Pollinator gardens more than triple in visitation rate and diversity of flower-visiting insects than other ornamental plantings in Kingston, Ontario

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marika Vogelzang
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
The Other ◽  
Individual Plant ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Pollinator Visitation ◽  
Visitation Rate ◽  
Queen's University ◽  
Flower Visiting ◽  
Pollinator Populations

In this study I determined the effectiveness of pollinator gardens by testing if visitation rate and diversity of flower-visiting insects is higher in pollinator gardens compared to other ornamental plantings. I observed pollinator visitation for individual plant taxa, per unit area, in three different pollinator gardens, eight ornamental gardens and eight ornamental planters on the Queen’s University campus in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Visitation was about 4- times higher in pollinator gardens compared to the other two ornamental garden types and visitor richness (the number of types of pollinators) in pollinator gardens was about 6- times higher compared to ornamental gardens, and about 3- times higher compared toornamental planters. The results of this study conclude that the planting of pollinator gardens is an effective way of supporting pollinator populations in urban areas.

scholarly journals Native and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (Cucurbita maxima)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjana Pisharody Unni ◽  
Sajad Hussain Mir ◽  
T. P. Rajesh ◽  
U. Prashanth Ballullaya ◽  
Thomas Jose ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Interference Competition ◽  
Pollination Syndrome ◽  
Cucurbita Maxima ◽  
Invasive Ants ◽  
Pollinator Visitation ◽  
Pollinator Decline ◽  
Visitation Rate ◽  
Flower Visiting ◽  
Plant Pollinator

AbstractGlobal pollinator decline is a major concern. Several factors—climate change, land-use change, the reduction of flowers, pesticide use, and invasive species—have been suggested as the reasons. Despite being a potential reason, the effect of ants on flowers received less attention. The consequences of ants being attracted to nectar sources in plants vary depending upon factors like the nectar source's position, ants' identity, and other mutualists interacting with the plants. We studied the interaction between flower-visiting ants and pollinators in Cucurbita maxima and compared the competition exerted by native and invasive ants on its pollinators to examine the hypothesis that the invasive ants exacerbate more interference competition to pollinators than the native ants. We assessed the pollinator's choice, visitation rate, and time spent/visit on the flowers. Regardless of species and nativity, ants negatively influenced all the pollinator visitation traits, such as visitation rate and duration spent on flowers. The invasive ants exerted a higher interference competition on the pollinators than the native ants did. Despite performing pollination in flowers with generalist pollination syndrome, ants can threaten plant-pollinator mutualism in specialist plants like monoecious plants. A better understanding of factors influencing pollination will help in implementing better management practices.

scholarly journals InSAR Multitemporal Data over Persistent Scatterers to Detect Floodwater in Urban Areas: A Case Study in Beletweyne, Somalia

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Luca Pulvirenti ◽  
Marco Chini ◽  
Nazzareno Pierdicca
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The Other ◽  
Spatial Average ◽  
Calibration Data ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Persistent Scatterers ◽  
Optical Images ◽  
Interferometric Phase ◽  
Multitemporal Data

A stack of Sentinel-1 InSAR data in an urban area where flood events recurrently occur, namely Beletweyne town in Somalia, has been analyzed. From this analysis, a novel method to deal with the problem of flood mapping in urban areas has been derived. The approach assumes the availability of a map of persistent scatterers (PSs) inside the urban settlement and is based on the analysis of the temporal trend of the InSAR coherence and the spatial average of the exponential of the InSAR phase in each PS. Both interferometric products are expected to have high and stable values in the PSs; therefore, anomalous decreases may indicate that floodwater is present in an urban area. The stack of Sentinel-1 data has been divided into two subsets. The first one has been used as a calibration set to identify the PSs and determine, for each PS, reference values of the coherence and the spatial average of the exponential of the interferometric phase under standard non-flooded conditions. The other subset has been used for validation purposes. Flood maps produced by UNOSAT, analyzing very-high-resolution optical images of the floods that occurred in Beletweyne in April–May 2018, October–November 2019, and April–May 2020, have been used as reference data. In particular, the map of the April–May 2018 flood has been used for training purposes together with the subset of Sentinel-1 calibration data, whilst the other two maps have been used to validate the products generated by applying the proposed method. The main product is a binary map of flooded PSs that complements the floodwater map of rural/suburban areas produced by applying a well-consolidated algorithm based on intensity data. In addition, a flood severity map that labels the different districts of Beletweyne, as not, partially, or totally flooded has been generated to consolidate the validation. The results have confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method.

