Going out for dinner—The consumption of agriculture pests by bats in urban areas

Insectivorous bats provide ecosystem services in agricultural and urban landscapes by consuming arthropods that are considered pests. Bat species inhabiting cities are expected to consume insects associated with urban areas, such as mosquitoes, flying termites, moths, and beetles. We captured insectivorous bats in the Federal District of Brazil and used fecal DNA metabarcoding to investigate the arthropod consumed by five bat species living in colonies in city buildings, and ascertained whether their predation was related to ecosystem services. These insectivorous bat species were found to consume 83 morphospecies of arthropods and among these 41 were identified to species, most of which were agricultural pests. We propose that bats may roost in the city areas and forage in the nearby agricultural fields using their ability to fly over long distances. We also calculated the value of the pest suppression ecosystem service by the bats. By a conservative estimation, bats save US$ 94 per hectare of cornfields, accounting for an annual savings of US$ 390.6 million per harvest in Brazil. Our study confirms that, regardless of their roosting location, bats are essential for providing ecosystem services in the cities, with extensive impacts on crops and elsewhere, in addition to significant savings in the use of pesticides.

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Landscapes and Services in Peri-Urban Areas and Choice of Housing Location: An Application of Discrete Choice Experiments

Land ◽

10.3390/land9100393 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (10) ◽

pp. 393

Author(s):

Biancamaria Torquati ◽

Giulia Giacchè ◽

Tiziano Tempesta

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Discrete Choice ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Land Use Policy ◽

Urban Land Use ◽

Discrete Choice Experiments ◽

Urban Landscapes ◽

Urban Centre ◽

Complex Relationships ◽

The City

The recent decades have witnessed a significant increase in the population in peri-urban areas which led to a progressive transformation of peri-urban landscapes, and the reduced ability of agriculture to provide ecosystem services. In order to understand the complex relationships established in peri-urban areas between reference urban centre, urban services (US) and ecosystem services (ES), with particular attention to the landscape, a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) was carried out in the transitional peri-urban areas of six municipalities located near the city of Perugia (Italy). The two main goals of this study are analysing the effect of the presence of US and ES on the demand for housing, and exploring the implications in terms of peri-urban land use policy. The results highlight that the availability of some ES can have a significant impact on choice of housing location.

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Re-Naturing the City: Linking Urban Political Ecology and Cultural Ecosystem Services

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13041786 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 1786

Author(s):

Antonella Pietta ◽

Marco Tononi

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Political Ecology ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Environmental Planning ◽

Local Population ◽

Urban Landscapes ◽

Cultural Ecosystem Services ◽

Degraded Land ◽

Urban Political Ecology ◽

The City

In the last few decades European industrial cities have experienced major transformations which have implied the need to rethink the role of nature. Re-naturing the city, reconnecting urban planning and nature and enhancing sustainability, means taking into account ecosystems and biodiversity through a social approach to nature which reconsiders nature as a social product and re-examines city–nature relationships, the way Urban Political Ecology (UPE) suggests. This paper focuses on the Brescia Quarry Park, a suburban space that until just a few years ago was characterized by mining activities. This area has now been transformed into a re-naturalized area and is projected to become one of Europe’s largest re-naturalized protected urban areas. These transformations are signs of a profound change in the urban metabolism. In fact, the community has struggled for many years for the recognition of the value of the area in ecological and cultural terms. Therefore, an approach was adopted based on Urban Political Ecology, which is useful to study how the socio–natural relationships change and how an exploited and degraded land can become a relevant natural area from the local community’s point of view. This approach also allowed us to study conflicts due to unequal power relations and strategies developed by the community to reduce these conflicts. Particular interest was given to the participatory processes which have driven these transformations and to the role played by the different actors involved through top-down and bottom-up approaches. So, we decided to combine UPE and participatory action research—PAR and create a participatory map of the Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) in the Park. Attention was given to understanding the practices of the stakeholders and benefits for the community. This involvement allowed us to represent the complexity of the re-naturalized urban landscape which was analyzed through the changes in natural, urban and rural features that emerged. During the process, the interaction between citizens and experts was fundamental in co-producing an analysis of the placemaking of urban landscapes and in revealing the socio–ecological interactions of the stakeholders with these places. The results of the mapping process represent a first step towards promoting sustainable environmental planning and management based on the involvement and empowerment of the local population.

