scholarly journals Update on the invasion status of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868), in Madrid, a large city in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula

2021 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 161-177
Author(s):  
Diego López-Collar ◽  
Francisco J. Cabrero-Sañudo
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Large City ◽  
Linepithema Humile ◽  
Argentine Ant ◽  
Invasive Ant ◽  
Personal Communications ◽  
Great Capacity ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
The City

New geolocated records of the invasive ant Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868) are added to the previous references for the city of Madrid and its surroundings, and the possible causes of the occurrence and permanence of this species in urban areas are discussed. The data collection corresponds to a series of samplings carried out for the last three years in green areas of the city, bibliographic searches, citizen science platforms and personal communications. To date, eleven locations in the urban area of Madrid and four points outside the city have been registered. The city of Madrid is undergoing a colonisation by the Argentine ant, although it is not widespread yet, since observations over time and space are isolated and apparently unrelated. However, this species has a great capacity to disperse and establish new colonies, mainly human-mediated through the transport of goods, plants, gardening tools, etc. Considering the numerous colonizable urban green areas in the city that can provide the necessary conditions for its expansion, the Argentine ant should not be underestimated, and immediate action is strongly recommended.

Effects of urbanization on small-mammal communities and the population structure of synurbic species: an example of a medium-sized city

2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (8) ◽  
pp. 554-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafał Łopucki ◽  
Iwona Mróz ◽  
Łukasz Berliński ◽  
Marzena Burzych
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Large City ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
Impact Of Urbanization ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Theories concerning the impact of urbanization on ground-dwelling mammals are mainly based on large-city studies. We investigated whether the negative effects of urbanization are evident in smaller urban areas, where green areas are usually less isolated from their natural surroundings. Livetrapping of small mammals (Rodentia and Soricomorpha) was conducted between 2007 and 2010 in 15 patches within the city of Lublin (Poland) (147.5 km2, population 354 000) and 15 patches in its agricultural surroundings. A decline in species richness and diversity along an urbanization gradient and an increase in the abundance of species best adapted to the city environment (synurbic species) were observed. The main factors influencing ground-dwelling mammals was isolation of green patches, while the management type of green areas had no significant effect. The genus Apodemus Kaup, 1829, particularly the striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius (Pallas, 1771)), was the most urban biased. Within the city, A. agrarius alters its habitat preferences and life-history parameters (body mass, seasonal fluctuations, winter survival). Understanding the factors influencing ground-dwelling mammals in medium-sized cities will enable measures to be implemented that could reduce the negative effects of urbanization during urban expansion.

scholarly journals An automated classification system for urban areas matching the ‘city country fingers’ pattern: the cases of Kamakura (Japan) and Acireale (Italy) cities

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Spina ◽  
Emiliano Tramontana
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Classification Model ◽  
Complete Analysis ◽  
City Development ◽  
Essential Condition ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
The City

Abstract The uncontrolled expansion of urban areas is one of the main factors that reduce the liveability of cities. In recent years, to contrast urban sprawl, several nations have promoted policies aimed at developing urban green spaces. The importance of green oases within cities had already been highlighted, in 1977, by the architect Christopher Alexander who had developed a series of patterns including ‘City Country Fingers’ claiming that city development should consider the prolongation of country land in to the urban area. In several cities, especially in Japan, it is possible to recognize the imprint of urban development based on country fingers. This term refers to extensive urban intersections of agricultural land or wooded hills which, from the peripheral areas, penetrate the city. Inside them, there are urban windows, called city fingers, whose development direction is opposite to those of the country fingers. To recognize and analyze, in an automated way, these particular structures, a Python-based application was created. Starting from the original high-resolution image of Google Earth, a complete analysis was performed, labeling and delimiting urban and vegetational areas and extrapolating the main geometric parameters of the country and city fingers. The finalization of the results obtained was carried out through a classification model whose criteria were based on Alexander’s pattern. Thanks to this classification scheme, the distinction between Active Green Areas (country fingers) and Passive Green Areas (gardens and public parks) have been revealed for the analyzed cities. The tests performed showed almost ideal conditions for the city of Kamakura and a limited match for the urban area of Acireale. The proposed method is suitable for fields of application that require a qualitative and quantitative determination of the vegetation cover present within the city, an essential condition for correct territorial planning.

