Pollination of cycads in an urban environment

Botany ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (6) ◽  
pp. 333-339
Author(s):  
Lilí Martínez-Domínguez ◽  
Fernando Nicolalde-Morejón ◽  
Francisco Vergara-Silva ◽  
Dennis Wm. Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Ecological Interactions ◽  
Insect Communities ◽  
Insect Pollinators ◽  
Dioon Edule ◽  
The City

Research on urban systems has documented the contributions of cities as sites where insect pollinators undergo their life cycles, contributing to the reproduction of many groups of plants. However, reports of plants whose reproduction is assisted by specialist pollinators under conditions prevalent in cities are scarce. Cycads and insect pollinators are threatened mainly by loss and modification of their habitats. Here, we describe two cases in which cycad species from two genera distributed in Mexico (Ceratozamia tenuis (Dyer) D.W. Stev. & Vovides and Dioon edule Lindl.) reproduce and germinate successfully in urban areas, aided by insects, near their natural distribution areas. The plants examined were artificially planted in different gardens within the city of Xalapa-Enríquez. We found that specimens two genera of insect pollinators, Pharaxonotha sp. (Erotylidae: Pharaxonothinae) on C. tenuis, and Parallocorynus sp., (Belidae: Oxycoryninae) on D. edule, can survive in cycad pollen strobili, maintaining ecological interactions as they would occur in wild, conserved environments. In addition, we found beetles in ovulate strobili during the pollen receptivity phase, which suggests that they effectively reach ovulate strobili with pollen from pollen strobili. Characterization of this gymnosperm–beetle pollination system, which is unexpected in urban areas due the effects of human disturbance on insect communities, could promote new conservation biology research on flagship species in environments and landscapes shaped by anthropogenic impacts.

scholarly journals Depressed spaces as an instrument for transformation of urban areas

2020 ◽  
Vol 217 ◽  
pp. 02008
Author(s):  
Valentina Kurochkina
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Recently, more and more often urban abandoned and depressed spaces that were previously used as industrial facilities or temporarily used are becoming the sphere of architectural and landscape transformations. These territories can occupy a significant part of the city. This paper examines the features of the formation of urban planning systems, as well as the impact of depressed spaces on the quality of the urban environment. This paper studies such depressed spaces as abandoned industrial areas and objects of unfinished construction. The paper assesses the impact of depressed spaces, identifies criteria that reflect the nature, scale and features of their impact on the environment, on the safety and quality of the urban environment, as well as their role in the structure of the city as a whole. The principles and features of the formation of such urban depressed spaces, as well as the patterns of their development are revealed. The features of the formation of open public space of urban systems, as well as ways of transforming depressed spaces, aimed at increasing their social significance, integrating them into the general urban development, and improving the ecological and social situation are considered. The paper concludes that the problem of restoration of depressed spaces is very important and urgent today. The creation of a continuous urban tissue is impossible without the reorganization of such spaces, as well as the creation of an integral compositional, functional and communication urban planning system.

scholarly journals Naturally Occurence Of Wolbachia Spp. Infection In Populations Of Aedes Albopictus In The City of Valencia, Spain

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Marcilla ◽  
MARÍA TRELIS ◽  
FERMÍN QUERO DE LERA ◽  
RUBÉN BUENO-MARÍ
Keyword(s):  
Aedes Albopictus ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Surface Protein ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
The City ◽  
Potential Use

Abstract Background: The presence of Aedes albopictus was first reported in Valencia (Eastern Spain) in 2015, having a high sanitary and social impact. Innovative tools for its control include the use of the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia pipientis, which suppress Ae. albopictus populations. The release of mosquito males infected with the bacteria has proven effective as a control strategy in similar urban areas in Rome, Italy. Before this strategy could be implemented in Valencia, it is crucial to know whether natural local populations of Ae. albopictus are infected with Wolbachia pipientis and if so, identifying the bacteria strains/supergroups. Methods: Eggs were collected from water basins from the 19 districts of the city of Valencia between May and October 2019. A total of 50 Ae. albopictus reared mosquito adults were processed and analyzed for the presence Wolbachia by selected markers for 16S rDNA and surface protein (wsp) genes, under optimized PCR conditions and sequenced.Results: Our study reveal that 94,7% of the samples carried the endosymbiont, with no differences among sexes. In relation to the Wolbachia strains, both wAlbA and wAlbB strains were identified in the mosquitoes analyzed, with some samples carrying mixed infections. Conclusions: These data provide the first characterization of endosymbionts present in natural populations of Ae. albopictus in the Mediterranean area of Spain, and offers relevant information to evaluate the potential use of Wolbachia strains in order to achieve mosquito populations suppression through massive releases of males artificially infected.