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The City of Oslo in Jan Erik Vold’s Poems

Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Philologia ◽

10.24193/subbphilo.2021.1.16 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 66 (1) ◽

pp. 219-230

Author(s):

Raluca-Daniela Duinea

Keyword(s):

Cultural Identity ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Social Criticism ◽

Capital City ◽

Urban Landscapes ◽

Reading Technique ◽

Social Critical ◽

The 1960S ◽

The City ◽

Selection Of

"The City of Oslo in Jan Erik Vold’s Poems. The aim of this paper is to examine, from a cultural and social perspective, the Norwegian urban areas and everyday situations in Jan Erik Vold’s (b. 1939) poems. Our close-reading technique reveals important social aspects, different places and streets, located in the capital city of Norway, Oslo. These urban poems written by the contemporary Norwegian poet Jan Erik Vold contribute to the reconstruction of a new Norwegian cultural identity as it is reflected in a selection of poems taken from Mor Godhjertas glade versjon. Ja (Mother Goodhearted’s Happy Version. Yes, 1968), followed by the poet’s wanderings in the city of Oslo in En som het Abel Ek (One Named Abel Ek, 1988), and concluding with his bitter social criticism in Elg (Moose, 1989) and IKKE. Skillingstrykk fra nittitallet (Not: Broadsides from the Nineties, 1993). Vold’s urban poems emphasise the transition from nyenkle (new simple), friendly and descriptive poems which present closely the city of Oslo on foot, to short, political and social critical poems from the 90s. Thus, it is of great importance to traverse various urban ‘landscapes’ in different periods of time, beginning with the 1960s, followed by the 80s and the 90s. Keywords: Jan Erik Vold, urban poems, social criticism, Norwegian urban areas, the city of Oslo "

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Assessing Urban Ecosystem Services

Handbook of Research on Methods and Tools for Assessing Cultural Landscape Adaptation - Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-4186-8.ch008 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 183-220 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marise Barreiros Horta ◽

Maria Inês Cabral ◽

Iva Pires ◽

Laura Salles Bachi ◽

Ana Luz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Landscape Planning ◽

Urban Ecosystem ◽

Urban Landscapes ◽

Data Set ◽

Potential Benefits ◽

Political Dimensions ◽

Belo Horizonte ◽

Economic Perspectives

By integrating social, ecological, and economic perspectives, the assessment of ecosystem services (ES) provides valuable information for better targeting landscape planning and governance. This chapter summarizes different participatory approaches for assessing ES in urban areas of three countries. In Belo Horizonte (Brazil), a conceptual framework for the vacant lots ES assessment is presented as an attempt to integrate landscape, social, and political dimensions. In Leipzig (Germany), a combination of site surveys, interviews, and remote sensing provides a valuable data set that fostered a comparative study between two forms of urban gardening. In Lisbon (Portugal), the study is based on interviews that offer a social insight into the horticultural parks situation, which in turn demands a better dialogue with the municipality. In general, the studies demonstrate the potential benefits of utilizing the ES assessment approaches on urban landscapes, especially for better understanding the interactions between people and nature in urban sites.

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Periurbanization and conservation pressures over remnants of native vegetation: impact on ecosystem services for a Latin-American capital city

Change and Adaptation in Socio-Ecological Systems ◽

10.1515/cass-2018-0003 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 21-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Francisco de la Barrera ◽

Cristián Henríquez ◽

Fanny Coulombié ◽

Cynnamon Dobbs ◽

Alejando Salazar

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Latin American ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Urban Expansion ◽

Capital City ◽

Local Climate ◽

Urban Green Spaces ◽

Vegetation Impact ◽

Development Alternatives ◽

The City

Abstract Urban expansion in Latin-American cities is faster than urban planning. In order to implement sustainable planning the capacity of peri-urban areas to provide ecosystem services must be evaluated in the context of competing urbanization and conservation pressures. In this study we analyzed the effect of urban expansion on peri-urban vegetation of the Metropolitan Area of Santiago and what ecosystem services are provided by El Panul, land rich in biodiversity embedded in the fringe of the city. The city has lost vegetation while urbanized areas grow. Under this context, we evaluated the multi-functionality of El Panul through the quantification of three ecosystem services (ES): sense of place through the interviews of 60 residents, recreation via GIS analyses, and local climate regulation determined with air temperature measurements. El Panul increased the provision of urban green spaces, where inhabitants recognize and appreciate ES, and it plays a significant role in mitigating the urban heat island on summer nights. ES have emerged as a concept and framework for evaluating competing urban development alternatives.