scholarly journals A topofilia dos cidadãos para com o patrimônio natural urbano: O caso da cidade de Coimbra

GeoTextos ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Salles Maria de Macedo Rego ◽  
João Luis Jesus Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Field Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Argument ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
Quality Of Urban Life ◽  
The City

O trabalho em questão analisa, segundo o prisma da Geografia, a importância do patrimônio natural em ambiente urbano. Como objetivo principal, pretende compreender a percepção que os residentes na cidade de Coimbra (Portugal) têm da natureza e do papel que o património natural pode desempenhar na qualidade de vida da cidade. Para alcançar esses objetivos, inicia-se o texto com uma reflexão teórica que percorre conceitos como a topofilia e os olhares sociais sobre o ambiente e a natureza em contexto citadino. Depois, seguem-se dois procedimentos diferentes, mas complementares: (1) Como forma de registro da presença e do estado de conservação da natureza em Coimbra e da interação entre os cidadãos e o patrimônio natural naquele espaço geográfico, fez-se uma análise de campo com a montagem de um banco de dados fotográficos que representam excertos deste território; (2) Inquéritos por meio de entrevistas, em dois bairros da cidade – Vale das Flores e Monte Formoso – privilegiando adultos com idades superiores aos 30 anos. Apesar de a pesquisa ter revelado algumas contradições entre a prática e o discurso na percepção e na relação topofílica para com as áreas verdes urbanas, concluiu-se que a presença do patrimônio natural no ambiente urbano ainda se apresenta como uma questão secundária. Contudo, também se verificou que, para reforço desta relação simbólica e/ou funcional, o patrimônio natural deve estar presente em todo o contínuo urbano e não ficar restrito aos bairros mais elitizados ou aos parques. Abstract THE CITIZENS TOPOPHILIA AND THE NATURAL URBAN PATRIMONY: COIMBRA’S CASE STUDY This paper analyzes the importance of natural patrimony in the urban environment, under the prism of geography. The main objective of this study is to understand how nature is perceived in the city of Coimbra (Portugal) and the role that green areas and natural patrimony has in the quality of urban life. To achieve these objectives, this article discusses the conceptual argument about environmental perception, topophilia and the nature in the city. For this, it was used two different procedures: (1) Field analysis on the city of Coimbra with purpose to setting up a photographic database, to verify the presence, conservation and relationship to the natural patrimony inserted in urban environment; (2) Investigation through interviews in two neighborhoods of the city – Vale das Flores and Monte Formoso. The data revealed that the perception and the topophilic relationship to urban green areas are marked by the contradiction between practice and discourse. It was concluded that the presence of natural patrimony in the urban environment still present itself as a secondary issue. Moreover, it was concluded that to strengthen this relationship symbolically and/or functionally the natural patrimony must be present throughout all the continuous urban areas and should not be restricted to elite neighborhoods or parks.

Examining the Effects of Heat Mitigation on the Physical Properties of Urban Green Space and Urban Blue Space: A Case Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pruthvin Shetty ◽  
Dwarakish g s
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
World Population ◽  
Tier 2 ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Areas ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
Tier 3 ◽  
The City

<p>The smart and sustainable city idea gained momentum in recent years in order to cope with population growth in urban areas and to make the city live. Cities are projected to consume 70% of the world's resources and 66% of the world population by 2050. Most of tier-3 and tier-2 cities will convert to tier-1 city, and we need to identify and protect the urban green spaces. Urban green areas have many esthetic advantages, including environmental benefits such as a fall in city temperature in the summer and absorption of rainwater. Social advantages are such as feelings of happiness and peace. Objective quantification of greenery on its neighbourhood spatial distribution may help identify essential and potential areas. Heterogeneous land uses describe urban areas. Urban heat island (UHI), with high Land surface temperatures (LST), is distinguished by its city development pattern, socioeconomic and anthropogenic activities. The LST is rising rapidly not only in cities but also in tier-3 & tier-2 cities.  Urban green areas, including parks, playgrounds, gardens and areas, such as ponds, pools, lakes and rivers, will contribute to the control of land temperatures in and around the city. Such spaces also lead to the formation of the Urban Cooling Island (UCI), where temperatures are comparatively cooler than surrounding temperatures, because of their shade of the trees and their evapotranspiration. This cooling island formation is referred to as the Park Cooling Island (PCI) impact. The present work aims to describe the effect of urban green and urban blue spaces on LST using a range of data sources with geospatial technologies. Udupi town, which comes under Udupi district, Karnataka, India is a tier-3 city, selected for the present research work. The data used in the study include Landsat 8 temporal satellite images and secondary data, such as field data from various government and semi-government organisations. LST has been measured using the emissivity reference channel algorithm from Landsat 8 thermal bands. Different indices such as Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index NDWI, Land Shape Index (LSI) are determined from images from Landsat 8. The results show that LST exists with high spatial variability and urban green, blue spaces have a stronger influence on LST.</p>

