Effects of widespread non-native trees on regulating ecosystem services

Abstract Background Reconciling agriculture and biodiversity conservation is a challenge given the growing demand for agricultural products. In recent decades, Argentina has witnessed agricultural expansion and intensification affecting biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Within agroecosystems, the level of habitat quality is critical for birds, and may depend on vegetation structure, availability of invertebrate prey, and the use of pesticides. Although the relationship between vegetation structure and avian occurrence has been widely studied, to our knowledge, there are no studies that also incorporate prey availability throughout the cycle of soybean crops in Argentina. We estimated and predicted the effects of land cover and temporal variation on the occurrence of avian foraging guilds in Entre Ríos, Argentina, in order to guide management related to potential ecosystem services provided by birds. We also estimated temporal effects of vegetation structure and insecticides on the main arthropod orders consumed by birds to evaluate prey availability. Methods We conducted bird and arthropod surveys for 2 years along transects located in 20 randomly selected soybean fields (N = 60) and their adjacent borders (N = 78) throughout the crop growing season, in four seasons. We estimated avian occupancy, accounting for imperfect detection, and arthropod counts fitting generalized linear mixed models. Results The number of native trees in field borders positively influenced the occurrence of most bird species, mainly insectivores. Granivore foliage gleaners, also were positively affected by grass height. Salliers and aerial foragers were weakly affected by distance to forest and native trees. In general, the availability of invertebrates to birds was highest during the third season. Arthropod counts in borders were greater during the last three crop stages than during the pre-sowing period. Conclusions We found that with 10 to 15 native tree species in borders, coupled with a complex vegetation structure with shrubs and grasses, we could conserve a wide spectrum of insectivorous birds, and may contribute to the invertebrate pest control service. Vegetated field borders function as a refuge for arthropods, especially agriculturally beneficial taxa such as Hymenopterans. Finally, several groups of birds use the interior of the fields and could help control pests.

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Earth observation and social media: Evaluating the spatiotemporal contribution of non-native trees to cultural ecosystem services

Remote Sensing of Environment ◽

10.1016/j.rse.2019.05.012 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 230 ◽

pp. 111193 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Ana Sofia Vaz ◽

João F. Gonçalves ◽

Paulo Pereira ◽

Frederico Santarém ◽

Joana R. Vicente ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Earth Observation ◽

Cultural Ecosystem Services ◽

Native Trees

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Native Trees as a Provider of Vital Urban Ecosystem Services in Urbanizing New Zealand: Status Quo, Challenges and Prospects

Land ◽

10.3390/land11010092 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 92

Author(s):

Jihwi Jang ◽

Su Young Woo

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Native Species ◽

Urban Ecosystem ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Urban Trees ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Planted Forests ◽

Native Trees ◽

Native Tree

In New Zealand, over 87% of the population currently resides in cities. Urban trees can face a myriad of complex challenges including loss of green space, public health issues, and harm to the existence of urban dwellers and trees, along with domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollutant emissions. Despite New Zealand being a biodiversity hotspot in terms of natural environments, there is a lack of knowledge about native tree species’ regulating service (i.e., tree development and eco-physiological responses to low air quality, GHG, rising air temperatures, and drought) and how they grow in built-up environments such as cities. Therefore, we argue for the value of these native species in terms of ecosystem services and insist that they need to be viewed in relation to how they will respond to urban abiotic extremes and climate change. We propose to diversify planted forests for several reasons: (1) to improve awareness of the benefits of diverse planted urban forests; (2) to foster native tree research in urban environments, finding new keystone species; and (3) to improve the evidence of urban ecosystem resilience based on New Zealand native trees’ regulating services. This article aims to re-evaluate our understanding of whether New Zealand’s native trees can deal with environmental stress conditions similarly to more commonly planted alien species.

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Ecosystem services of native trees: experiences from two traditional agroforestry systems in Karnataka, Southern India

International Journal of Biodiversity Science Ecosystems Services & Management ◽

10.1080/21513732.2014.918057 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 101-111 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

B. Dhanya ◽

B.N. Sathish ◽

Syam Viswanath ◽

Seema Purushothaman

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Agroforestry Systems ◽

Southern India ◽

Native Trees ◽

Traditional Agroforestry

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A taxonomically detailed and large-scale view of the factors affecting the distribution and abundance of tree species planted in private gardens of Christchurch city, New Zealand

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.10588 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. e10588

Author(s):

Wei Quan ◽

Jon J. Sullivan ◽

Colin D. Meurk ◽

Glenn H. Stewart

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Exotic Species ◽

Tree Species ◽

Native Species ◽

Large Scale ◽

Great Majority ◽

Wild Plant ◽

Large Area ◽

Native Trees

A city’s planted trees, the great majority of which are in private gardens, play a fundamental role in shaping a city’s wild ecology, ecosystem functioning, and ecosystem services. However, studying tree diversity across a city’s many thousands of separate private gardens is logistically challenging. After the disastrous 2010–2011 earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, over 7,000 homes were abandoned and a botanical survey of these gardens was contracted by the Government’s Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) prior to buildings being demolished. This unprecedented access to private gardens across the 443.9 hectares ‘Residential Red Zone’ area of eastern Christchurch is a unique opportunity to explore the composition of trees in private gardens across a large area of a New Zealand city. We analysed these survey data to describe the effects of housing age, socio-economics, human population density, and general soil quality, on tree abundance, species richness, and the proportion of indigenous and exotic species. We found that while most of the tree species were exotic, about half of the individual trees were local native species. There is an increasing realisation of the native tree species values among Christchurch citizens and gardens in more recent areas of housing had a higher proportion of smaller/younger native trees. However, the same sites had proportionately more exotic trees, by species and individuals, amongst their larger planted trees than older areas of housing. The majority of the species, and individuals, of the larger (≥10 cm DBH) trees planted in gardens still tend to be exotic species. In newer suburbs, gardens in wealthy areas had more native trees than gardens from poorer areas, while in older suburbs, poorer areas had more native big trees than wealthy areas. In combination, these describe, in detail unparalleled for at least in New Zealand, how the tree infrastructure of the city varies in space and time. This lays the groundwork for better understanding of how wildlife distribution and abundance, wild plant regeneration, and ecosystem services, are affected by the city’s trees.

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