Wildlife habitat relationships

City-scale urban greening is expanding wildlife habitat in previously less hospitable urban areas. Does this transformation also prompt a reckoning with the longstanding idea that cities are places intended to satisfy primarily human needs? I pose this question in the context of one of North America's most ambitious green infrastructure programmes to manage urban runoff: Philadelphia's Green City, Clean Waters. Given that the city's green infrastructure plans have little to say about wildlife, I investigate how wild animals fit into urban greening professionals' conceptions of the urban. I argue that practitioners relate to urban wildlife via three distinctive frames: 1) animal control, 2) public health and 3) biodiversity, and explore the implications of each for peaceful human-wildlife coexistence in 'greened' cities.

Download Full-text

A Case Study of the Effects of Management Interventions on the Phosphorus Dynamics at a Coastal, Eutrophic, Caribbean lagoon (Laguna Cartagena, Puerto Rico)

Water ◽

10.3390/w13040449 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 449

Author(s):

Yashira Marie Sánchez Colón ◽

Fred Charles Schaffner

Keyword(s):

Puerto Rico ◽

Water Column ◽

Water Levels ◽

Wildlife Habitat ◽

Freshwater Wetland ◽

Water Level Fluctuations ◽

Phosphorus Loading ◽

Estuarine Wetlands ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Management Recommendations

Laguna Cartagena is a coastal, eutrophic, shallow lake and freshwater wetland in southwestern Puerto Rico, managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This ecosystem has been impacted by phosphorus loading from adjacent agricultural areas since the 1950s, causing eutrophication and deteriorating wildlife habitats. Herein, we describe phosphorus input and export during September 2010–September 2011 (Phase One) and October 2013–November 2014 (Phase Two). These two phases bracket a period of intensified management interventions including excavation and removal of sediment and vegetation, draining, and burning during the summers of 2012 and 2013. Results indicate that Laguna Cartagena retains a phosphorus (sink) in its sediments, and exhibits nutrient-releasing events (source, mainly total phosphorus) to the lagoon water column, which are associated with rainfall and rising water levels. External factors including water level fluctuations and rainfall influenced phosphorus export during Phase One, but after management interventions (Phase Two), internal processes influenced sink/source dynamics, releasing elevated phosphorus concentrations to the water column. When exposed sediments were re-flooded, phosphorus concentrations to the water column increased, releasing elevated P concentrations downstream to an estuarine wetlands area and the Caribbean Sea. Herein we offer management recommendations to optimize wildlife habitat without elevating phosphorus concentrations.

Download Full-text

Beijing Resident’s Preferences of Ecosystem Services of Urban Forests

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12010014 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 14

Author(s):

Han Zhi-Ying ◽

Youn Yeo-Chang

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Air Quality ◽

Fresh Water ◽

Urban Forest ◽

Urban Forestry ◽

Urban Forests ◽

Wildlife Habitat ◽

Quality Regulation ◽

Water Provision ◽

Air Quality Regulation

This paper aims to investigate the Beijing resident’s preferences over various options of urban forest management strategies. The literature investigation and expert Delphi method were conducted to classify the ecosystem services of urban forests into six categories: (1) fresh water provision, (2) noise reduction, (3) moderation of extreme events, (4) air quality regulation, (5) species diversity and wildlife habitat, and (6) recreation and spiritual experience. To elicit the relative preferences to ecosystem service (hereafter referred to as ES) of Beijing residents, we employed the choice experiment method. The data were collected by interviews with questionnaires conducted in October 2017, and a total of 483 valid questionnaires were analyzed. The subjects of this experiment were residents older than 19 years old who have lived in Beijing for more than 1 year and have visited any one of the urban forests located in Beijing more than once during 2016. The results were as follows: Firstly, the air quality regulation ES was considered as the most important service for Beijing residents in terms of their choices of urban forest. In addition, Beijing residents regarded the fresh water provision ES as the second most important ES. Beijing residents were willing to pay up to 1.84% of the average monthly income of Chinese households annually to expand urban forest ecosystems in order to improve air quality. Secondly, apartment owners were willing to pay more municipality tax for forest ESs than residents who did not own an apartment. Thirdly, residents were more willing to pay for urban forest ESs as their income increases. The results indicated that Beijing residents were willing to pay more tax in support of urban forestry for air quality improvement. This research suggests that urban environmental policy makers in Beijing should pay more attention to the regulation function of forests (especially improving air quality) when designing and managing urban forests.

Download Full-text

Wildlife habitat as an integral component of a planned unit development

Urban Ecology ◽

10.1016/0304-4009(78)90006-2 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 171-187 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

James R. Vilkitis

Keyword(s):

Wildlife Habitat ◽

Integral Component ◽

Planned Unit Development

Download Full-text

Ponderosa pine mortality during a severe bark beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) outbreak in southern British Columbia and implications for wildlife habitat management

Forest Ecology and Management ◽

10.1016/j.foreco.2009.08.035 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 258 ◽

pp. S5-S14 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Walt Klenner ◽

André Arsenault

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Bark Beetle ◽

Ponderosa Pine ◽

Habitat Management ◽

Wildlife Habitat

Download Full-text

Restoration thinning reduces bush encroachment on freehold farmlands in north-central Namibia

Forestry An International Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1093/forestry/cpab009 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Matti T Nghikembua ◽

Laurie L Marker ◽

Bruce Brewer ◽

Arvo Leinonen ◽

Lauri Mehtätalo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wildlife Habitat ◽

Bush Encroachment ◽

Mature Trees ◽

Linear Mixed Effects Model ◽

North Central ◽

Linear Mixed Effects ◽

Height Class ◽

The Mean ◽

Generalized Linear Mixed Effects ◽

Restoration Measures

Abstract Bush encroachment affects ~45 million ha of Namibia and, without appropriate restoration measures, it negatively affects rangeland productivity and biodiversity. Thinning is a common method to counteract bush encroachment. The thinning strategy applied in north-central Namibia was assessed to examine how effective it has been in reducing bush encroachment. Trees/shrubs were selectively thinned manually, targeting all height classes, except individuals with stem diameters ≥18 cm. We investigated the effects on the vegetation and soil properties using surveys on three freehold farms (in 2016 and 2017) in bush-encroached and previously thinned habitats. Our results revealed significant differences in the mean total nitrogen (TN) content between the treatments; thinned areas had higher TN content which would be beneficial for fast-growing grasses. In the thinned plots, the occurrence probability of red umbrella thorn (Vachellia reficiens Warwa) was significantly reduced, indicating that it was the most harvested species; and umbrella thorn (Vachellia tortilis (Burch.) Brenan spp. heteracantha) was increased, indicating that it favoured reduced densities of dominant species. Natural regeneration was rapid; the tree/shrub abundance in the 0–1-m height class in the thinned area surpassed those in the non-thinned by 34 per cent, ~7.2 years since thinning. Thinning significantly reduced tree/shrub abundances of the 1–3- and >3-m height classes, which was still evident 7.2 years since thinning. Based upon the generalized linear mixed-effects model, tree/shrub counts between treatments may equalize in ~14 and 15 years for the 1–3- and >3-m height classes, respectively. Thinning was effective in reducing tree/shrub abundances and can be used to restore wildlife habitat on the Namibian farmland: however, post-thinning management is required to maintain an open savannah vegetation structure as the 0–1-m height class cohort will eventually grow into mature trees/shrubs.

Download Full-text