scholarly journals Insect herbivory on urban trees: Complementary effects of tree neighbours and predation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Stemmelen ◽  
Alain Paquette ◽  
Marie-Lise Benot ◽  
Yasmine Kadiri ◽  
Hervé Jactel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Insect Herbivory ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Tree Diversity ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
List Type ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Predator Attack ◽  
Peer Community ◽  
Survival Tree

AbstractInsect herbivory is an important component of forest ecosystems functioning and can affect tree growth and survival. Tree diversity is known to influence insect herbivory in natural forest, with most studies reporting a decrease in herbivory with increasing tree diversity. Urban ecosystems, on the other hand, differ in many ways from the forest ecosystem and the drivers of insect herbivory in cities are still debated.We monitored 48 urban trees from five species – three native and two exotic – in three parks of Montreal (Canada) for leaf insect herbivory and predator activity on artificial larvae, and linked herbivory with both predation and tree diversity in the vicinity of focal trees.Leaf insect herbivory decreased with increasing tree diversity and with increasing predator attack rate.Our findings indicate that tree diversity is a key determinant of multitrophic interactions between trees, herbivores and predators in urban environments and that managing tree diversity could contribute to pest control in cities.This article has been peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Ecologyhttps://doi.org/10.24072/pci.ecology.100061

scholarly journals SEMI-AUTOMATED APPROACH FOR MAPPING URBAN TREES FROM INTEGRATED AERIAL LiDAR POINT CLOUD AND DIGITAL IMAGERY DATASETS

2016 ◽  
Vol XLII-4/W1 ◽  
pp. 127-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Dogon-Yaro ◽  
P. Kumar ◽  
A. Abdul Rahman ◽  
G. Buyuksalih
Keyword(s):  
Digital Image ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Image Datasets

Mapping of trees plays an important role in modern urban spatial data management, as many benefits and applications inherit from this detailed up-to-date data sources. Timely and accurate acquisition of information on the condition of urban trees serves as a tool for decision makers to better appreciate urban ecosystems and their numerous values which are critical to building up strategies for sustainable development. The conventional techniques used for extracting trees include ground surveying and interpretation of the aerial photography. However, these techniques are associated with some constraints, such as labour intensive field work and a lot of financial requirement which can be overcome by means of integrated LiDAR and digital image datasets. Compared to predominant studies on trees extraction mainly in purely forested areas, this study concentrates on urban areas, which have a high structural complexity with a multitude of different objects. This paper presented a workflow about semi-automated approach for extracting urban trees from integrated processing of airborne based LiDAR point cloud and multispectral digital image datasets over Istanbul city of Turkey. The paper reveals that the integrated datasets is a suitable technology and viable source of information for urban trees management. As a conclusion, therefore, the extracted information provides a snapshot about location, composition and extent of trees in the study area useful to city planners and other decision makers in order to understand how much canopy cover exists, identify new planting, removal, or reforestation opportunities and what locations have the greatest need or potential to maximize benefits of return on investment. It can also help track trends or changes to the urban trees over time and inform future management decisions.

scholarly journals Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, Estonia

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 234-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riin Magnus ◽  
Heldur Sander
Keyword(s):  
Ginkgo Biloba ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Human Organism ◽  
Cultural Space ◽  
Cultural Ideal ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
The Ideal

Urban trees are considered to be essential and integral to urban environments, to contribute to the biodiversity of cities as well as to the well-being of their inhabitants. In addition, urban trees may also serve as living memorials, helping to remember major social eruptions and to cement continuity with the past, but also as social disruptors that can induce clashes between different ideals of culture. In this paper, we focus on a specific case, a Ginkgo biloba specimen growing at Süda Street in the centre of Tallinn, in order to demonstrate how the shifts in the meaning attributed to a non-human organism can shape cultural memory and underlie social confrontations. Integrating an ecosemiotic approach to human-non-human interactions with Juri Lotman’s approach to cultural memory and cultural space, we point out how non-human organisms can delimit cultural space at different times and how the ideal of culture is shaped by different ways of incorporating or other species in the human cultural ideal or excluding them from it.

scholarly journals Effects of fragmentation on plant adaptation to urban environments

