Bird Diversity Unconsciously Increases People’s Satisfaction with Where They Live

There is growing evidence that exposure to nature increases human well-being, including in urban areas. However, relatively few studies have linked subjective satisfaction to objective features of the environment. In this study we explore the links among objective environmental features (tree cover, water, and bird diversity) and subjective judgements of satisfaction. We surveyed residents of Ottawa, Canada (n = 1035) about their satisfaction with their local neighbourhoods. We then compared the survey responses to measures of nature near their homes, including bird diversity (number of bird species), tree canopy cover, and distance to water. After controlling for effects of income and subjective happiness, residents’ neighbourhood satisfaction was positively related to the number of bird species nearby, even before participants were prompted to consider nature. Residents’ appreciation of their local neigbourhood relative to others also increased with tree canopy cover and nearness to water. Unsolicited comments from participants following the survey indicated that while residents consciously appreciate trees and water, the relationship between bird diversity and neighbourhood satisfaction appears to be unconscious; very few of the participants mentioned birds. Based on these results, we speculate that a diverse local bird community may provoke feelings of satisfaction through their presence, activity, and songs. Our results create a compelling argument for city planners and individual residents to maintain bird-friendly spaces in urban areas.

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Diversity of Medicinal Plants among Different Tree Canopies

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13052640 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 2640

Author(s):

Muhammad Zubair ◽

Akash Jamil ◽

Syed Bilal Hussain ◽

Ahsan Ul Haq ◽

Ahmad Hussain ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medicinal Plants ◽

Coniferous Forest ◽

Canopy Cover ◽

Local Communities ◽

Tree Canopy ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Open Spaces ◽

Floral Diversity ◽

Tree Canopy Cover ◽

Closed Canopy

The moist temperate forests in Northern Pakistan are home to a variety of flora and fauna that are pivotal in sustaining the livelihoods of the local communities. In these forests, distribution and richness of vegetation, especially that of medicinal plants, is rarely reported. In this study, we carried out a vegetation survey in District Balakot, located in Northeastern Pakistan, to characterize the diversity of medicinal plants under different canopies of coniferous forest. The experimental site was divided into three major categories (viz., closed canopy, open spaces, and partial tree cover). A sampling plot of 100 m2 was established on each site to measure species diversity, dominance, and evenness. To observe richness and abundance, the rarefaction and rank abundance curves were plotted. Results revealed that a total of 45 species representing 34 families were available in the study site. Medicinal plants were the most abundant (45%) followed by edible plants (26%). Tree canopy cover affected the overall growth of medicinal plants on the basis of abundance and richness. The site with partial canopy exhibited the highest diversity, dominance, and abundance compared to open spaces and closed canopy. These findings are instrumental in identifying the wealth of the medicinal floral diversity in the northeastern temperate forest of Balakot and the opportunity to sustain the livelihoods of local communities with the help of public/private partnership.

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Making Way for Trees? Changes in Land-Use, Habitats and Protected Areas in Great Britain under “Global Tree Restoration Potential”

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12145845 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (14) ◽

pp. 5845

Author(s):

Martin A. Wilkes ◽

James Bennett ◽

Sara Burbi ◽

Sue Charlesworth ◽

Katharina Dehnen-Schmutz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Great Britain ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Canopy Cover ◽

Tree Canopy ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Substantial Contribution ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Tree Canopy Cover ◽

Restoration Potential

Numerous tree planting initiatives have been launched worldwide, based on the idea that carbon capture by trees can help to limit global warming. A recent study estimated the additional tree canopy cover that could be established given the growing conditions in every square kilometre of land on earth that is not already forested, urbanised, or used for crop production. It reported a total “tree restoration potential” of >900 million ha worldwide and identified hotspots where opportunities for tree planting initiatives may be the greatest. With the potential for an estimated 4.2 million ha of additional canopy cover, one such hotspot is Great Britain. We quantify the extent of habitats, land uses, and protected areas that would be impacted by tree planting on this scale in Great Britain and discuss the potential social–ecological trade-offs involved. Our findings show that realising the “tree restoration potential” would mean a considerable upheaval for the British landscape with 30–50% of ecologically valuable habitats lost and a reduction of 44% in the area of improved grassland. Up to 21% of land protected by law for its ecological, scientific, scenic, or cultural value would be impacted. Importantly, we demonstrate that an alternative approach based on increasing tree canopy cover by up to 20% in urban areas and on cropland could make a substantial contribution to tree planting targets, potentially offsetting losses elsewhere. Such shifts in the structure and function of the British landscape will depend on deep changes in the food system, evidence-based decisions about which existing habitats to protect, and a long-term commitment to tree planting and maintenance.

