行排序, 结果显示, 大叶杨(Populus lasiocarpa)、枫杨(Pterocarya stenoptera)、香樟(Cinnamomum camphora)等乔木对鸟类重要值较高, 而灌木层对鸟类的重要性整体偏低, 说明滨江森林公园的灌木层作为鸟类栖息地的功能建设尚需加强。根据以上研究结果, 我们提出了提高上海城市公园鸟类多样性的植被配置建议。     

The behavioural ecology and population dynamics of a cryptic ground‐dwelling mammal in an urban Australian landscape

Urbanization results in widespread habitat loss and fragmentation and generally has a negative impact upon native wildlife, in particular ground‐dwelling mammals. The northern brown bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus; Marsupialia: Peramelidae) is one of relatively few native Australian ground‐dwelling mammals that is able to survive within urbanized landscapes. As a consequence of extensive clearing and urban development within the city of Brisbane, bandicoots are now restricted to the mostly small (<10 ha) bushland fragments scattered across the city landscape. Our study examined the behavioural ecology of northern brown bandicoots within habitat fragments located on a major creek‐line, using mark‐recapture population monitoring and radio telemetry. Bandicoots at monitored sites were found to occur at high densities (typically one individual ha^?1), although one‐third of the populations were transient. Radio tracking revealed that bandicoots had relatively small home ranges (mean 1.5 ± 0.2 ha) comprised largely of bushland/grassland with dense, often weed‐infested ground cover. Bandicoots sheltered by day in these densely covered areas and also spent most time foraging there at night, although they occasionally ventured small distances to forage in adjacent maintained parklands and residential lawns. We suggest that introduced tall grasses and other weeds contribute to high habitat quality within riparian habitat fragments and facilitate the persistence of high density populations, comprised of individuals with small home ranges. The generalized dietary and habitat requirements of northern brown bandicoots, as well as a high reproductive output, undoubtedly facilitate the survival of the species in urban habitat fragments. Further research is required on other native mammal species in urbanized landscapes to gain a greater understanding of how best to conserve wildlife in these heavily modified environments.     

城市生态学学科定义、研究内容、研究方法和分析与探索

从生态学的学科定义、生态学的发展现状、城市生态学的发展历史与现状、城市生态学来发展趋势的出发,认为将城市生态学定义为“研究城市及其群体的发生、发展与自然、资源、环境之间相互作用的过程和规律的科学”,既能涵盖城市生态学已有的内容,也能指导城市生态学未来的局长。城市生态学的研究中,城市与自然、资源、环境相互作用的具体机制应全面深入地展开,城市生态系统的研究应更为精确,城市生态学应参与可持续生态系统、生物多样性保护、全球变化的研究。结合城市生态学的发展的经验和目前面对的挑战,案例研究和理论研究相结合、现场观测资料与统计资料相结合、对比研究与定位研究相结合、自然科学和社会科学相结合、并充分利用现代新技术和数理模型分析方法应该是城市生态学研究的主要方法。     

城市生态学学科定义、研究内容、研究方法的分析与探索

从生态学的学科定义、生态学的发展现状、城市生态学的发展历史与现状、城市生态学未来发展趋势的出发,认为将城市生态学定义为“研究城市及其群体的发生、发展与自然、资源、环境之间相互作用的过程和规律的科学”,既能涵盖城市生态学已有的内容,也能指导城市生态学未来的发展。城市生态学的研究中,城市与自然、资源、环境相互作用的具体机制应全面深入地展开,城市生态系统的研究应更为精确,城市生态学应参与可持续生态系统、生物多样性保护、全球变化的研究。结合城市生态学的发展经验和目前面对的挑战,案例研究与理论研究相结合、现场观测资料与统计资料相结合、对比研究与定位研究相结合、自然科学和社会科学相结合、并充分利用现代新技术和数理模型分析方法应该是城市生态学研究的主要方法。     

The extent of shifts in vegetation phenology between rural and urban areas within a human‐dominated region

Urbanization is one of the major environmental challenges facing the world today. One of its particularly pressing effects is alterations to local and regional climate through, for example, the Urban Heat Island. Such changes in conditions are likely to have an impact on the phenology of urban vegetation, which will have knock‐on implications for the role that urban green infrastructure can play in delivering multiple ecosystem services. Here, in a human‐dominated region, we undertake an explicit comparison of vegetation phenology between urban and rural zones. Using satellite‐derived MODIS‐EVI data from the first decade of the 20th century, we extract metrics of vegetation phenology (date of start of growing season, date of end of growing season, and length of season) for Britain's 15 largest cities and their rural surrounds. On average, urban areas experienced a growing season 8.8 days longer than surrounding rural zones. As would be expected, there was a significant decline in growing season length with latitude (by 3.4 and 2.4 days/degree latitude in rural and urban areas respectively). Although there is considerable variability in how phenology in urban and rural areas differs across our study cities, we found no evidence that built urban form influences the start, end, or length of the growing season. However, the difference in the length of the growing season between rural and urban areas was significantly negatively associated with the mean disposable household income for a city. Vegetation in urban areas deliver many ecosystem services such as temperature mitigation, pollution removal, carbon uptake and storage, the provision of amenity value for humans and habitat for biodiversity. Given the rapid pace of urbanization and ongoing climate change, understanding how vegetation phenology will alter in the future is important if we wish to be able to manage urban greenspaces effectively.     