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1712) ◽  
pp. 20160038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Dubois ◽  
Pierre-Olivier Cheptou
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Plant Size ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Trait Variation ◽  
Fragmented Habitats ◽  
Dispersal Traits ◽  
Neutral Markers

Urban ecosystems are relatively recent and heavily human-altered terrestrial ecosystems with a surprisingly high diversity of animals, plants and other organisms. Urban habitats are also strongly fragmented and subject to higher temperatures, providing a compelling model for studying adaptation to global change. Crepis sancta (Asteraceae), an annual Mediterranean wasteland weed, occupies fragmented urban environments as well as certain unfragmented landscapes in southern France. We tested for shifts in dispersal, reproductive traits and size across a rural–urban gradient to learn whether and how selection may be driving changes in life history in urban and fragmented habitats. We specifically compared the structure of quantitative genetic variation and of neutral markers (microsatellites) between urban and rural and between fragmented and unfragmented habitats. We showed that fragmentation provides a better descriptor of trait variation than urbanization per se for dispersal traits. Fragmentation also affected reproductive traits and plant size though one rural population did conform to this scheme. Our study shows the role of fragmentation for dispersal traits shift in urban environments and a more complex pattern for other traits. We discuss the role of pollinator scarcity and an inhospitable matrix as drivers of adaptation. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Human influences on evolution, and the ecological and societal consequences’.

Dictionary for Managing Trees in Urban Environments

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny B Draper ◽  
Peter A Richards
Keyword(s):  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Broad Application ◽  
Tree Management ◽  
Comprehensive List ◽  
Plant Sciences ◽  
Management Policies

Dictionary for Managing Trees in Urban Environments is a comprehensive list of terms used in the universal management of urban trees. Many of the terms are from arboricultural science, while others are derived from unproven but commonly applied concepts. Where the existing terminology to describe trees was limited or nonexistent, new terms have been introduced. This dictionary allows for broad application and use by a wide variety of people and conveys in plain language concepts that are sometimes complex. Most major terms have been cross referenced and diagrams have been added for greater understanding. While a number of pertinent botanical terms have been included, those readily found within dictionaries of general plant sciences and botany have been omitted. Dictionary for Managing Trees in Urban Environments promotes a greater understanding of arboriculture and urban forestry, and will assist in the preparation of reports for the management of trees, procedures and planning instruments, such as Tree Management Policies and Tree Management Orders.

scholarly journals Rhizosphere microbes and host plant genotype influence the plant metabolome and reduce insect herbivory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charley J. Hubbard ◽  
Baohua Li ◽  
Robby McMinn ◽  
Marcus T. Brock ◽  
Lois Maignien ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Flea Beetle ◽  
Insect Herbivory ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Insect Herbivores ◽  
List Type ◽  
Plant Genotype ◽  
Herbivore Resistance ◽  
Rhizosphere Microbiome

SummaryRhizosphere microbes affect plant performance, including plant resistance against insect herbivores; yet, the relative influence of rhizosphere microbes vs. plant genotype on herbivory levels and on metabolites related to defense remains unclear.In Boechera stricta, we tested the effects of rhizosphere microbes and plant genotype on herbivore resistance, the primary metabolome, and select secondary metabolites.Plant populations differed significantly in the concentrations of 6 glucosinolates (GLS), secondary metabolites known to provide herbivore resistance in the Brassicaceae, and the population with lower GLS levels experienced ~60% higher levels of aphid (Aphis spp.) attack; no effect was observed of GLS on damage by a second herbivore, flea beetles (Altica spp.). Rhizosphere microbiome (intact vs. disrupted) had no effect on plant GLS concentrations. However, aphid number and flea beetle damage were respectively ~3-fold and 7-fold higher among plants grown in the disrupted rhizosphere microbiome treatment, and distinct (as estimated from 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing) intact native microbiomes also differed in their effects on herbivore damage. These differences may be attributable to shifts in primary metabolic pathways.The findings suggest that rhizosphere microbes can play a greater role than plant genotype in defense against insect herbivores, and act through mechanisms independent of plant genotype.

