Finding nature in your city

WildArk.org does a great job of describing where the wild places are in various cities around the globe. Their main mission is to preserve species and ecosystems through education and research. Check out their website at https://wildark.org

Transitional ecologies and tactical urban artists

“We are optimistic that the combination of creativity, ingenuity and low-budget, DIY mindsets that are hallmarks of both ecologists and public artists will help collaborators transform abandoned space into exciting and informative destinations.”

From Transitional Ecology: embedding ecological

experiments into temporary urban public art

Adam D. Kay,1,* Elizabeth Scherber,1 Hunter Gaitan,1 and Amanda Lovelee2

1Department of Biology, University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105, USA and 2Public Art St. Paul, 381 Wabasha St N, St. Paul, MN 55102, USA

Journal of Urban Ecology, 2019, 1–7

Clean, green cities poised to take shape

China is building high-rise forest towers. Courtesy of China Daily news:

"For example, in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, two residential high-rises designed by Italian architect Stefano Boeri are being built.

When completed, the buildings will house 1,100 trees from 23 local species and 2,500 cascading plants and shrubs, which according to the architects, will absorb 25 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year and produce about 60 kilograms of oxygen a day.

To put that in perspective, removing 25 tons of carbon dioxide would be equivalent to taking five cars off the road for a year. Chinese cities have some of the most polluted air in the world."

read more from this article at: https://www.chinadailyhk.com/articles/29/48/153/1573015446133.html?newsId=111714

Toward an Urban Ecology: SCAPE

Kate Orff, 2017 MacArthur Fellow, has an optimistic and transformative message about our world: we can bring together social and ecological systems to sustainably remake our cities and landscapes. Part monograph, part manual, part manife­sto, Toward an Urban Ecology reconceives urban landscape design as a form of activism, demonstrating how to move beyond familiar and increasingly outmoded ways of thinking about environmental, urban, and social issues as separate domains; and advocating for the synthesis of practice to create a truly urban ecology. 

In purely practical terms, SCAPE has already generated numerous tools and techniques that designers, policy makers, and communities can use to address some of the most pressing issues of our time, including the loss of biodiversity, the loss of social cohesion, and ecological degradation. Toward an Urban Ecology features numerous projects and select research from SCAPE, and conveys a range of strategies to engender a more resilient and inclusive built environment.

Native birds aren't crazy about exotic street tree plantings

"Urbanisation is a leading cause of biodiversity loss and habitat fragmentation internationally, and the conservation of representative native assemblages is a challenge confronting environmental managers in expanding urban landscapes. This study investigates the bird assemblages occurring in a rapidly growing regional centre, Ballarat, southeastern Australia. It aims to examine the relationships between urbanisation and bird communities in a regional city by investigating the differences in bird assemblage composition related to the type of vegetation (native or exotic) in urban streetscapes. Bird surveys were completed across four broad habitat types: remnant vegetation, exotic streetscapes, native streetscapes and newly developed streetscapes. Each habitat type had three 1 ha replicate sites. Results show that remnant vegetation fringing residential areas and native streetscapes supported around 60% more native bird species than exotic and newly developed streetscapes. Avian species composition was significantly different between broad habitat types, with remnant vegetation and native streetscapes maintaining representative native bird assemblages, but exotic streetscapes and newly developed streetscapes were dominated by introduced birds. Our results show that, for representative native bird assemblages to be maintained in urban areas, the maintenance of remnant and native vegetation is essential."

From:

Bringing the city to the country: relationships between streetscape vegetation type and bird assemblages in a major regional centre 

Brendan S Champness,  Grant C Palmer,  James A Fitzsimons

Journal of Urban Ecology, Volume 5, Issue 1, 2019, juz018, https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juz018

Doug Tallamy on exotic invasive plants

"We have planted Kousa dogwood

(Cornus kousa), a species from China

that supports no insect herbivores,

instead of our native flowering

dogwood (Cornus florida) that supports

one hundred and seventeen species of

moths and butterflies alone. On

hundreds of thousands of acres we

have planted goldenraintree

(Koelreuteria paniculata) from China, a

tree that supports one caterpillar

species, instead of a variety of our

beautiful oaks, and we have lost the

chance to grow five hundred and

thirty-four species of caterpillars, all of

them nutritious bird food. My own

research has shown that native

ornamentals support twenty-nine times

more biodiversity than do alien

ornamentals. Further, it's unnerving to

learn that eighty-two percent of the

woody invasives in our country are

escapees of the horticultural industry."

reprinted from the Wild

Ones Journal Vol. 22, No. 2.

Urban Ecology: Science of Cities

"How does nature work in our human-created city, suburb, and exurb/peri-urb? Indeed how is ecology - including its urban water, soil, air, plant, and animal foundations - spatially entwined with this great human enterprise? And how can we improve urban areas for both nature and people? Urban Ecology: Science of Cities explores the entire urban area: from streets, lawns, and parks to riversides, sewer systems, and industrial sites. The book presents models, patterns, and examples from hundreds of cities worldwide. Numerous illustrations enrich the presentation. Cities are analyzed, not as ecologically bad or good, but as places with concentrated rather than dispersed people. Urban ecology principles, traditionally adapted from natural-area ecology, now increasingly emerge from the distinctive features of cities. Spatial patterns and flows, linking organisms, built structures, and the physical environment highlight a treasure chest of useful principles. This pioneering interdisciplinary book opens up frontiers of insight, as a valuable source and text for undergraduates, graduates, researchers, professionals, and others with a thirst for solutions to growing urban problems."