全球长期城市生态研究中的社会经济要素:指标、数据与应用前景

社会经济要素作为城市生态系统的重要组成部分,能够反映居民特征、衡量居民福祉,是城市生态研究中不可或缺的内容。然而,在城市生态研究中合理、有效利用社会经济要素的规范和框架尚未得到充分研究。城市生态研究中常用的社会经济指标包括哪些？社会经济指标的常见数据源有哪些？社会经济要素可协助回答哪些方面的科学问题？为回答上述问题,本文综述了全球范围内11个长期城市生态研究站点开展的系统性调查和案例研究,总结社会经济指标的内容、数据来源,以及这些研究的议题。结果表明：常用社会经济指标可分为人口基本信息、认知和意愿、行为三类,前两者在城市生态研究中的应用已较为普遍。数据的主要来源包括政府部门提供的统计资料或普查数据、商业数据,以及研究人员开展的独立调查。在城市生态研究中纳入社会经济要素有助于分析社会与环境的相互关系,进而揭示城市系统中人与自然的耦合效应。近年来,我国城市生态研究快速发展,但研究中欠缺对社会经济要素的考虑与利用,可能会逐渐偏离国际上城市生态学的主流研究方向。社会经济数据获取困难是当前研究者面临的重大挑战,同时也存在一些机遇能够促进我国城市生态研究纳入社会经济要素,例如利用新兴数据和大数据手段、构建统一的指标框架和数据共享机制,以及充分了解和利用政府公开的统计数据。     

景感生态学在城市生态系统服务中的应用研究——以城市公园景观设计为例

城市生态系统服务和可持续发展是当前城市生态学研究的热点问题。景感生态学作为联系生态系统服务和可持续发展的桥梁,可作为研究城市生态系服务和可持续发展的一种有效途径。随着社会发展所伴随的人们经济生活的生活压力增大,城市居民的亚健康状态日益突出。城市公园作为城市生态系统的重要构成,其设计目的应考虑应对城市居民健康问题和促进人类精神文明建设方面的作用。以城市公园景观设计为例,从园路、建筑、植物、水体景观和小品等方面探讨景感生态学在城市公园景观设计中的应用价值。景感生态学作为探索城市公园景观设计的新思路,以实现生态效益和居民福祉的提升,丰富和提升城市公园的生态系统服务功能,从而有利于促进为人类当代和后代提供可持续的福祉,以期驱使人类行为和言行规律朝着对生态系统有益的方向演化,自觉维护和改善生态系统服务,从而可持续地保障城市生态系统服务。     

Biodiversity in cities needs space: a meta‐analysis of factors determining intra‐urban biodiversity variation

Understanding varying levels of biodiversity within cities is pivotal to protect it in the face of global urbanisation. In the early stages of urban ecology studies on intra‐urban biodiversity focused on the urban–rural gradient, representing a broad generalisation of features of the urban landscape. Increasingly, studies classify the urban landscape in more detail, quantifying separately the effects of individual urban features on biodiversity levels. However, while separate factors influencing biodiversity variation among cities worldwide have recently been analysed, a global analysis on the factors influencing biodiversity levels within cities is still lacking. We here present the first meta‐analysis on intra‐urban biodiversity variation across a large variety of taxonomic groups of 75 cities worldwide. Our results show that patch area and corridors have the strongest positive effects on biodiversity, complemented by vegetation structure. Local, biotic and management habitat variables were significantly more important than landscape, abiotic or design variables. Large sites greater than 50 ha are necessary to prevent a rapid loss of area‐sensitive species. This indicates that, despite positive impacts of biodiversity‐friendly management, increasing the area of habitat patches and creating a network of corridors is the most important strategy to maintain high levels of urban biodiversity.     

Environmental factors determining invasibility of urban waters for exotic macroinvertebrates