scholarly journals PLANNING OF SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (164) ◽  
pp. 31-36
Author(s):  
O. Bezlyubchenko ◽  
T. Apatenko
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Spatial Development ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
High Quality ◽  
The City

The work is devoted to the consideration of the concepts of the spatial development of the cities of Ukraine taking into account today's specifics of the formation of institutes of their management. The issues discussed in this article are relevant to almost any city in modern Ukraine at the stage of transition of the country from industrial to post-industrial type. Among the most pressing issues are the rational use of territorial resources and environmental security within urban systems. There is also a trend of uneven economic development in urban areas. The solution to this problem is the balanced development of urban space with a diversified economy and infrastructure, as well as high quality of life. The formation of multifunctional urban areas will ensure sustainable spatial development of the city and significantly affect the quality of life. Identifying areas within the city that are inefficiently used and have additional development potential will provide an important resource, which, unlike remote areas, is already provided with transport and engineering infrastructure. Efficient use of territorial resources will allow the formation of a rational compact planning structure of the city. The housing of high quality should be provided with the necessary social and transport infrastructure, be diverse, medium, and multi-story. Comfortable stay of citizens in public spaces involves the integration of public spaces into the cultural life of the city based on the expansion of existing and introduction of new functional content, including the implementation of commercial initiatives and their use in organizing important socio-cultural projects. A comfortable stay in the city largely depends on the architectural appearance of its historic and modern buildings. Existing buildings create the front line of streets, form the environment of public spaces, define the line of the city silhouette. Filling the existing recreational areas included in the system of public spaces with new meanings to citizens.

scholarly journals Revitalization Processes of Changing Geospatial in European Cities

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Project Planning ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Control Center ◽  
European Cities ◽  
The City

Purpose. Brief retrospective analysis of the geographical component of revitalization in European cities, study of the generalized and indirect effect of the revitalization phenomenon on the geospace of urban urban systems. Results. The results of the study of revitalization processes in European cities are presented. European cities are characterized by uneven development, concentration of potential in the capital and some regional centers, as well as the increase of crisis phenomena in the periphery. We are talking about depressed territories, settlements, post-industrial cities or parts of them. That is why we consider it necessary to speak not only about the restoration of potential and improvement of socio-economic indicators in cities, but also about the large-scale implementation of urban space revitalization programs. Approaches to revitalization processes are ideally designed as processes for empowering unused urban space. At the same time, they should be aimed at ensuring the effective use of public and private financed bonds and project funds for projects from the Civic Control Center. The main requirement of the community is to begin the process of updating and involving the administration in these projects. The first round of negotiations between the authorities and society prompted the city to come up with a coherent approach aimed at the target group and at the same time agree on the financial budget and future beneficiaries. In addition to those responsible for urban planning, special roles are assigned to local departments of schools, youth, senior citizens and business development (business, marketing and investor talks). It is these areas of human and financial capital that should be responsible for urban marketing and tourism. The involvement of a restructuring trustee in project planning and development is required. Conclusion. Taking into account the geographical component (in particular the topography, vegetation, green areas), as a result of the revitalization helps to improve the quality of living environment and affects the peculiarities of the geospatial of the city. An important component of the success of a revitalization program must be public participation in discussing and solving problems to ensure sustainable urban development. Studying the experience of European cities in the area of ​​revitalization will give a new impetus to many Ukrainian cities trying to overcome the problems of deprived urban areas, including the historic central districts and mediocrity.

scholarly journals INFLUENCE OF RAIN GARDENS ON THE QUALITY OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE CITY OF ODESSA)

2020 ◽  
pp. 60-67
Author(s):  
G. V. Kyselovа ◽  
◽  
V. N. Kyselov ◽  
M. O. Kramarenko ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Environment ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Rain Gardens ◽  
The City

