scholarly journals The diversity of thrips (Insecta: Thysanoptera) on buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) is markedly lower than on native grasses in an urban landscape

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M Palmer ◽  
Laurence A Mound
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Functional Feeding Groups ◽  
Native Grasses ◽  
Cenchrus Ciliaris ◽  
Themeda Triandra ◽  
Buffel Grass ◽  
Floral Diversity

Abstract Buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) is a perennial tussock grass native to parts of Africa and southern Asia but is now distributed throughout much of mainland Australia. Corresponding with its presence in Australia has been an alteration of fire regimes and soil nutrients, and a reduction in floral diversity. We investigated whether buffel grass supported a less diverse community of thrips (order Thysanoptera) compared to the native grasses Cymbopogon ambiguus and Themeda triandra growing in Alice Springs, central Australia. The survey data showed that abundance was highest on buffel grass; however, the thrips community was almost entirely dominated by one species. The thrips communities on the native grasses were similar and markedly more diverse than that on buffel grass, both in terms of species richness and functional feeding groups. Flower feeders constituted the greatest proportion of thrips on all three grasses, but the native grasses also supported leaf feeders and predators. The results indicate that thrips are sensitive to vegetation change, and we suggest that active removal of buffel grass and replacement with local native grasses would help reverse the loss of biodiversity and normal ecological function in urban areas like Alice Springs. We also suggest that the order Thysanoptera is under-utilised in biodiversity research.

Design Intervention Assessment of Urban Public Park for Physical Activity Promotion in Bangkok, Thailand

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-4
Author(s):  
Sigit Arifwidodo ◽  
Orana Chandrasiri
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Physical Activity Promotion ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Public Park ◽  
Activity Promotion ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Design Intervention

Public Park is considered one of the essential settings for physical activity, especially in urban areas. Parks support physical activity through their accessibility, their provision to facilitate active pursuits; their capacity to provide opportunities to a wide range of users; and their semi-permanent nature. The paper explores the design intervention assessment of Benchakitti Park, which serves as the pilot project for active park and showcase during the past ISPAH 2016 conference. The objective of the paper is to understand the health and well-being benefits of an urban park in increasing PA levels of urban population and promoting a healthy and active lifestyle. Keywords: Public park; physical activity; urban landscape design; public health; SOPARC

scholarly journals Evaluating human–coyote encounters in an urban landscape using citizen science

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Drake ◽  
Shelli Dubay ◽  
Maximilian L Allen
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Human Observer ◽  
Public Outreach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Paved Road ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Human Wildlife Conflict

Abstract Coyotes are ubiquitous in habitats across North America, including in urban areas. Reviews of human–coyote encounters are limited in scope and analysis and predominantly document encounters that tend to be negative, such as human–wildlife conflict, rather than benign experiences. The objective of our study was to use citizen science reports of human–coyote interactions entered into iNaturalist to better understand the range of first person accounts of human–coyote encounters in Madison, WI. We report 398 citizen science accounts of human–coyote encounters in the Madison area between October 2015 and March 2018. Most human–coyote encounters occurred during coyote breeding season and half of all encounters occurred in moderate development land cover. Estimated level of coyote aggressiveness varied significantly, with 90% of citizen scientists scoring estimated coyote aggression as a 0 and 7% scoring estimated aggression as a 1 on a 0–5 scale (with 0 being calm and 5 being aggressive). Our best performing model explaining the estimated distance between the human observer and a coyote (our proxy for a human–coyote encounter) included the variables distance to nearest paved road, biological season of the year relative to coyote life history, and time of day/night. We demonstrate that human–coyote interactions are regularly more benign than negative, with almost all first-hand reported human–coyote encounters being benign. We encourage public outreach focusing on practices that can foster benign encounters when educating the public to facilitate human–coyote coexistence.

scholarly journals A Modified Bare Soil Index to Identify Bare Land Features during Agricultural Fallow-Period in Southeast Asia Using Landsat 8

