scholarly journals Urbanization and Human Population Favor Species Richness of Alien Birds

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Maria Lazarina ◽  
Mariana A. Tsianou ◽  
Georgios Boutsis ◽  
Aristi Andrikou-Charitidou ◽  
Elpida Karadimou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Generalized Additive Models ◽  
Additive Models ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Native Species Richness

Human activities like urbanization and agriculture affect spatial biodiversity patterns. The presence and activities of humans richly benefit alien species, but native species usually decline in human-impacted areas. Considering that the richness of alien and native species are inter-related, we explored the effect of human population density, human-related land uses (agricultural and urban), and natural land area on avian (alien and native) species richness of Massachusetts for two time periods using Generalized Additive Models. Avian alien species richness increased with native species richness in both time periods. Despite the predominant role of native species richness as a major driver of alien species richness, human activities play an important additional role in shaping species richness patterns of established aliens. Human-related land uses (urban and agricultural) and human population favored alien species richness in both time periods. Counter to expectations, human activities were also positively associated to native avian species richness. Possible explanations of these patterns may include habitat heterogeneity, increased availability of resources, and reduced predation risk.

scholarly journals Human plague system associated with rodent diversity and other environmental factors

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 190216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Sun ◽  
Lei Xu ◽  
Boris V. Schmid ◽  
Katharine R. Dean ◽  
Zhibin Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Transportation Network ◽  
Generalized Additive Models ◽  
Additive Models ◽  
Host Diversity ◽  
The Third ◽  
Natural Foci

Plague remains a threat to public health and is considered as a re-emerging infectious disease today. Rodents play an important role as major hosts in plague persistence and driving plague outbreaks in natural foci; however, few studies have tested the association between host diversity in ecosystems and human plague risk. Here we use zero-inflated generalized additive models to examine the association of species richness with human plague presence (where plague outbreaks could occur) and intensity (the average number of annual human cases when they occurred) in China during the Third Pandemic. We also account for transportation network density, annual precipitation levels and human population size. We found rodent species richness, particularly of rodent plague hosts, is positively associated with the presence of human plague. Further investigation shows that species richness of both wild and commensal rodent plague hosts are positively correlated with the presence, but only the latter correlated with the intensity. Our results indicated a positive relationship between rodent diversity and human plague, which may provide suggestions for the plague surveillance system.

scholarly journals Impacts of alien plant invasions on species richness in Mediterranean-type ecosystems: a meta-analysis

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirijam Gaertner ◽  
Alana Den Breeyen ◽  
Cang Hui ◽  
David M. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Growth Forms ◽  
Alien Plant ◽  
Native Species Richness ◽  
Mediterranean Type Ecosystems

Besides a general consensus regarding the negative impact of invasive alien species in the literature, only recently has the decline of native species attributable to biological invasions begun to be quantified in many parts of the world. The cause-effect relationship between the establishment and proliferation of alien species and the extinction of native species is, however, seldom demonstrated. We conducted a meta-analysis of studies in Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) to examine: (1) whether invasion of alien plant species indeed causes a reduction in the number of native plant species at different spatial and temporal scales; (2) which growth forms, habitat types and areas are most affected by invasions; and (3) which taxa are most responsible for native species richness declines. Our results confirm a significant decline in native species richness attributable to alien invasions. Studies conducted at small scales or sampled over long periods reveal stronger impacts of alien invasion than those at large spatial scales and over short periods. Alien species from regions with similar climates have much stronger impacts, with the native species richness in South Africa and Australia declining significantly more post-invasion than for European sites. Australian Acacia species in South Africa accounted for the most significant declines in native species richness. Among the different growth forms of alien plants, annual herbs, trees and creepers had the greatest impact, whereas graminoids generally caused insignificant changes to the native community. Native species richness of shrublands, old fields and dune vegetation showed significant declines, in contrast to insignificant declines for forest habitats.

Native plant species richness on Eastern Polynesia’s remote atolls

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Larrue ◽  
Jean-François Butaud ◽  
Pascal Dumas ◽  
Stéphane Ballet
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Volcanic Island ◽  
Native Plant Species ◽  
Native Species Richness

