We wanted to know:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Are cities becoming more homogenous in terms of biodiversity?\u00a0 Several researchers have raised the issue of biotic homogenization resulting from design and planning practices that shape urban environments with standard species compositions and we wanted to know if cities are indeed becoming more similar to each other in plant and bird species composition.<\/li>\n
- What are patterns of the proportions of native and non-native species of plants and birds in cities?\u00a0 The biodiversity of native species is of global importance and we wanted to understand the relative importance of cities in this aspect of conservation.\u00a0 That is…<\/li>\n
- Are cities of conservation importance by harboring native spieces? \u00a0Are biogeographical (biogeographical realm, amount of remnant vegetation, latitude, elevation, mean temperature, rainfall) and cultural (urban extent, city establishment date) variables are predictors of species richness and of the proportions of native and non-native species?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
![\"Cities](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/city-check-list-560x420.jpg\")
Cities with city-wide plant and bird data.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The results from the NCEAS study are published here:\u00a0Proceedings of the Royal Society B<\/a>.<\/p>\n
We found that cities are not homogenous in bird and plant species composition and reflect local biogeographical patterns of species composition.\u00a0 In other words, the bird and plant species composition of North American cities resemble the local flora and fauna and are distinct from those of other regions.\u00a0 The proportions of native and non-native species show different patterns for plants and birds in the world’s cities.\u00a0 Around 3% of bird species in cities are non-native, whereas non-native plant species are close to 25% of the floras in the cities we studied.\u00a0 The percentage of greenspace in a city was the best predictor of the number of plant and bird species and also of the proportion of native species in cities.\u00a0 <\/i>We found that two families of birds, waterfowl and raptors, were well represented in the world’s cities with most species in the region found in the associated city, suggesting that cities may be important in providing habitats for and potentially conserving some groups of species.<\/p>\n
![\"Native](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/native-vs-exotic-in-cities-560x420.jpg\")
Native species are an important part of urban biodiversity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The NCEAS project revealed that there is a relatively large amount of data available on birds and plants in cities in Europe and North America, but we had very few studies from cities in the global south.\u00a0 We know that many of these cities occur in biodiversity hotspots, but also suspect that the factors shaping biodiversity in African, South American and South Asian cities may be different.\u00a0 For example, a study<\/a> of the vegetation of Bujumbura, Burundi, one of the cities in our database, found that the city had a much lower proportion of native plant species than other cities.\u00a0 The study suggested that informal settlements may reduce the amount of undeveloped greenspace in the city and have a negative impact on the number of native species.<\/p>\n
![\"Are](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Bujumbura-560x420.jpg\")
Are factors shaping the dominance of non-native plant species in Bujumbura unique or part of a larger pattern in cities in Sub-Saharan Africa? Credit:\u00a0http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/4\/40\/Bujumbura.JPG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Introducing UrBioNet: A global network for urban biodiversity research and practice <\/b><\/p>\n
In April 2013 the U.S. National Science Foundation funded a research coordination network grant to bring together a network of people interested in biodiversity in cities:\u00a0 researchers, managers, designers, planners, and residents are welcome to participate.<\/p>\n
An important goal of UrBioNet is to expand the NCEAS database by adding data from cities in Africa, South and Central America, and South Asia.\u00a0 We seek to expand the taxonomic groups where we have information on diversity adding data on bats, stream fishes and insect pollinators. \u00a0And we want to expand the list of cities where we have data on species abundance and spatially explicit data and not just species lists.<\/p>\n
UrBioNet is organized around three projects that will bring together a network of people interested in biodiversity cities.\u00a0 One project will compile a list of life history traits for each of the bird, bat, fish, insect pollinator, and plant species in the database.\u00a0 The trait data will be used to determine if these species characteristics might explain how cities filter species from a larger regional pool.\u00a0 Another project will compile socioeconomic, demographic and cultural data on cities and subsections of cities that might explain patterns of diversity within and among urban areas.\u00a0 Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a third project will document approaches to monitoring, planning, management, and design of urban biodiversity.<\/p>\n
![\"Framework](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/UrBioNet-org-diagram-565x420.jpg\")
Framework for UrBioNet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n How to join UrBioNet<\/b><\/p>\n