城市绿地雾霾对老年人行为决策与身心健康的影响

高密度城区绿地已成为老年人群主要的活动场所,而雾霾对暴露其中的老年人有健康隐患。在健康老龄化的国家战略背景下,基于绿地暴露与雾霾暴露之间的正负关系,在雾霾暴露和老年人群之间搭建技术路径。通过实测循证实验、结构性问卷访谈探索绿地中雾霾对老年人出行决策及身心健康的影响。运用相关性和中介效应分析发现老年人对雾霾存在认知局限,多元的内在驱动力导致去公园绿地的决策感性多于理性。综合舒适度在雾霾与活动人数之间存在显著的部分中介效应。绿地PM_2.5浓度对老年人身心状态自评有负面影响,存在决策导致的健康隐患。研究成果凸显了提升健康老龄化举措的紧迫性以及积极推动景观环境适老性优化的重要意义,对当下人居环境建设有一定的借鉴价值。     

Bird communities across varying landcover types in a Neotropical city

Urbanization poses a serious threat to local biodiversity, yet towns and cities with abundant natural features may harbor important species populations and communities. While the contribution of urban greenspaces to conservation has been demonstrated by numerous studies within temperate regions, few consider the bird communities associated with different landcovers in Neotropical cities. To begin to fill this knowledge gap, we examined how the avifauna of a wetland city in northern Amazonia varied across six urban landcover types (coastal bluespace; urban bluespace; managed greenspace; unmanaged greenspace; dense urban; and sparse urban). We measured detections, species richness, and a series of ground cover variables that characterized the heterogeneity of each landcover, at 114 locations across the city. We recorded >10% (98) of Guyana's bird species in Georgetown, including taxa of conservation interest. Avian detections, richness, and community composition differed with landcover type. Indicator species analysis identified 29 species from across dietary guilds, which could be driving community composition. Comparing landcovers, species richness was highest in managed greenspaces and lowest in dense urban areas. The canal network had comparable levels of species richness to greenspaces. The waterways are likely to play a key role in enhancing habitat connectivity as they traverse densely urbanized areas. Both species and landcover information should be integrated into urban land-use planning in the rapidly urbanizing Neotropics to maximize the conservation value of cities. This is imperative in the tropics, where anthropogenic pressures on species are growing significantly, and action needs to be taken to prevent biodiversity collapse.     

Are soils in urban ecosystems compacted? A citywide analysis

Soil compaction adversely influences most terrestrial ecosystem services on which humans depend. This global problem, affecting over 68 million ha of agricultural land alone, is a major driver of soil erosion, increases flood frequency and reduces groundwater recharge. Agricultural soil compaction has been intensively studied, but there are no systematic studies investigating the extent of compaction in urban ecosystems, despite the repercussions for ecosystem function. Urban areas are the fastest growing land-use type globally, and are often assumed to have highly compacted soils with compromised functionality. Here, we use bulk density (BD) measurements, taken to 14 cm depth at a citywide scale, to compare the extent of surface soil compaction between different urban greenspace classes and agricultural soils. Urban soils had a wider BD range than agricultural soils, but were significantly less compacted, with 12 per cent lower mean BD to 7 cm depth. Urban soil BD was lowest under trees and shrubs and highest under herbaceous vegetation (e.g. lawns). BD values were similar to many semi-natural habitats, particularly those underlying woody vegetation. These results establish that, across a typical UK city, urban soils were in better physical condition than agricultural soils and can contribute to ecosystem service provision.     

Urbanization can accelerate climate change by increasing soil N2O emission while reducing CH4 uptake