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Temporal Change Detection Analysis of Monroe County, NY tree cover from 2009 to 2017

10.32942/osf.io/g48pz ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Bacchus ◽

Amanda Walker ◽

Kaitlin Stack Whitney

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Change Detection ◽

Well Being ◽

Tree Canopy ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Monroe County ◽

Change Detection Analysis ◽

Detection Analysis ◽

Tree Canopy Cover

Forests provide many ecosystem services which are enjoyed by nearby residing communities. This includes pollution and flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, oxygen production, food, fuel, education, recreation, and aesthetics. These ecosystem services also come from urban and suburban forests. Urban ecosystems, specifically urban green spaces services have been noted to improve human health significantly. Yet urban forests and ecosystem services have not and are not distributed. Understanding where and when forest cover and green spaces are changing can give insight into corresponding changes in services and access within and between communities. Thus, our objective was to complete a temporal analysis of the tree canopy-cover in the city of Rochester, NY was performed to examine change in tree cover and green spaces from 2009-2017. We did this using three-band orthorectified data; red, green, and blue bands and unsupervised and supervised classifications. A stacked-PCA image was created and applied to the change-detection PCA technique. In running the stack PCA analysis band 3 was found to be indicative of change, highlighting the expansion of agriculture as a major drive of change. The stacked PCA change detection technique determined that 8,448,898,967 tons/ha of vegetation was gained during these two time periods. The attempted NDVI change detection indicated that 1.89089353510 tons/ha of vegetation was gained. The NDVI change detection analysis revealed the most vegetation gains occurring in the rural and suburban regions of Monroe County, NY between 2090 and 2017. Given the many benefits of forests and green spaces for health and well-being, we make recommendations for future researchers attempting this kind of assessment for Monroe County and identify local programs that may be mitigating some of the green space disparities in the county.

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An Assessment of Global Forest Change Datasets for National Forest Monitoring and Reporting

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12111790 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (11) ◽

pp. 1790 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Nikolaos Galiatsatos ◽

Daniel N.M. Donoghue ◽

Pete Watt ◽

Pradeepa Bholanath ◽

Jeffrey Pickering ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Reference Data ◽

Canopy Cover ◽

Tree Canopy ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Forest Loss ◽

National Forest ◽

Forest Change ◽

Tree Canopy Cover ◽

Definition Of ◽

Year 2000

Global Forest Change datasets have the potential to assist countries with national forest measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) requirements. This paper assesses the accuracy of the Global Forest Change data against nationally derived forest change data by comparing the forest loss estimates from the global data with the equivalent data from Guyana for the period 2001–2017. To perform a meaningful comparison between these two datasets, the initial year 2000 forest state needs first to be matched to the definition of forest land cover appropriate to a local national setting. In Guyana, the default definition of 30% tree cover overestimates forest area is by 483,000 ha (18.15%). However, by using a tree canopy cover (i.e., density of tree canopy coverage metric) threshold of 94%, a close match between the Guyana-MRV non-forest area and the Global Forest Change dataset is achieved with a difference of only 24,210 ha (0.91%) between the two maps. A complimentary analysis using a two-stage stratified random sampling design showed the 94% tree canopy cover threshold gave a close correspondence (R2 = 0.98) with the Guyana-MRV data, while the Global Forest Change default setting of 30% tree canopy cover threshold gave a poorer fit (R2 = 0.91). Having aligned the definitions of forest for the Global Forest Change and the Guyana-MRV products for the year 2000, we show that over the period 2001–2017 the Global Forest Change data yielded a 99.34% overall Correspondence with the reference data and a 94.35% Producer’s Accuracy. The Guyana-MRV data yielded a 99.36% overall Correspondence with the reference data and a 95.94% Producer’s Accuracy. A year-by-year analysis of change from 2001–2017 shows that in some years, the Global Forest Change dataset underestimates change, and in other years, such as 2016 and 2017, change is detected that is not forest loss or gain, hence the apparent overestimation. The conclusion is that, when suitably calibrated for percentage tree cover, the Global Forest Change datasets give a good first approximation of forest loss (and, probably, gains). However, in countries with large areas of forest cover and low levels of deforestation, these data should not be relied upon to provide a precise annual loss/gain or rate of change estimate for audit purposes without using independent high-quality reference data.

