scholarly journals Using GIS and the Diversity Indices: A Combined Approach to Woody Plant Diversity in the Urban Landscape

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuba Gül Doğan ◽  
Engin Eroğlu
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Woody Plant ◽  
Life Quality ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Floristic Diversity ◽  
Spatial Characteristics ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Alpha And Beta Diversity

Thanks to their recreational and psychological functions as well as plant diversity, open and green spaces in a city improve the life quality of the urban inhabitants. Woody plant diversity has significant value in urban green systems. The main purpose of this study was to determine the biodiversity values and the potential of the urban green infrastructure via floristic and spatial analyses of woody plant diversity. To this aim, field studies were carried out on the open and green infrastructure in selected areas of Duzce, having different spatial characteristics. The contribution of the identified species to urban biodiversity was examined as well as the spatial characteristics of the species in terms of landscape architecture. In this study, both statistical analyses (alpha and beta diversity of the species) and GIS analyses (species density and spatial distribution) were carried out. According to the results of the research, the most common of the 173 plant species detected were Cupressocyparis leylandii and Tilia tomentosa, found in the open green areas. As a result of the study, it was found that using the floristic diversity indices and GIS jointly enabled the UFD (Urban Floristic Diversity) of the city to be defined both statistically and positionally.

scholarly journals Diversity Indices of Plant Communities and Their Rhizosphere Microbiomes: An Attempt to Find the Connection

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 2339
Author(s):  
Aleksei O. Zverev ◽  
Arina A. Kichko ◽  
Aleksandr G. Pinaev ◽  
Nikolay A. Provorov ◽  
Evgeny E. Andronov
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Plant Root ◽  
Alpha Diversity ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Alpha And Beta Diversity ◽  
Highly Correlated

The rhizosphere community represents an “ecological interface” between plant and soil, providing the plant with a number of advantages. Despite close connection and mutual influence in this system, the knowledge about the connection of plant and rhizosphere diversity is still controversial. One of the most valuable factors of this uncertainty is a rough estimation of plant diversity. NGS sequencing can make the estimations of the plant community more precise than classical geobotanical methods. We investigate fallow and crop sites, which are similar in terms of environmental conditions and soil legacy, yet at the same time are significantly different in terms of plant diversity. We explored amplicons of both the plant root mass (ITS1 DNA) and the microbial communities (16S rDNA); determined alpha- and beta-diversity indices and their correlation, and performed differential abundance analysis. In the analysis, there is no correlation between the alpha-diversity indices of plants and the rhizosphere microbial communities. The beta-diversity between rhizosphere microbial communities and plant communities is highly correlated (R = 0.866, p = 0.01). ITS1 sequencing is effective for the description of plant root communities. There is a connection between rhizosphere communities and the composition of plants, but on the alpha-diversity level we found no correlation. In the future, the connection of alpha-diversities should be explored using ITS1 sequencing, even in more similar plant communities—for example, in different synusia.

scholarly journals Spatial scaling of pollen-based alpha and beta diversity within forest and open landscapes of Central Europe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vojtěch Abraham ◽  
Jan Roleček ◽  
Ondřej Vild ◽  
Eva Jamrichová ◽  
Zuzana Plesková ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Slovak Republic ◽  
Alpha Diversity ◽  
Source Area ◽  
Floristic Diversity ◽  
Alpha And Beta Diversity ◽  
Floristic Richness ◽  
Open Forest ◽  
Floristic Data

AbstractPollen is an abundant fossil and the most common proxy for plant diversity during the Holocene. Based on datasets in open, forest, and mixed habitats, we used the spatial distribution of floristic diversity to estimate the source area of pollen diversity and identify factors influencing the significance of this relationship.Our study areas are Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and White Carpathians (the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic).Sampling 60 sites in forest and open habitats in two study regions with contrasting floristic diversity, we calculated taxonomic richness (alpha diversity) and total spatial variance (beta diversity) for pollen and floristic data along two transects, each 1 km long. Following this, we calculated the correlation between floristic and pollen diversity. We also assessed the consistency of the relationship in different habitats. Finally, we regressed local contributions of individual sites to the beta diversity of pollen and floristic data in each of the regions.There was a positive correlation between pollen and floristic richness in both habitats in both regions; open and mixed datasets were significant. The highest correlation (adjusted R2) mostly occurred within the first tens of metres (1.5–70) and then within the first hundreds of metres (250–550). Variances of pollen data significantly correlated with variances of floristic data between 100 and 250 m. Local contributions to beta diversity of pollen and plants significantly correlated in the forest and one of the mixed datasets.Floristic richness at the pollen site and position of the site within the landscape structure determine the sequence of the appearing species in the increasing distance. The number of species sets the source area of pollen richness and dissimilarity of appearing species controls the source area of pollen variance. These findings, linking pollen and floristic diversity, provide an essential stepping-stone for the reconstruction of historic plant diversity.

scholarly journals Context-Specific, User-Centred: Designing Urban Green Infrastructure to Effectively Mitigate Urban Density and Heat Stress