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 231
Author(s):  
Can Trong Nguyen ◽  
Amnat Chidthaisong ◽  
Phan Kieu Diem ◽  
Lian-Zhi Huo
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Bare Soil ◽  
Critical Element ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Fallow Period

Bare soil is a critical element in the urban landscape and plays an essential role in urban environments. Yet, the separation of bare soil and other land cover types using remote sensing techniques remains a significant challenge. There are several remote sensing-based spectral indices for barren detection, but their effectiveness varies depending on land cover patterns and climate conditions. Within this research, we introduced a modified bare soil index (MBI) using shortwave infrared (SWIR) and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths derived from Landsat 8 (OLI—Operational Land Imager). The proposed bare soil index was tested in two different bare soil patterns in Thailand and Vietnam, where there are large areas of bare soil during the agricultural fallow period, obstructing the separation between bare soil and urban areas. Bare soil extracted from the MBI achieved higher overall accuracy of about 98% and a kappa coefficient over 0.96, compared to bare soil index (BSI), normalized different bare soil index (NDBaI), and dry bare soil index (DBSI). The results also revealed that MBI considerably contributes to the accuracy of land cover classification. We suggest using the MBI for bare soil detection in tropical climatic regions.

Towards an interstitial approach to urban landscape

TERRITORIO ◽  
2009 ◽  
pp. 77-82
Author(s):  
Luc Lévesque
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Shopping Centres ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western Landscape

- The history of western landscape can be conceived as the conquering of ‘non-places', by which is meant above all unknown lands with a reputation of being ‘horrendous' or uninhabitable, that are gradually brought under control, assigned a cultural value and subsequently transformed into ‘places' and landscapes. These are generic spaces without any clear history or identity. Airports, intersections and shopping centres, as well as the residual spaces associated with these, are just some examples of environments that Augé refers to as ‘non-places'. In order to breach this impasse, it becomes necessary to relinquish a privileged relationship that links one's living environment with an image of protection, the latter being associated in turn with archetypical places. By the same token, one must resist the temptation to classify an area as a ‘place' or ‘non-place' without prior examination or analysis. Various methods capable of altering our perception of urban areas can be used to set this process in motion.

The influence of buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) on biodiversity in an arid Australian landscape

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Smyth ◽  
M. Friedel ◽  
C. O'Malley
Keyword(s):  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Functional Group ◽  
Ground Vegetation ◽  
Cenchrus Ciliaris ◽  
Native Flora ◽  
Buffel Grass ◽  
Hot Climate ◽  
Environmental Weed ◽  
Grazing Lands ◽  
Land Types

Buffel grass [Cenchrus ciliaris L. syn. Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link] is an exotic species that has been widely planted in Australian arid and semi-arid grazing lands, and has become an important resource for livestock. It establishes readily and has expanded into such a diversity of land types beyond grazing lands that it is also regarded as a serious environmental weed. Although there is an abundance of literature on the production benefits of buffel grass, there is relatively little about its influence on native flora and fauna in arid Australia, particularly when its cover levels are low. This study attempted to clarify the influence of buffel grass and environmental patterns on the occurrence of ground vegetation, birds, reptiles and ants in a gneissic hill habitat in central Australia where buffel grass has encroached. Despite poor conditions for growth, we were able to distinguish the influence of buffel grass from that of other variables like overstorey cover, soil pH, fire and transect orientation. Cover of buffel grass did not exceed ~20% but it still accounted for a small amount of the variation in the composition of ground vegetation and birds, and of the ‘ground-dwelling’ bird guild and the ‘hot climate specialist’ functional group of ants. There were insufficient reptiles for analysis. We conclude that, even when cover is low, buffel grass can have a detectable influence on some aspects of community dynamics. Given the evidence from published literature and from this study, we expect the influence of buffel grass on the diversity of native flora and fauna to increase, particularly if buffel grass expands into land types previously thought unsuited to its environmental needs.

scholarly journals Assessing the Potential of Nontraditional Water Sources for Landscape Irrigation