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Prey abundance and urbanization influence the establishment of avian predators in a metropolitan landscape

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2018.2120 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 285 (1890) ◽

pp. 20182120 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jennifer D. McCabe ◽

He Yin ◽

Jennyffer Cruz ◽

Volker Radeloff ◽

Anna Pidgeon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Wildlife Conservation ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Prey Availability ◽

Canopy Cover ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Tree Canopy ◽

Population Declines ◽

Natural Habitats ◽

Tree Canopy Cover

Urbanization causes the simplification of natural habitats, resulting in animal communities dominated by exotic species with few top predators. In recent years, however, many predators such as hawks, and in the US coyotes and cougars, have become increasingly common in urban environments. Hawks in the Accipiter genus, especially, are recovering from widespread population declines and are increasingly common in urbanizing landscapes. Our goal was to identify factors that determine the occupancy, colonization and persistence of Accipiter hawks in a major metropolitan area. Through a novel combination of citizen science and advanced remote sensing, we quantified how urban features facilitate the dynamics and long-term establishment of Accipiter hawks. Based on data from Project FeederWatch, we quantified 21 years (1996–2016) of changes in the spatio-temporal dynamics of Accipiter hawks in Chicago, IL, USA. Using a multi-season occupancy model, we estimated Cooper's ( Accipiter cooperii ) and sharp-shinned ( A. striatus ) hawk occupancy dynamics as a function of tree canopy cover, impervious surface cover and prey availability. In the late 1990s, hawks occupied 26% of sites around Chicago, but after two decades, their occupancy fluctuated close to 67% of sites and they colonized increasingly urbanized areas. Once established, hawks persisted in areas with high levels of impervious surfaces as long as those areas supported high abundances of prey birds. Urban areas represent increasingly habitable environments for recovering predators, and understanding the precise urban features that drive colonization and persistence is important for wildlife conservation in an urbanizing world.

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Evaluating urban greening scenarios for urban heat mitigation: a spatially explicit approach

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.202174 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

Author(s):

Martí Bosch ◽

Maxence Locatelli ◽

Perrine Hamel ◽

Roy P. Remme ◽

Rémi Jaligot ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Canopy Cover ◽

Well Being ◽

Tree Canopy ◽

Urban Agglomeration ◽

Spatially Explicit ◽

Urban Greening ◽

Urban Green ◽

Tree Canopy Cover ◽

Health And Well Being

Urban green infrastructure, especially trees, are widely regarded as one of the most effective ways to reduce urban temperatures in heatwaves and alleviate the adverse impacts of extreme heat events on human health and well-being. Nevertheless, urban planners and decision-makers are still lacking methods and tools to spatially evaluate the cooling effects of urban green spaces and exploit them to assess greening strategies at the urban agglomeration scale. This article introduces a novel spatially explicit approach to simulate urban greening scenarios by increasing the tree canopy cover in the existing urban fabric and evaluating their heat mitigation potential. The latter is achieved by applying the InVEST urban cooling model to the synthetic land use/land cover maps generated for the greening scenarios. A case study in the urban agglomeration of Lausanne, Switzerland, illustrates the development of tree canopy scenarios following distinct spatial distribution strategies. The spatial pattern of the tree canopy strongly influences the human exposure to the highest temperatures, and small increases in the abundance of tree canopy cover with the appropriate spatial configuration can have major impacts on human health and well-being. The proposed approach supports urban planning and the design of nature-based solutions to enhance climate resilience.