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 40-53
Author(s):  
Julia Mittermüller ◽  
Sabrina Erlwein ◽  
Amelie Bauer ◽  
Tatjana Trokai ◽  
Sophie Duschinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Stress ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Social Resilience ◽  
Design Quality ◽  
Urban Density ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Infrastructure ◽  
Context Specific

<p>Green infrastructure plays a vital role for cities facing the challenges of urbanisation and climate change. It has the potential to mitigate the adverse effects of urban density and the heat island effect, enhancing the ecological and social resilience of cities and their inhabitants. This study identifies contextual, psychological, and social factors which influence people’s subjective evaluation of urban green infrastructure (UGI), density, and heat stress. Planning recommendations for effective, context-specific, user-centred design are developed to increase the social and health benefits of UGI in limited space. To do so, a mixed-methods approach that combines social surveys, GIS-analysis, and microclimate modelling was employed. The field studies were undertaken in two contrasting neighbourhoods in Munich, Germany: a densely built and scarcely vegetated inner-city neighbourhood and a declaimed “green and compact” neighbourhood at the outskirts. Both sites are assessed in terms of their supply of green infrastructure, building and population density, and outdoor summer heat loads drawing on geostatistical data and mean radiant temperature modelling. This assessment is compared to the inhabitants’ subjective evaluation thereof retrieved from face-to-face questionnaires, and semi-standardised interviews. The results indicate that the existence and the amount of UGI per se are not decisive for people’s perception of urban heat, density, and neighbourhood attractiveness. It is rather the perceived accessibility of green spaces, their design, quality, and contextual factors like traffic or the presence of other people that define its value for urban dwellers.</p>

scholarly journals The Fecal Bacterial Microbiota in Horses with Equine Recurrent Uveitis

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 745
Author(s):  
Michelle Martin de Bustamante ◽  
Diego Gomez ◽  
Jennifer MacNicol ◽  
Ralph Hamor ◽  
Caryn Plummer
Keyword(s):  
Beta Diversity ◽  
High Throughput Sequencing ◽  
Illumina Miseq ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Linear Discriminant ◽  
Alpha And Beta Diversity ◽  
Bacterial Microbiota ◽  
Healthy Control ◽  
Equine Recurrent Uveitis

The objective of this study was to describe and compare the fecal bacterial microbiota of horses with equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) and healthy horses using next-generation sequencing techniques. Fecal samples were collected from 15 client-owned horses previously diagnosed with ERU on complete ophthalmic examination. For each fecal sample obtained from a horse with ERU, a sample was collected from an environmentally matched healthy control with no evidence of ocular disease. The Illumina MiSeq sequencer was used for high-throughput sequencing of the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. The relative abundance of predominant taxa, and alpha and beta diversity indices were calculated and compared between groups. The phyla Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, and Proteobacteria predominated in both ERU and control horses, accounting for greater than 60% of sequences. Based on linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe), no taxa were found to be enriched in either group. No significant differences were observed in alpha and beta diversity indices between groups (p > 0.05 for all tests). Equine recurrent uveitis is not associated with alteration of the gastrointestinal bacterial microbiota when compared with healthy controls.

scholarly journals Living Heritage in the Urban Landscape. Case Study of the Budapest World Heritage Site Andrássy Avenue

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4699
Author(s):  
Kinga Szilágyi ◽  
Chaima Lahmar ◽  
Camila Andressa Pereira Rosa ◽  
Krisztina Szabó
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Heritage Protection ◽  
Urban Green Infrastructure

Historic allées and urban avenues reflect a far-sighted and forward-thinking design attitude. These compositions are the living witnesses of olden times, suggesting permanence. However, the 20th century’s urban development severely damaged the environment, therefore hundred-year-old mature trees are relatively rare among city avenues’ stands. Due to the deteriorated habitat conditions, replantation may be necessary from time to time. However, there are a large number of replanted allées and urban avenues considered historical monuments, according to the relevant international literature in urban and living heritage’s preservation. The renewal often results in planting a different, urban tolerant taxon, as seen in several examples reviewed. Nevertheless, the allée remains an essential urban structural element, though often with a changed character. The Budapest Andrássy Avenue, a city and nature connection defined in the late 19th century’s urban landscape planning, aimed to offer a splendid link between city core and nature in Városliget Public Park. The 19–20th century’s history and urban development are well documented in Hungarian and several English publications, though current tree stock stand and linear urban green infrastructure as part of the urban landscape need a detailed survey. The site analyses ran in 2020–early 2021 created a basis for assessing the allées and the whole avenue as an urban ecosystem and a valuable case study of contemporary heritage protection problems. Andrassy Avenue, the unique urban fabric, architecture, and promenades have been a world heritage monument of cultural value since 2002. The allées became endangered despite reconstruction type maintenance efforts. The presented survey analyses the living heritage’s former renewal programs and underlines the necessity of new reconstruction concepts in urban heritage protection. We hypothesize that urban green infrastructure development, the main issue in the 21st century to improve the urban ecological system and human liveability, may support heritage protection. The Budapest World Heritage Site is worthwhile for a complex renewal where the urban green ecosystem supply and liveable, pedestrian-friendly urban open space system are at the forefront to recall the once glorious, socially and aesthetically attractive avenue.

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