scholarly journals Is the Green Wave Really Green? The Risks of Rebound Effects When Implementing “Green” Policies

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5411
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Bloder ◽  
Georg Jäger
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The Other ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Traffic Lights ◽  
Traffic System ◽  
Rebound Effects ◽  
Car Use ◽  
Reduce Emissions

Traffic and transportation are main contributors to the global CO2 emissions and resulting climate change. Especially in urban areas, traffic flow is not optimal and thus offers possibilities to reduce emissions. The concept of a Green Wave, i.e., the coordinated switching of traffic lights in order to favor a single direction and reduce congestion, is often discussed as a simple mechanism to avoid breaking and accelerating, thereby reducing fuel consumption. On the other hand, making car use more attractive might also increase emissions. In this study, we use an agent-based model to investigate the benefit of a Green Wave in order to find out whether it can outweigh the effects of increased car use. We find that although the Green Wave has the potential to reduce emissions, there is also a high risk of heaving a net increase in emissions, depending on the specifics of the traffic system.

Architectural Design and Physical Activity: An Observational Study of Staircase and Elevator Use in Different Buildings

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Bassett ◽  
Ray Browning ◽  
Scott A. Conger ◽  
Dana L. Wolff ◽  
Jennifer I. Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Observational Study ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Commercial Buildings ◽  
The Other ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
The Way

Background:The indoor built environment has the potential to influence levels of physical activity. However, the extent to which architectural design in commercial buildings can influence the percentage of people choosing to use the stairs versus elevators is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine if buildings with centrally located, accessible, and aesthetically pleasing staircases result in a greater percentage of people taking the stairs.Methods:Direct observations of stair and elevator use were conducted in 3 buildings on a university campus. One of the buildings had a bank of 4 centrally located elevators and a fire escape stairwell behind a steel door. The other 2 buildings had centrally located staircases and out-of-the-way elevators.Results:The percentage of people who ascended the stairs was 8.1% in the elevator-centric building, compared with 72.8% and 81.1% in the 2 stair-centric buildings (P < .001). In addition, the percentage of people who descended the stairs was 10.8% in the first building, compared with 89.5% and 93.7% in the stair-centric buildings (P < .001).Conclusions:The results of the current study suggest that if buildings are constructed with centrally located, accessible, and aesthetically pleasing staircases, a greater percentage of people will choose to take the stairs.

A comparison of flower-visiting insects to rare Symphyotrichum sericeum and common Solidago nemoralis (Asteraceae)

Botany ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Bizecki Robson
Keyword(s):  
Seed Set ◽  
Visitation Rate ◽  
Hand Pollination ◽  
Insect Visitation ◽  
The Common ◽  
Insect Activity ◽  
Flower Visiting ◽  
Common Plant ◽  
Insect Visitors ◽  
Over Time

Flower-visiting insect activity to the rare Symphyotrichum sericeum (Vent.) G.L. Nesom and the common Solidago nemoralis Ait. var. longipetiolata (Mack. & Bush) Pal. & Steyerm. was examined to detect compositional and temporal similarities. A hand pollination experiment was conducted to determine whether pollen was limiting seed set. Of the 31 insect taxa that visited these plants, Bombus bifarius Cresson was the most common visitor to both species. More insect visitors of the Halictidae and Bombyliidae were received by S. sericeum than S. nemoralis, which received more visitors of the Syrphidae and Tachinidae. The insect visitation rate was not significantly different between the two plant species. Solidago nemoralis was visited by fewer insect taxa per day than S. sericeum, but the constancy of its visitors was higher. The insect visitor composition changed over time, with B. bifarius ignoring S. sericeum plants initially, then visiting them more frequently as the number of receptive S. nemoralis capitula declined. Hand pollination increased seed set in the earliest flowering capitula of S. sericeum, but not for those flowering during the peak. This research shows that the quantity of insect visits to the rare plant is comparable with that of the common plant but that pollination quality may be lower, particularly for early blooming capitula.