Urban land-use change has the potential to affect local to global biogeochemical carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. We conducted a meta-analysis to (1) assess the effects of urbanization-induced land-use conversion on soil nitrous oxide (N₂O) and methane (CH₄) fluxes, (2) quantify direct N₂O emission factors (EF_d) of fertilized urban soils used, for example, as lawns or forests, and (3) identify the key drivers leading to flux changes associated with urbanization. On average, urbanization increases soil N₂O emissions by 153%, to 3.0 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹, while rates of soil CH₄ uptake are reduced by 50%, to 2.0 kg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹. The global mean annual N₂O EF_d of fertilized lawns and urban forests is 1.4%, suggesting that urban soils can be regional hotspots of N₂O emissions. On a global basis, conversion of land to urban greenspaces has increased soil N₂O emission by 0.46 Tg N₂O-N year⁻¹ and decreased soil CH₄ uptake by 0.58 Tg CH₄-C year⁻¹. Urbanization driven changes in soil N₂O emission and CH₄ uptake are associated with changes in soil properties (bulk density, pH, total N content, and C/N ratio), increased temperature, and management practices, especially fertilizer use. Overall, our meta-analysis shows that urbanization increases soil N₂O emissions and reduces the role of soils as a sink for atmospheric CH₄. These effects can be mitigated by avoiding soil compaction, reducing fertilization of lawns, and by restoring native ecosystems in urban landscapes.     

Key lessons for achieving biodiversity‐sensitive cities and towns

Australia's urban landscapes offer opportunities to marry socio‐economic and biodiversity conservation objectives. Yet, information is needed on what urban landscape and habitat features are important for wildlife. In this article, we draw together our research from southeastern Australia to describe key lessons for biodiversity‐sensitive cities and towns. Lesson 1: The effects of urbanization on wildlife extend into adjacent habitats. We recommend retaining large, undisturbed areas of habitat away from development, avoiding intensive development adjacent to important conservation areas, prioritizing areas of ecological and social significance, screening light and noise pollution at the urban fringe and around large nature reserves, and planting appropriately provenanced locally native species for public streetscapes, parks and gardens. Lesson 2: Strategic enhancement of urban greenspace offers biodiversity gains. We recommend increasing the total amount of greenspace cover, maintaining ecological structures as habitat islands, using landscaping techniques to minimize risks to human safety, and gardening with low‐flowering native shrubs. Lesson 3: Large old trees need to be managed for long‐term sustainability. We recommend retaining large old trees in new developments, increasing the maximum standing life of urban trees, protecting regenerating areas and planting more seedlings, supplementing habitat features associated with large trees, and ensuring that young trees have space to grow through time. Lesson 4: Education and engagement connects residents with nature and raises awareness. We recommend education programs to enhance opportunities for residents to experience and learn about biodiversity, engaging residents in the establishment and maintenance of wildlife habitat, providing ‘cues to care’, facilitating access to garden plants that benefit wildlife, and encouraging cat containment. These lessons provide an evidence‐base for implementing conservation and management actions to improve the capacity of our cities and towns to support a diverse and abundant biota.     

城市绿地可达性和居民福祉关系研究综述

城市绿地为居民提供了丰富的生态系统服务,有助于提高居民的生活质量,促进居民身心健康,因此对居民人类福祉和城市可持续性具有重要意义。对国内外围绕绿地可达性及其与居民福祉的关系开展的研究进行了梳理和归纳,总结了绿地可达性的常用计算方法,梳理了绿地可达性与居民使用绿地、居民健康以及居民社会经济水平的关系研究,归纳了绿地供给和居民需求评价研究。综述发现,绿地可达性估算的主要方法包括行政或统计单元计算法、最小邻近距离法、服务区法和引力模型法;绿地可达性对居民健康的正面影响已得到广泛证实;但是在多数城市中绿地在空间上(尤其是城区-郊区梯度上)的分布都存在较大差异;一些研究发现社会经济水平低的居民绿地可达性更低,但这种关系在其他地区不一定成立。对未来的绿地可达性相关研究方向进行了展望,包括:更全面地量化绿地内部生物多样性、景观格局等特征,并分析其对居民福祉的影响;对公园以外其他类型的绿地与健康以外的人类福祉的关系进行更广泛的探讨,并在不同地区开展实证研究,以便对比不同社会经济文化背景下,绿地与居民福祉关系的差异;进一步开展基于多时相绿地格局和人群队列的纵向研究,探讨绿地与居民福祉的动态关系,以及社会经济过程对其的影响,从而更好地服务于城市规划和管理。     

How can urban green spaces be planned for climate adaptation in subtropical cities?