The article deals with the problems of sustainable development of the urban environment, which in addition to urban and architectural aspects include the problems of urban ecology. One of the important issues that needs to be addressed is the management of urban wastewater. In the long run, it is necessary to invest in sustainable infrastructure, upgrade urban systems and plant green spaces. Stormwater management allows you to apply a comprehensive approach to solving this problem, and to increase economic efficiency city. However, investments in this problem are of a long-term nature, and alternative solution of the problem could be the arrangement of rain gardens in urban space. The main purpose of this study is to comprehensively analyze rain gardens as part of a sustainable urban development strategy. The methodological basis of the study was a number of scientific works related to the study of issues related to the improvement of urban planning, ecology of urban areas, as well as the study of the theory of cultural landscape and the theory of the ecological frame of the city. The article deals with the world examples of gardens, the main task of which is rainwater harvesting. Based on the analysis of world experience, we can conclude that rain gardens can be designed as a separate object of landscape architecture or as an element of urban space. Modern research has shown that bio-drainage structures (consisting of large gardens and parks) can be effective for improving water quality and maintaining hydrological function, even when the air temperature drops below zero. Studies show that, with proper site analysis, careful design and responsible plant selection, bio-drainage systems can work well even in regions with cold climates. In addition to performing their basic functions, rain gardens have an aesthetic component - they are beautiful elements of decoration, walkings paths in the park, city streets, roads and public buildings.

scholarly journals Assessing Anthropogenic Dynamics in Megacities from the Characterization of Land Use/Land Cover Changes: The Bogotá Study Case

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3884
Author(s):  
Claudia P. Romero ◽  
Alicia García-Arias ◽  
Celine Dondeynaz ◽  
Félix Francés
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Sustainable Management ◽  
Land Cover Changes ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Study Case ◽  
The City

Usually, megacities expand without proper planning in a context of demographic growth and are increasingly dependent on the natural resources related to the occupied area. This is a major challenge for the sustainable management of these territories, justifying the need for a better knowledge of land use/land cover (LULC) distribution and characteristics to observe spatial anthropogenic dynamics. In this study, the Bogotá river basin and the Bogotá megacity were analyzed as a case study. The main objective of this work was to analyze the historical LULC dynamics from 1985 to 2014. Reliable forecasting scenarios were developed using the Land Change Modeler to support sustainable management and planning. Results show an expansion of the Bogotá megacity toward the Northeast and an increase of urban areas within the basin. These changes implied a loss of 58% of forest surface, a strategic ecosystem, from 1985 to 2014. This dynamic is expected to continue, with a 50% increase of urban areas between 2012 to 2050, thus the megacity and neighbor cities potentially become an “urban continuum”. A replacement of crop and pasture lands near the city is expected, even though Bogotá lands are among the best agricultural lands in the Andean region of Colombia.

scholarly journals Entropy of the Land Parcel Mosaic as a Measure of the Degree of Urbanization

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Bitner ◽  
Marcin Fialkowski
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Urbanization Level ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Spatial Entropy ◽  
The Usa ◽  
City Core ◽  
Desert Areas ◽  
The City

Quantifying the urbanization level is an essential yet challenging task in urban studies because of the high complexity of this phenomenon. The urbanization degree has been estimated using a variety of social, economic, and spatial measures. Among the spatial characteristics, the Shannon entropy of the landscape pattern has recently been intensively explored as one of the most effective urbanization indexes. Here, we introduce a new measure of the spatial entropy of land that characterizes its parcel mosaic, the structure resulting from the division of land into cadastral parcels. We calculate the entropies of the parcel areas’ distribution function in different portions of the urban systems. We have established that the Shannon and Renyi entropies R0 and R1/2 are most effective at differentiating the degree of a spatial organization of the land. Our studies are based on 30 urban systems located in the USA, Australia, and Poland, and three desert areas from Australia. In all the cities, the entropies behave the same as functions of the distance from the center. They attain the lowest values in the city core and reach substantially higher values in suburban areas. Thus, the parcel mosaic entropies provide a spatial characterization of land to measure its urbanization level effectively.