scholarly journals Signatures of rapid evolution in urban and rural transcriptomes of white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) in the New York metropolitan area

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen E Harris ◽  
Jason Munshi-South ◽  
Craig Obergfell ◽  
Rachel O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Candidate Genes ◽  
High Throughput Sequencing ◽  
Peromyscus Leucopus ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
Biological Phenomena

Urbanization is a major cause of ecological degradation around the world, and human settlement in large cities is accelerating. New York City (NYC) is one of the oldest and most urbanized cities in North America, but still maintains 20% vegetation cover and substantial populations of some native wildlife. The white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus, is a common resident of NYC’s forest fragments and an emerging model system for examining the evolutionary consequences of urbanization. In this study, we developed transcriptomic resources for urban P. leucopus to examine evolutionary changes in protein-coding regions for an exemplar ‘urban adapter’. We used Roche 454 GS FLX+ high throughput sequencing to derive transcriptomes from multiple tissues from individuals across both urban and rural populations. From these data, we identified 31,015 SNPs and several candidate genes potentially experiencing positive selection in urban populations of P. leucopus. These candidate genes are involved in xenobiotic metabolism, innate immune response, demethylation activity, and other important biological phenomena in novel urban environments. This study is one of the first to report candidate genes exhibiting signatures of directional selection in divergent urban ecosystems.

scholarly journals The application of selected invasion frameworks to urban ecosystems

NeoBiota ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 365-386
Author(s):  
Luke J. Potgieter ◽  
Marc W. Cadotte
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Economic Impacts ◽  
Relative Effectiveness ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Urban Effect ◽  
Invasion Stage ◽  
Invasion Impact ◽  
Urban Invasions

Urbanization is a major driver of global change. Profound human-mediated changes to urban environments have provided increased opportunities for species to invade. The desire to understand and manage biological invasions has led to an upsurge in frameworks describing the mechanisms underpinning the invasion process and the ecological and socio-economic impacts of invading taxa. This paper assesses the applicability of three commonly used invasion frameworks to urban ecosystems. The first framework describes the mechanisms leading to invasion; the second and third frameworks assess individual species, and their associated environmental and socio-economic impacts, respectively. In urban areas, the relative effectiveness of the barriers to invasion is diminished (to varying degrees) allowing a greater proportion of species to move through each subsequent invasion stage, i.e. “the urban effect” on invasion. Impact classification schemes inadequately circumscribe the full suite of impacts (negative and positive) associated with invasions in urban areas. We suggest ways of modifying these frameworks to improve their applicability to understanding and managing urban invasions.

scholarly journals Nests in the cities: adaptive and non-adaptive phenotypic plasticity and convergence in an urban bird

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1941) ◽  
pp. 20202122
Author(s):  
Samuel A. Bressler ◽  
Eleanor S. Diamant ◽  
Morgan W. Tingley ◽  
Pamela J. Yeh
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
San Diego ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Behavioural Plasticity ◽  
Nesting Biology ◽  
Urban Populations ◽  
Rapid Responses

Phenotypic plasticity plays a critical role in adaptation to novel environments. Behavioural plasticity enables more rapid responses to unfamiliar conditions than evolution by natural selection. Urban ecosystems are one such novel environment in which behavioural plasticity has been documented. However, whether such plasticity is adaptive, and if plasticity is convergent among urban populations, is poorly understood. We studied the nesting biology of an ‘urban-adapter’ species, the dark-eyed junco ( Junco hyemalis ), to understand the role of plasticity in adapting to city life. We examined (i) whether novel nesting behaviours are adaptive, (ii) whether pairs modify nest characteristics in response to prior outcomes, and (iii) whether two urban populations exhibit similar nesting behaviour. We monitored 170 junco nests in urban Los Angeles and compared our results with prior research on 579 nests from urban San Diego. We found that nests placed in ecologically novel locations (off-ground and on artificial surfaces) increased fitness, and that pairs practiced informed re-nesting in site selection. The Los Angeles population more frequently nested off-ground than the San Diego population and exhibited a higher success rate. Our findings suggest that plasticity facilitates adaptation to urban environments, and that the drivers behind novel nesting behaviours are complex and multifaceted.

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