scholarly journals The history and characteristics of the 1980–2005 Portuguese rural fire database

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3343-3358 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Pereira ◽  
B. D. Malamud ◽  
R. M. Trigo ◽  
P. I. Alves
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Minimum Area ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
Forested Areas ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Burnt Areas

Abstract. We focus here on a mainland Continental Portuguese Rural Fire Database (PRFD) that includes 450 000 fires, the largest such database in Europe in terms of total number of recorded fires in the 1980–2005 period. In this work, we (a) list the most important factors for triggering and controlling the fire regime in mainland Continental Portugal, (b) describe the dataset's production, (c) discuss procedures adopted to identify and correct different fire data inconsistencies, creating a modified PRFD which we use here and make available as Supplement, (d) explore some basic temporal and completeness properties of the data. We find that the dataset's minimum measured burnt areas have changed with time between AF = 0.1 ha (1980–1990), AF = 0.01 ha (1991–1992), and AF = 0.001 ha (1992–2005), with varying degrees of completeness down to these values. These changes in minimum area measured are responsible for greater numbers of fires being recorded. A relatively small number of large fires in the PRFD are responsible for the majority of the burnt area. For example, fires with AF > 100 ha represent about 1% of all fire records but 75% of total burnt area. Finally, we consider for each Continental Portugal district and for the 26-yr period, the total number of rural fires and area burnt in forests and shrublands, each normalized by district areas. We find that the highest numbers of fires per unit area are in highly populated districts, and that the largest fraction of burnt area is in forested areas, coinciding with large parcels of continuous forests (predominantly rural and moderately urban areas).

scholarly journals Recover and They’ll Come: Flower Visiting Bees Benefit from the Continuous of Micro-Environments Set by Regenerating Forest Fragments

Sociobiology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 5861
Author(s):  
Ana Isabel Sobreiro ◽  
Lucas Lopes da Silveira Peres ◽  
Jessica Amaral Henrique ◽  
Rosilda Mara Mussury ◽  
Valter Vieira Alves-Junior
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Agricultural Activity ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Continuous Forest ◽  
Flower Visiting ◽  
Bee Communities ◽  
Forest Habitats

Forest habitats are important sources of food and nesting resources for pollinators, primarily in urban areas and landscapes with intense agricultural activity. The forest fragmentation and environmental changes occurring in these green refuges are known to impose survival challenges to pollinating bees, leading to species loss. However, it is not well known how the species of bees that visit flowers are distributed in forest micro-environments. To fill this gap, we sampled flower visiting bees in a continuous forest matrix with micro-environments of two forest types (mature and regenerating forest). We examined how the local environmental changes and climatic conditions affect the composition and uniformity of bee communities in the different micro-environments. Our results indicated that both abundance and richness were similar between forest types studied here, however climatic conditions and plant flowering patterns affect the composition of bees. Thus, our results demonstrated that the continuous micro-environments can favor floral visits and the reintegration of bee communities, and still, that this strategy can be used to minimize the impacts of environmental changes at local scales.