scholarly journals Decline in Distribution and Abundance: Urban Hedgehogs under Pressure

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1606
Author(s):  
Anouk L. Taucher ◽  
Sandra Gloor ◽  
Adrian Dietrich ◽  
Madeleine Geiger ◽  
Daniel Hegglin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
Abundance And Distribution ◽  
The City ◽  
Insect Biomass

Increasing urbanization and densification are two of the largest global threats to biodiversity. However, certain species thrive in urban spaces. Hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus have been found in higher densities in green areas of settlements as compared to rural spaces. With recent studies pointing to dramatically declining hedgehog numbers in rural areas, we pose the question: how do hedgehogs fare in urban spaces, and do these spaces act as refuges? In this study, recent (2016–2018) and past (1992) hedgehog abundance and distribution were compared across the city of Zurich, Switzerland using citizen science methods, including: footprint tunnels, capture-mark recapture, and incidental sightings. Our analyses revealed consistent negative trends: Overall hedgehog distribution decreased by 17.6% ± 4.7%, whereas abundance declined by 40.6% (mean abundance 32 vs. 19 hedgehogs/km2, in past and recent time, respectively), with one study plot even showing a 91% decline in this period (78 vs. 7 hedgehogs/km2, respectively). We discuss possible causes of this rapid decline: increased urban densification, reduction of insect biomass, and pesticide use, as well as the role of increasing populations of badgers (a hedgehog predator) and parasites or diseases. Our results suggest that hedgehogs are now under increasing pressure not only in rural but also in urban areas, their former refuges.

scholarly journals Trees and the City: Diversity and Composition along a Neotropical Gradient of Urbanization

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Ortega-Álvarez ◽  
Hernando A. Rodríguez-Correa ◽  
Ian MacGregor-Fors
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Tree Species Richness ◽  
Exotic Tree ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
The City ◽  
Tree Composition

In this study we assessed tree species richness, density, and composition patterns along a gradient of urbanization of a megacity. Our results show that total, native, and exotic tree densities were highest in green areas where larger spaces are considered for greening purposes. Conversely, total, native, and exotic tree species richness were highest in land uses with intermediate levels of urban development (residential, residential-commercial areas). Not finding highest tree species richness in less developed urban areas suggests that cultural factors may shape the array of species that are planted within cities. Supporting this, tree composition analyses showed that green areas are comprised of different tree species when compared to the rest of the studied urban land uses. Thus, our results suggest that, to increase the ecological quality of cities, residents and managers should be encouraged to select a greater variety of trees to promote heterogeneous green areas.

scholarly journals Potential for using ornamental bushes for greening the city of Novosibirsk: in case of the genus Syringa L.

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 00024
Author(s):  
Svetlana A. Gizhitskaya ◽  
Elena M. Lyakh
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Landscape Architecture ◽  
Current System ◽  
Botanical Garden ◽  
Urban Greening ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Regulatory Limits ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
The City

Species composition, quantity participation and spreading of ornamental bushes in current system of Novosibirsk green areas are determined. Upper zone (“Verkhnyaya zona”) of Academgorodok is not taken into research as far as it is a cultural heritage site and a significant site of landscape architecture of the 20th century. Special attention is given to participation of lilac species and cultivars (Syringa vulgaris L., Syringa amurensis Rupr., Syringa josikaea J. Jacq. ex Rchb.). It is pointed out that 62 species of bushes are used in the city, including 3 species of lilac, however their quantity participation is not enough and does not satisfy regulatory limits. Twenty six cultivars from the collection Syringa vulgaris L. of the Central Siberian Botanical Garden SB RAS are recommended additionally. Three cultivars, ‘Nadezhda’, ‘Pamyat’ o S. M. Kirove’ and ‘Olimpiada Kolesnikova’, successfully tested in urban environment are highly recommended. Besides, it is recommended to use wider Syringa amurensis Rupr., and to introduce late-flowering Preston hybrids (Syringa x prestoniae Mc. Kelvey (S. reflexa x S. villosa)), curretly absent in green urban areas, in urban greening in Siberia.