The cooling effect of greenspaces is an important ecosystem service, essential for mitigating the urban heat island (UHI) effect and thus increasing urban resilience to climate change. Techniques based on landscape planning to alleviate the increasing frequency of extreme climate are becoming more of a focus in urban ecology studies. In this paper, we proposed and defined the urban cooling island (UCI) extent, intensity, and efficiency, as well as the threshold value of efficiency (TVoE) introduced from the “law of diminishing marginal utility” for the first time. The radiative transfer equation has been compared with other algorithms and used to retrieve accurate land surface temperature (LST) in a subtropical city of China − Fuzhou. Two important and arguable factor − size and shape of greenspaces also been expressed and explored. The results indicate that: (1) larger-sized greenspaces produce a higher cooling effect. However, there exist a TVoE, which is in line with our hypothesis. The TVoE in Fuzhou is 4.55 ha. (2) The circles and squares greenspaces have a significant correlation with LST and also show the highest UCI intensity and efficiency. (3) 92% of the maximum extent of greenspaces are within the 30–180 m limit, and the mean UCI extent and intensity are 104 m and 1.78 °C. (4) The greenspaces connected with waterbodies intensified the UCI effects, whereas the grassland-based greenspace shows the weakest UCI effects. The methodology and results of this study could help urban planners to mitigate the UHI effects efficiently, and to employ the climate adaptive planning.     

城市公园可达性研究——方法与关键问题

城市公园是城市居民主要的休闲游憩场所,对促进其身心健康,建设和谐可持续社会具有重要意义。伴随快速城市化,城市居民对城市公园的需求与日俱增,不仅仅关注城市公园的数量,更关心能否方便快捷地进入公园进行游憩活动。这对城市公园的评价和合理规划提出了新要求。基于GIS的可达性研究从公园与市民相互关系角度出发,能够较好地评价城市公园的空间分布,是评价城市公园空间分布合理性和服务公平性的主要手段。多种可达性计算方法的出现为城市公园可达性研究中方法的选择提供了充分的余地,但不同的方法基于不同的理论,对数据要求不同,反映可达性的不同方面,对各种可达性计算方法的理解是选择适宜可达性计算方法进行城市公园可达性研究的前提。将城市公园可达性研究中常用的可达性计算方法分为4类6种,分别评述了其原理和优缺点,为城市公园可达性研究中方法的选择提供参考。同时分析了城市公园可达性研究中的关键问题,探讨了未来城市公园可达性研究的重点。     

双碳战略背景下城市生态系统的碳汇功能与生物多样性可以兼得

“碳达峰、碳中和”是中国对世界的庄严承诺, 也是当前指导我国可持续发展的重要战略。碳排放的空间分布表明, 城市及其周边地区是最主要的碳排放区。随着我国的城市化进程不断推进, 如何有效减少城市碳排放、增加碳汇成为关系着双碳战略成效的关键问题。作为城市空间中唯一的自然碳汇, 城市绿地生态系统的固碳增汇作用日益突出。加强城市绿地的碳汇建设, 如果按照传统的人工营建思路, 只种植在当前情景下碳汇能力强的少数植物种则很可能会减少生物多样性。基于植物分配有限资源时存在权衡关系的生态学一般原理, 不仅选取当前情景下碳汇能力强的植物, 还要考虑适应环境变化、在未来环境下碳汇能力强的植物, 以及遭遇极端环境时有一定碳汇能力的植物。在此框架下, 选取恰当的植物多样性组合有望实现更好的城市绿地碳汇功能, 即环境稳定时碳汇能力更强, 环境变化时碳汇能力更稳, 出现极端事件时碳汇损失更小。具体的做法包括: (1)扩展绿地物种库信息, 纳入植物的碳减排能力、适应环境变化能力、应对极端变化能力等信息; (2)考虑植物在碳汇能力与应对气候变化能力之间的权衡关系, 将植物分成不同类型的组, 比如高碳汇低适应、低碳汇高适应; (3)根据不同城市的环境和未来气候变化特点, 因地制宜地选择恰当植物组合营建城市绿地; (4)开展城市绿地建设的全生命周期碳计量, 以近自然方式营建和管养城市绿地, 减少管护过程的碳排放。这些举措有助于实现城市绿地碳汇能力提升与生物多样性保护的双重目标。城市生态系统的‌结构与功能共赢, 对落实双碳战略和生态文明建设意义重大。