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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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TREE CANOPY COVER MAPPING USING LiDAR IN URBAN BARANGAYS OF CEBU CITY, CENTRAL PHILIPPINES

ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ◽

10.5194/isprs-archives-xli-b8-611-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol XLI-B8 ◽

pp. 611-615

Author(s):

J. A. Ejares ◽

R. R. Violanda ◽

A. G. Diola ◽

D. T. Dy ◽

J. B. Otadoy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Canopy Cover ◽

The Philippines ◽

Tree Canopy ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Kappa Index ◽

Slope Length ◽

Object Based ◽

Tree Canopy Cover ◽

Length Width

This paper investigates tree canopy cover mapping of urban barangays (smallest administrative division in the Philippines) in Cebu City using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) was used to extract tree canopy cover. Multi-resolution segmentation and a series of assign-class algorithm in eCognition software was also performed to extract different land features. Contextual features of tree canopies such as height, area, roundness, slope, length-width and elliptic fit were also evaluated. The results showed that at the time the LiDAR data was collected (June 24, 2014), the tree cover was around 25.11 % (or 15,674,341.8 m<sup>2</sup>) of the city’s urban barangays (or 62,426,064.6 m<sup>2</sup>). Among all urban barangays in Cebu City, Barangay Busay had the highest cover (55.79 %) while barangay Suba had the lowest (0.8 %). The 16 barangays with less than 10 % tree cover were generally located in the coastal area, presumably due to accelerated urbanization. Thirty-one barangays have tree cover ranging from 10.59–-27.3 %. Only 3 barangays (i.e., Lahug, Talamban, and Busay) have tree cover greater than 30 %. The overall accuracy of the analysis was 96.6 % with the Kappa Index of Agreement or KIA of 0.9. From the study, a grouping can be made of the city’s urban barangays with regards to tree cover. The grouping will be useful to urban planners not only in allocating budget to the tree planting program of the city but also in planning and creation of urban parks and playgrounds.

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Trade-off of Tree Conservation and Crop Production on Agroforestry Parklands in Burkina Faso

Journal of Agricultural Studies ◽

10.5296/jas.v7i1.14270 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 41

Author(s):

Tiga Neya ◽

Akwasi. A. Abunyewa ◽

Oblé Neya ◽

Daniel Callo-Concha

Keyword(s):

Burkina Faso ◽

Crop Production ◽

Canopy Cover ◽

Tree Canopy ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Trade Off ◽

Tree Canopy Cover ◽

Agroforestry Parkland ◽

The Mean ◽

Individual Trees

Rapid population growth coupled with food demand make land for agriculture scarcer obliging farmers to make use of any available piece of land at their disposal for crops production. This preferential use of land for crops production may appear to be competitive with tree keeping on farm. To elucidate that, the trade-off between crop production and tree conservation on farms was assessed in Bouroum-Bourmoum, Sapouy and Ouahigouya, three municipalities of Burkina Faso. More than 3 000 individual trees which spreading was 1 154 in Bouroum-Bourom, 884 in Ouahigouya and 1 054 in Sapouy were used. The mean tree canopy cover and tree cover in the farms were calculated. The three principal crops (millet, red sorghum and white sorghum) yield were used to estimate the trade-off using the mean tree canopy cover as the potential no cropping area. The results revealed a tree canopy cover of 66.25 m2 in Bouroum-Bourom, 59.92 m2 in Sapouy and 42.1 m2 in Ouahigouya. The average tree cover was 23.99% in Bouroum-Bouroum, 18.23% in Sapouy and 14.88% in Ouahigouya. This represents a loss in grain production of 109.5 kg/ha in Bouroum-Bouroum, 247.6 kg/ha in Sapouy and 252.8kg/ha in Ouahigouya. A higher tree cover implies a higher trade-off in the agroforestry parkland and suggests reduction in tree density. There is urgent need to work out the balance between smallholders’ farmer continuous requirement for increase food crop production and the need to maintain tree diversity in the farm for carbon credit payment promotion.

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