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Evaluation of the Cost of Ecosystem Services of Urban Landscapes (by the Example of Moscow)

Eurasian Soil Science ◽

10.1134/s1064229321120103 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 54 (12) ◽

pp. 1975-1986

Author(s):

O. V. Semenyuk ◽

G. V. Stoma ◽

K. S. Bodrov

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Chemical Elements ◽

Genetic Material ◽

Economic Assessment ◽

Cost Calculation ◽

Urban Landscapes ◽

Ecological State ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Cost

Abstract— The cost of park-recreational, residential, and residential-transport urban landscapes of Moscow has been estimated taking into account land use and the relationships between ecosystem services and ecological functions and properties of individual landscape components. On the basis of the methodology previously proposed by the authors, a wide range of ecosystem services of urban landscapes, mainly associated with soils and their ecological state, has been assessed. The cost of ecosystem services provided by the soil in urban landscapes is 20–30 times higher in comparison with that of green spaces, and some soil services can be considered invaluable because of the difficulty of renewing this natural resource. The cost of ecosystem services of undisturbed soils of park and recreational landscapes is 1.5–2 times higher than that of anthropogenically transformed soils of residential and residential-transport urban territories. The main contribution to the overall cost of ecosystem services of soils in urban landscapes is due to the following services: carbon sequestration, preservation of the genetic material of biota, and filtration and accumulation of chemical elements in the ecosystem. These services can be considered as promising in the monetization of ecosystem services in urban landscapes. The decline in the cost of ecosystem services from park and recreational landscapes to residential and residential-transport landscapes is largely determined by the deterioration of the ecological state of soils. The benefits provided by the natural block of landscapes are comparable to or greater than those of the cultural (human-created) block. In relation to the all-Russia assessment of ecosystem services, a specific feature of urban areas is a significant share (on average, 25%) of the cultural block in the total cost of ecosystem services and a decrease in the cost of regulatory services by about 30%. The results of the economic assessment of ecosystem services of urban landscapes indicate an underestimation of the value of natural components, a significant contribution of soil to the natural block, the need to search for simplified integral indicators of its state, and the presence of cost calculation problems. The methodological approaches and provisional results of this study can be used in urban planning with the aim to preserve the soil cover of urban landscapes and optimize their functioning.

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LANDSCAPE APPROACH IN CITY-PLANNING

South of Russia ecology development ◽

10.18470/1992-1098-2018-3-71-82 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 71-82 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Boris I. Kochurov ◽

Yulia A. Khaziakhmetova ◽

Irina V. Ivashkina ◽

Ekaterina A. Sukmanova

Keyword(s):

Urban Planning ◽

Urban Space ◽

Urban Areas ◽

City Planning ◽

Planning System ◽

Urban Landscapes ◽

Landscape Approach ◽

Visual Research Methods ◽

Architectural Styles ◽

The City

Aim. The aim is to justify the application of the landscape approach in urban planning on the basis of theoretical concepts of landscape studies and the requirements of urban planning practices. Discussion. The basic scheme of the landscape approach is to study the natural and anthropogenic landscape as a complex geosystem consisting of a complex of various components which form the planning structure of the city. In territorial and urban planning, the structure and properties of natural and urban landscapes are revealed using functional, historical-genetic, morphotypic, geo-ecological and visual research methods. Abroad, a similar trend is called "landscape urbanism", the theoretical basis of which is based on the understanding that the best option for the organization of urban areas should be based on the landscape features of the city. With the use of the above-mentioned approaches, an urban landscape approach is being formed, a new nature-urban planning system which, in addition to natural complexes, includes man-made structures: buildings, infrastructure, parks and squares. If the natural landscape is a self-regulating geo-system, then the urban one is controlled by man. When taking actions to transform natural landscapes should be taken into account their structure and functioning, as well as the limits of possible impacts and the likely consequences of these changes. Conclusion. The demand for a landscape approach is constantly growing as a result of the significant transformation of modern cities, the replacement of architectural styles, the growth of urban space and communications, the desire to improve the quality of the urban environment and the comfort of the urban population.