scholarly journals Awareness of Air Pollution and Ecosystem Services Provided by Trees: The Case Study of Warsaw City

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10611
Author(s):  
Karolina Kais ◽  
Marlena Gołaś ◽  
Marzena Suchocka
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Social Awareness ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
The City

One of the consequences of the constant urban development in numerous countries is a growing concentration of air pollution, which adversely affects both the environment and people’s health. One of the ways of changing this negative trend is to maintain green areas and trees within cities, as they serve many ecosystem functions, including biological absorption of particles and other types of air pollution. This article provides the findings of a study carried out among the residents of Warsaw, the capital of Poland, in order to assess social awareness of air pollution and the importance of trees. The study of the residents’ awareness was supplemented with the assessment of the parameters of the trees’ capacity for pollution absorption in selected locations performed with the help of the i-Tree Eco tool, which allowed the authors to compare the residents’ impressions on the role of trees in the process of absorption of pollution with their actual potential. The analyses showed that the majority of city residents are concerned with the problem of air in the city, but at the same time failing to notice its negative impact on their health. The majority of respondents were not aware of the role the trees play in the process of pollution absorption, suggesting that there is a real need for raising social awareness of functions served by trees and green areas in urban spaces. The comparison of the city residents’ opinions on the importance of trees in the process of pollution absorption with objective data obtained with the help of i-Tree Eco tool shows that the majority of people’s impressions of pollution absorption by trees in urban areas is correct.

scholarly journals Ruido en la ciudad. Contaminación auditiva y ciudad caminable / Noise in the city. Acustic pollution and the walkable city

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Alfie Cohen ◽  
Osvaldo Salinas Castillo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Noise Pollution ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Public ◽  
City Environment ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
The City

La contaminación auditiva es un fenómeno poco estudiado en la relación ciudad-ambiente. La combinación de ruido constante y permanente, el uso indiscriminado del automóvil y las políticas públicas desintegradas provocan una gestión ambiental incierta y poco clara frente a esta problemática. El modelo de ciudad caminable pretende generar espacios urbanos donde se reduzca el uso del transporte, se enfaticen las bondades de la movilidad a pie y en bicicleta, y se rehabiliten espacios públicos y áreas verdes, mecanismos que podrían reducir la contaminación auditiva y otras afectaciones ambientales.AbstractNoise pollution is a phenomenon insufficiently studied in the city-environment relationship. The combination of constant and permanent noise, indiscriminate use of cars and the poorly integrated public policies, cause an inaccurate and unclear environmental management. The model of a “walkable city” intends to address urban areas where transport use is reduced, the benefits of mobility through walking and cycling are emphasized and the public spaces and green areas are remediated. All those instruments could reduce noise pollution and other environmental effects.

scholarly journals Study of changes in urban planning in the revision of the city plan for Campos dos Goytacazes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronaldo de Sousa Araújo ◽  
Raphael Paixão Cardoso ◽  
Zélia Maria Peixoto Chrispim
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Green Area ◽  
The Social ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
City Plan ◽  
The City ◽  
Qualitative Changes ◽  
Road System

Changes in urban planning resulting from the process of reviewing the cityplan for Campos dos Goytacazes-RJ were the object of this work. The objective of this research was to verify changes in land use legislation due to the revision of the 2008cityplan considering Araújo's proposal (2018), especially for the macro road system and for green areas in urban areas. In the methodological process, bibliographic and documentary data such as laws and maps were collected, an updated bibliographic review was carried out, and comparisons of maps and laws were made. It is noteworthy that due to the social distance caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, the research was carried out remotely using the Google Classroom/Meet platform. The results indicated that the new urban legislation significantly expanded the macro road system and the green areas of preservation in the municipal urban area, in line with Araújo's proposal, with emphasis on the creation of the environmental protection road, which will enable the population's access to the green conservation areas that have been disorderly occupied over time. It was concluded that the revision of the Campos dos Goytacazescityplan allowed for quantitative and qualitative changes in the macro road system and in the city's green area system in a positive way.

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