Which abiotic factors influence the number of native plant species on remote atolls is an important question to understand better the spatial pattern of the species observed on these low and vulnerable coral islands. However, this issue is still very poorly documented, often due to human degradation, partial botanical surveys or the difficult geographic access of remote atolls for researchers. The remote atolls of Eastern Polynesia, which are among the most isolated in the world, are of great interest for studies of native species’ distribution due to their isolation, low human density and urbanisation. In this study, we selected 49 remote atolls of Eastern Polynesia with complete botanical surveys to test the relative influence of eight abiotic factors on native plant species richness (i.e. indigenous and endemic species). Abiotic factors used as potential predictors included atoll area (km2), shoreline length (km), atoll elevation (m) and index of isolation (UNEP), but also the coastal index of the atoll ( Ic), the distance to the nearest similar atoll (km), the distance to the nearest large volcanic island ≥ 1000 km2 (here, Tahiti as a potential stepping-stone island) and the distance to the nearest raised atoll ≥ 15 m a.s.l. (here, Makatea or Henderson as a potential refugium during sea-level highstands). Spearman’s rank correlation, linear regression analysis and frequency diagrams were used to assess the relative influence of these factors on native species richness. No relationship was found between the species richness and the index of isolation or the distance to the nearest similar atoll. Atoll area and distance to the nearest raised atoll of Makatea explained 47.1% and 40%, respectively, of the native species richness variation observed on the remote atolls. The distance to the volcanic island of Tahiti and the coastal index explained 36.9% and 27.3% of the variation, while elevation and shoreline length explained 23.3% and 18.4% of the variation, respectively. Native species richness on the atolls surveyed increased with the increasing atoll area, elevation and shoreline length, but decreased with the increasing distance to the nearest raised atoll of Makatea and the large volcanic island of Tahiti. This supports the view that the spatial pattern of native species richness observed on the remote atolls was strongly influenced by (i) atoll area but also by (ii) the distance to the raised atoll of Makatea, and (iii) the distance to the volcanic island of Tahiti. This finding suggests that the raised atoll may be viewed as a refugium during sea-level highstands while the large volcanic island played the role of stepping-stone island, both islands influencing the dispersal of native species on remote atolls and attenuating the isolation effect in the study area.

Human population density explains alien species richness in protected areas

2013 ◽  
Vol 159 ◽  
pp. 137-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dian Spear ◽  
Llewellyn C. Foxcroft ◽  
Hugo Bezuidenhout ◽  
Melodie A. McGeoch
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Human Population Density

Vegetation change in an urban grassy woodland 1974 - 2000

2004 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 597 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Kirkpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Exotic Species ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Native Species Richness

Few temporal studies document vegetation change in Australian temperate grassy woodlands. Floristic and structural data were collected from 68 randomly located sites in the Queens Domain, an urban grassy woodland remnant, in 1974, 1984, 1994 and 2000 and a search made for rare species. Species of conservation significance were concentrated at highly disturbed sites, whereas vegetation types of conservation significance decreased in area as a result of increases in the numbers of Allocasuarina verticillata, which caused a change in many unmown areas from Eucalyptus viminalis grassy woodland to E. viminalis–A. verticillata woodland/forest or A. verticillata open/closed forest. Structural changes were associated with changes in species composition and an increase in native-species richness. Increases in tree cover occurred where fires were most frequent, possibly as a result of the lack of mammalian herbivores. The frequencies of herbs and annual grasses were strongly affected by precipitation in the month of sampling. Half of the species that showed a consistent rise or fall through time were woody plants, approximately twice the number expected. In the dataset as a whole, species-richness variables were largely explained by varying combinations of variables related to moisture availability, altitude and the incidence of mowing. The strongest influences on species composition were the same, although slope and time since the last fire also contributed to multiple regression and generalised linear models. Compositional stability was positively related to native-species richness, whereas high levels of exotic-species richness occurred at both low and high levels of native-species richness. The maintenance of native-plant biodiversity on the Domain requires such counterintuitive measures as the maintenance of exotic trees and the control of native trees, demonstrating the contingencies of conservation management in fragmented vegetation that consists of a mixture of native and exotic species.

scholarly journals Assessing the relative importance of human and spatial pressures on non-native plant establishment in urban forests using citizen science

NeoBiota ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Katherine Duchesneau ◽  
Lisa Derickx ◽  
Pedro M. Antunes
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forests ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Plant Introductions ◽  
Native Species Richness ◽  
Urban Activities

Since 2007, more people in the world live in urban than in rural areas. The development of urban areas has encroached into natural forest ecosystems, consequently increasing the ecological importance of parks and fragmented forest remnants. However, a major concern is that urban activities have rendered urban forests susceptible to non-native species incursions, making them central entry sites where non-native plant species can establish and spread. We have little understanding of what urban factors contribute to this process. Here we use data collected by citizen scientists to determine the differential impacts of spatial and urban factors on non-native plant introductions in urban forests. Using a model city, we mapped 18 urban forests within city limits, and identified all the native and non-native plants present at those sites. We then determined the relative contribution of spatial and socioeconomic variables on the richness and composition of native and non-native plant communities. We found that socioeconomic factors rather than spatial factors (e.g., urban forest area) were important modulators of overall or non-native species richness. Non-native species richness in urban forest fragments was primarily affected by residential layout, recent construction events, and nearby roads. This demonstrates that the proliferation of non-native species is inherent to urban activities and we propose that future studies replicate our approach in different cities to broaden our understanding of the spatial and social factors that modulate invasive species movement starting in urban areas.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document