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Village Level Provisioning Ecosystem Services and Their Values to Local Communities in the Peri-Urban Areas of Manila, The Philippines

Land ◽

10.3390/land8120177 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. 177 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shamik Chakraborty ◽

Ram Avtar ◽

Raveena Raj ◽

Huynh Vuong Thu Minh

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Urban Areas ◽

The Philippines ◽

Urban Landscapes ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Local Livelihoods ◽

Provisioning Ecosystem Services ◽

Laguna De Bay ◽

Special District ◽

Provisioning Services

This study investigates different provisioning services in the peri-urban landscapes of Manila conurbation through a case study of two villages in the Jala-Jala municipality of the Laguna de Bay area in the Philippines. Laguna de Bay is an ecologically productive and important watershed for the urban and peri-urban areas of Manila for the provision of food, freshwater, and other materials. However, the lake and its ecosystem are under threat because of rapid urbanization and associated land-use changes. This study is based on a semi-quantitative survey conducted with 90 households in two villages: Special District and Paalaman. It was aimed to capture how provisioning services in the locality are connected with local livelihoods. The results obtained from the study suggest that landscapes in this peri-urban area still has considerable provisioning ecosystem services associated with local biodiversity and that this dependence on provisioning services and their relationship to peri-urban landscapes and biodiversity should be addressed for sustainable landscape management. The results have important implications for the conservation potential of biodiversity on which local livelihoods depend, in urban and peri-urban ecosystems.

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A Spatial Ecosystem Services Assessment to Support Decision and Policy Making: The Case of the City of Bologna

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13052787 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 2787

Author(s):

Francesca Vignoli ◽

Claudia de Luca ◽

Simona Tondelli

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Supply And Demand ◽

Rapid Assessment ◽

Open Data ◽

Canopy Cover ◽

Tree Canopy ◽

Tree Canopy Cover ◽

The City

In recent years, both mapping and assessing urban Ecosystem Services (ESs) to support urban planning has been a topic of great debate. This work aims at contributing to this discussion by developing and testing a methodological approach to first assess and map supply and demand of ESs, and then identify areas of priority of intervention. Starting from the existing models, the work develops a tailored approach to map and assess three ESs (water retention and runoff, PM10 removal, and carbon sequestration and storage) that are tested in the city of Bologna and tailored according to available open data. All data are processed in a GIS environment to allow for spatial distribution and visualization of ESs. These maps facilitate defining supply and demands and, consequently, the presence and distribution of ESs deficiencies. Building on mismatches, this paper proposes four clusters by grouping the city’s districts based on predominant land use (built-up, green urban areas) and tree canopy cover. This classification enabled the identification of intervention priority areas and suggestions of relevant nature-based solutions (NBS) to be implemented. The proposed method can serve other urban areas to perform a rapid assessment of their current needs and challenges in terms of ES provision.

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Ecosystem Services Provided By Urban Forests In The Southern Caucasus Region: A Modeling Study In Tbilisi, Georgia

10.21203/rs.3.rs-558010/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Levan Alpaidze ◽

Rocco Pace

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Tree Species ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Urban Forests ◽

Living Environment ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Species Selection ◽

Water Runoff ◽

Southern Caucasus ◽

The City

Abstract BackgroundAll cities globally are growing considerably as they are experiencing an intensive urbanization process resulting in significant economic, social, and environmental challenges. One of the major risks is the deterioration of living environment in urban areas due to the high soil consumption and pollution of environmental components. For this reason, cities are required to adopt measures to reduce air pollution concentration and CO2 emissions, preserve biodiversity and mitigate the urban heat island effect. In this context, tree planting has been suggested as one cost-effective strategy because green infrastructures can provide important environmental and social functions which contribute to the quality of life and health of city dwellers.Tbilisi is the largest city in Georgia, with a population of over 1,100,000 inhabitants (about 30% of total population of Georgia). The green space availability in Tbilisi (5-6 m2 per inhabitant) is low compared to other European cities, and in recent years the need to increase the amount of urban vegetation has been underlined at planning level.ResultsIn our study, we implemented for the first time in an Eastern European city the i-Tree Eco model to quantify the main ecosystem services from common tree species in Southern Caucasus. Two parks, Expo Park (694 trees) and Red Park (1027 trees) in the city of Tbilisi have been measured and a model simulation was performed for the year 2018. These urban forests store large amounts of carbon in their woody tissues (198.4 t for Expo park and 126.5 t for Red park) and each year they remove 4.6 and 4.7 t of CO2 for Expo park and Red park. They also positively contribute to the air quality by removing 119.6 and 90.3 kg of pollutants (CO, NO2, O3, PM2.5, SO2), and reducing water runoff of 269.5 and 200.5 m3, respectively.Conclusions This analysis highlighted the key role of urban forests in improving the environmental sustainability of the city of Tbilisi and provides important decision support for the tree species selection in this geographic area with the aim of maximizing the benefits trees can supply to cities.

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