Introduction

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Bramadat
Keyword(s):  
Young Woman ◽  
The Other ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Present Book ◽  
Christian Fellowship ◽  
Conservative Protestantism ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City ◽  
Sunday Evening

One warm Sunday evening in September 1993, I found myself walking aimlessly around the McMaster University campus. Earlier the same week, I had seen a poster advertising “Church at the John,” an event organized by the McMaster chapter of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF). Since I was academically interested in conservative Protestantism, and since at that point I knew no one in the city, I decided, for lack of other options, to attend this meeting. What I found there fell completely outside my expectations, prompted an elaborate series of questions, and ultimately resulted in the present book. Since I assumed that the meeting would be small, I worried that being ten minutes late might draw unwanted attention to my presence. As I descended the stairs of the Downstairs John (or simply “the John”), McMaster’s largest student bar, I could hear the noises of a large group of people. I thought I might have misread the poster a few days earlier; when I entered the bustling room, I was virtually certain I had. Except for the well-lit stage at one end of the room, the John was dark, and almost six hundred people were crowded into a space designed for no more than four hundred and fifty. The room was narrow and long, with a low stage at one end, pool tables at the opposite end, and a bar along the side of the room. People were standing and sitting in the aisles, on the bar, and against the walls beneath the bikini-clad models and slogans that festooned the neon beer signs. I discreetly asked one person who was standing against the wall if this was the right room for the IVCF meeting, and he replied that it was. I looked at him more intently to determine if he was joking, but he just smiled at me politely and bowed his head. After a few confusing moments, I realized he was praying. I turned away from him and noticed that all the other people in the room had bowed their heads in a prayer being led by a demure young woman on the stage.

scholarly journals CIM-Powered Multi-Hazard Simulation Framework Covering both Individual Buildings and Urban Areas

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 5059
Author(s):  
Xinzheng Lu ◽  
Donglian Gu ◽  
Zhen Xu ◽  
Chen Xiong ◽  
Yuan Tian
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Hazard Analysis ◽  
Practical Method ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Simulation Framework ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Scientific Simulations ◽  
Improve Analysis ◽  
Disaster Scenario

To improve the ability to prepare for and adapt to potential hazards in a city, efforts are being invested in evaluating the performance of the built environment under multiple hazard conditions. An integrated physics-based multi-hazard simulation framework covering both individual buildings and urban areas can help improve analysis efficiency and is significant for urban planning and emergency management activities. Therefore, a city information model-powered multi-hazard simulation framework is proposed considering three types of hazards (i.e., earthquake, fire, and wind hazards). The proposed framework consists of three modules: (1) data transformation, (2) physics-based hazard analysis, and (3) high-fidelity visualization. Three advantages are highlighted: (1) the database with multi-scale models is capable of meeting the various demands of stakeholders, (2) hazard analyses are all based on physics-based models, leading to rational and scientific simulations, and (3) high-fidelity visualization can help non-professional users better understand the disaster scenario. A case study of the Tsinghua University campus is performed. The results indicate the proposed framework is a practical method for multi-hazard simulations of both individual buildings and urban areas and has great potential in helping stakeholders to assess and recognize the risks faced by important buildings or the whole city.

scholarly journals Diversity and Morphometry of Chiropteran Fauna in Jahangirnagar University Campus, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-212
Author(s):  
Anik Saha ◽  
Md Kamrul Hasan ◽  
Mohammed Mostafa Feeroz
Keyword(s):  
Body Length ◽  
The Other ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Morphometric Measurements ◽  
Morphological Studies ◽  
Pipistrellus Pipistrellus ◽  
Cranial Measurements ◽  
Suitable Habitats ◽  
First Time ◽  
Flying Fox

The study was conducted to know the diversity of Chiropterans as well as their status and morphometric measurements in Jahangirnagar University campus between July, 2014 and April, 2015. Eight species of bats from three families were identified where Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) and Pouch Tomb Bat (Saccolaimus saccolaimus) were recorded for the first time in Bangladesh. A total of 31bat individuals of 8 species were captured during 15 netting nights for morphological studies. Skull preparation was carried out for taking cranial measurements to identify the Pipistrelle species. No roosting colony of Pteropus gigantius was found in the study area but it visits the area only for foraging while the other species roost permanently. The old buildings in the study area provide suitable habitats for a significant number of insectivore bats. Indian Flying Fox (Pteropus gigantius) was the largest (mean head body length 23.33±1.86cm) and Least Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus tenuis) was the smallest (mean head body length 39.45±1.66 mm) species observed from the study area.Bangladesh J. Zool. 43(2): 201-212, 2015

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