Aim Urbanization usually leads to biotic homogenization with a decrease in native species and increase in exotic species. We investigated whether local environmental factors in urban water bodies, such as water quality, habitat structure and biotic interactions, influenced the invasion of these systems by exotic macroinvertebrate species. Location Urban surface water systems in lowlands of the Rhine‐Meuse delta. Methods Presence and abundance of native and exotic macroinvertebrate species were compared between different urban water types and related to environmental variables with multivariate analysis and spearman’s correlations. Moreover, co‐existence of related native and exotic species was studied. Results In total nine exotic species were found in the following taxa: Tricladida (1), Crustacea (5), Bivalvia (1) and Gastropoda (2). Taxonomically related native and exotic crustacean species did not seem to be influenced by competition in nutrient‐rich urban waters; most species showed high abundances. Nevertheless, two exotic crustacean species were much more abundant in waters where other crustacean species were absent, possibly filling empty niches. Native species richness and abundance was positively related to environmental heterogeneity in the form of submerged vegetation. The occurrence and abundance of most exotic species were positively related to several eutrophication indicators, such as nitrate, sludge layer and lemnid vegetation. Main conclusions Exotic species in urban waters were mostly detritivorous or omnivorous and therefore dependent on leaf breakdown. In nutrient‐rich water systems, where food availability was high, exotic crustacean species co‐existed with native crustacean species, while in nutrient‐poor, richly vegetated systems, native Asellidae dominated exotic Asellidae. In the turbid water bodies with very little vegetation, native species richness was low and two exotic crustacean species were relatively abundant in these water systems. Invasibility of urban water systems could be reduced by stimulating the development of submerged and nymphaeid vegetation and decreasing nutrient levels.     

城市生态系统空气微生物群落研究进展

空气微生物是城市生态系统重要的生物组成部分 ,空气中广泛分布的细菌、真菌孢子、放线菌和病毒等生物粒子不仅具有极其重要的生态功能 ,还与城市空气污染 ,城市环境质量和人体健康密切相关。从生态系统角度出发 ,着重论述了城市微生物气溶胶的粒谱范围、空气微生物的主要类型、空气微生物浓度的时空变化和空气微生物群落结构的影响因素。综述结果表明 :城市微生物气溶胶的粒谱范围为 0 .0 0 2～ 30 μm;在调查的城市中 ,空气细菌有 2 1属 ,其中优势菌属为芽孢杆菌属 (Bacillus)、葡萄球菌属 (Staphylococcus)、微球菌属 (Micrococcus)和微杆菌属 (Microbacterium ) ,真菌有 2 1属 ,其中优势菌属为交链孢属(Alternaria)、青霉属 (Penicillium)、曲霉属 (Aspergillus)和木霉属 (Trichoderma) ,放线菌共有 7属 ;一年中冬季空气微生物浓度最低 ,一天中空气微生物浓度在 8:0 0～ 10 :0 0出现高峰 ,2 :0 0～ 4 :0 0或者 12 :0 0～ 14 :0 0出现低峰 ,交通干线和商业区空气微生物的浓度较高 ,公园绿地较低 ,并且随着高度的增加空气微生物浓度随之减少 ;污染因子 SO2 、NO2 、NO和环境因素风速风向、温度、相对湿度、光照、雨、雪等影响空气微生物的数量和浓度。在经济发达 ,人口流动较多的城市如北京、上海、广     

城市化鸟类群落变化及其与城市植被的关系

持续而快速的城市化进程正在助长全球生物多样性的丧失,其中鸟类是城市生态系统的重要环节和城市生物多样性保护的重点目标,同时也是研究的热点内容。从城市环境变化压力下,鸟类群落组成与结构、空间分布和繁殖营巢方式的改变分析,重点介绍了支持城市地区鸟类多样性的植物环境因素与影响机制的最新研究成果。结果表明：1）城市中的植被和绿色空间为城市鸟类提供生存空间和食物资源,是城市鸟类最主要的栖息地。2）保留原生乡土植物和大型树木的地区能支持更丰富的鸟类物种。3）植被的结构和盖度对鸟类群落有显著影响。林冠覆盖率增加,复杂的垂直空间和多样的植物种类的组合产生各种不同类型的植物空间和栖息地类型,吸引不同的鸟类物种,相应地也会导致更丰富的鸟类群落。总之,保持和加强城市中植物环境良好和稳定是保护城市生物多样性的有效手段。据此,提出城市环境与鸟类群落关系研究的未来发展方向,指出了其在鸟类多样性保护和城市可持续发展等领域的应用前景。     

Alien species richness is currently unbounded in all but the most urbanized bird communities

Urban areas suffer high pressure of introductions of alien species compared to other habitats due to intensive human activities. As trading globally continues to rise, more species will likely be introduced into urban areas. To determine whether this increase in introduction pressure will lead to increased alien species richness in urban areas, or whether other processes would act to impose an upper limit on species richness, we examined how the shape of the relationship between alien species richness and the number of introduced species over time (i.e. introduction pressure) varies along gradients of urbanization. We collected species composition data from urban bird surveys worldwide and used a global database of alien bird introductions to quantify how many species have been introduced over time at different sites. We found that urbanization gradually modified the shape of the studied relationship from linear to asymptotic. Only communities in extremely urbanized environments were associated with an asymptotic relationship, suggesting that alien bird richness has likely not reached its ecological limit in most urban areas. Our results show that urbanization can reduce the importance of introduction pressure in determining alien species richness. Additionally, the results predict that alien species richness will increase at finer spatial scales, especially if the introduced species can survive in urban areas outside of their native range.