ESTIMATION OF RECREATIONAL LOAD OF ORYOL CITY URBAN PARK «KUL'TURY I OTDYKHA»

2019 ◽  
pp. 101-110
Author(s):  
Mikhail Slepnev ◽  
Evgeniya Filyakova
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Large City ◽  
Calculated Data ◽  
Walking Distance ◽  
Natural Areas ◽  
Ecological Capacity ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

The article considers the impact of recreational load on the natural-anthropogenic region — Central park «Kul'tury I Otdykha» in the city of Oryol. To ensure the sustainable development of natural areas, the ability of components of the environment to heal itself in the conditions of anthropogenic impact is of particu-lar importance. Most of the anthropogenic load in a large city is the recreational load, which significantly affects the natural frame of urban areas. Recreational load causes a significant degradation of the natural complex of the city, and its value is determined by the planning structure of urban development, which deter-mines the distribution of population density and transport accessibility of recreation facilities. Calculated data revealed the recreational load from the planning structure of the residential area located within walking distance from the coastal recreational zone. Ensuring the safety of urban parks, it is necessary to work with complete and reliable information that can only be obtained through regular monitoring studies. The spatial organization of coastal recreational zones should meet the objectives of maintaining and improving the eco-logical balance of recreational areas, as well as the formation of a comfortable architectural and planning structure of recreational zones and the selection of the most significant recreational formations based on the ecological and recreational capabilities of natural areas and the needs of the population. In this regard, it is necessary to develop functional zoning of natural-anthropogenic regions to regulate the level of recreational impact, and ensure the sustainability of ecological systems of the city. To monitor the level of anthropogenic impacts, the definition is used — the ecological capacity, which is determined by the limiting values of an-thropogenic loads determined on the basis of field observations.

scholarly journals MODELING OF OVERFLOW CURVE IN URBAN MANAUS RIVERS

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 74-88
Author(s):  
ALEXANDRA AMARO DE LIMA ◽  
Andréia Rodrigues Gomes ◽  
Raylla Carvalho ◽  
Igor Felipe Oliveira Bezerra ◽  
Jorge De Almeida Brito Júnior
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Satellite Images ◽  
Design Flow ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Precipitation Time Series ◽  
Rivers And Streams ◽  
The City

The monitoring of water bodies is of great importance in urban areas, and also in the economic and social context of the large Brazilian metropolises. Urbanization alters the flow of rivers and streams that cut through large urban areas. At the same time, river monitoring can be performed using the mathematical methods present in the literature. This work will show the overflow curve of streams that cross the central areas of the city of Manaus, being possible to visualize through satellite images. For the characterization of the basins, besides satellite images, precipitation time series are used around the studied areas. With the data obtained from the study, it is expected to generate a program that warns the riverine population, for possible floods before they occur. It is also possible to develop a program that calculates a new gutter profile, which includes the design flow, for the studied streams.

scholarly journals Groundwater fauna in an urban area – natural or affected?

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 3053-3070
Author(s):  
Fabien Koch ◽  
Kathrin Menberg ◽  
Svenja Schweikert ◽  
Cornelia Spengler ◽  
Hans Jürgen Hahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Urban Area ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Reference Conditions ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Groundwater Temperature ◽  
Ecological Conditions ◽  
Groundwater Fauna ◽  
The City

Abstract. In Germany, 70 % of the drinking water demand is met by groundwater, for which the quality is the product of multiple physical–chemical and biological processes. As healthy groundwater ecosystems help to provide clean drinking water, it is necessary to assess their ecological conditions. This is particularly true for densely populated urban areas, where faunistic groundwater investigations are still scarce. The aim of this study is, therefore, to provide a first assessment of the groundwater fauna in an urban area. Thus, we examine the ecological status of an anthropogenically influenced aquifer by analysing fauna in 39 groundwater monitoring wells in the city of Karlsruhe (Germany). For classification, we apply the groundwater ecosystem status index (GESI), in which a threshold of more than 70 % of crustaceans and less than 20 % of oligochaetes serves as an indication for very good and good ecological conditions. Our study reveals that only 35 % of the wells in the residential, commercial and industrial areas and 50 % of wells in the forested area fulfil these criteria. However, the study did not find clear spatial patterns with respect to land use and other anthropogenic impacts, in particular with respect to groundwater temperature. Nevertheless, there are noticeable differences in the spatial distribution of species in combination with abiotic groundwater characteristics in groundwater of the different areas of the city, which indicate that a more comprehensive assessment is required to evaluate the groundwater ecological status in more detail. In particular, more indicators, such as groundwater temperature, indicator species, delineation of site-specific characteristics and natural reference conditions should be considered.

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