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 436-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raul I. Cabrera ◽  
James E. Altland ◽  
Genhua Niu
Keyword(s):  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Aesthetic Quality ◽  
The Impact

Scarcity and competition for good quality and potable water resources are limiting their use for urban landscape irrigation, with several nontraditional sources being potentially available for these activities. Some of these alternative sources include rainwater, stormwater, brackish aquifer water, municipal reclaimed water (MRW), air-conditioning (A/C) condensates, and residential graywater. Knowledge on their inherent chemical profile and properties, and associated regional and temporal variability, is needed to assess their irrigation quality and potential short- and long-term effects on landscape plants and soils and to implement best management practices that successfully deal with their quality issues. The primary challenges with the use of these sources are largely associated with high concentrations of total salts and undesirable specific ions [sodium (Na), chloride (Cl), boron (B), and bicarbonate (HCO3−) alkalinity]. Although the impact of these alternative water sources has been largely devoted to human health, plant growth and aesthetic quality, and soil physicochemical properties, there is emergent interest in evaluating their effects on soil biological properties and in natural ecosystems neighboring the urban areas where they are applied.

scholarly journals A Cultural Governance Coalition in Regeneration. A Case Study of Historical Quanzhou City

2019 ◽  
pp. 145-164
Author(s):  
Shuxiang Cai
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Spatial Transformation ◽  
Common Path

Compared with the gradual and long exploration processes typical of European and American countries, China experienced a period marked by extremely high-speed modernisation and urbanisation, following the Land Reform. This is exemplified by a great number of urban reconstruction projects which have changed the traditional fabric of most cities. Yet, following the trend of cultural consumption since the late 1990s, numerous integrated restoration projects for historic districts were implemented to promote tourism as a promising industry to sustain economic growth. As a consequence of growth-oriented urban entrepreneurship, public spaces in these historic urban areas have also been perceptibly privatised. To a large extent, the capital and the authority of the local government directs the future prospect of the historic urban landscape in Chinese cities. On the other hand, development-oriented urban construction stimulates a rise in awareness of the need for protection strategies to conserve historic urban fabric. On a global scale, the public sector has begun to introspect on urban governance under the spirit of entrepreneurship. The urban renewal has now been extended to urban regeneration and the previous public-private partnership has been substituted with a multi-sectoral cooperative model. In recent years, the Chinese central government has proposed the core concept of “Seeing people, Seeing things, Seeing life”, which is re-orientated towards historic-city regeneration as a way of promoting “Micro-renewal and Micro-disturbance”. Among such activities, the use of exhibitions as a strategy for simultaneous spatial transformation and activation has gradually formed a common path, encouraging many cities to regenerate historic urban areas. This article is based on on this reorientation, taking Quanzhou as an example, making a critical observation on the new form of public space it has produced, and digs into the operational mechanism behind it as well as the possibility for publicness.

Development, Prosperity and Aspirations: A Narrative from the Peri-Urban Areas of Noida

2021 ◽  
pp. 232102492110514
Author(s):  
Bhawna Bali ◽  
Neha Bhatia
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Agrarian Economy ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
The Cost

Urban development at city periphery as a unique process of urbanisation, manifests in distinctive spatial and socio-economic characteristics. The emergence of settlement types—an admixture of rural and urban characteristics—functionally transient between agrarian and non-agrarian economy with pervasive change in land uses and attendant livelihood sources, retreating mode of rural social norms and advancing urban way of life are remarkably obvious in peri-urban landscape of large Indian cities. The resultant socio-economic challenges for peri-urban inhabitants often create chasm between promised development agenda and their aspirations. Delving into the socio-economic transformations on account of land appropriation by the State government for urban and industrial development and ramifications of land negotiations in five peri-urban villages of Noida—this study reveals the discordant side of urbanisation benefitting urban at the cost of rural, and administrative processes which remain oblivious to the aspirations of those whose lands provided the grounds of this development agenda.

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