Absence of a Luxury Effect on bird alpha diversity in a rapidly developing African city, but surrounding landscape is key
| Autor: | Chevonne Reynolds, Caroline Howes |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Sustainable development
education.field_of_study Median income Ecology Land use media_common.quotation_subject Population 0211 other engineering and technologies Biodiversity 021107 urban & regional planning 02 engineering and technology 010501 environmental sciences Management Monitoring Policy and Law 01 natural sciences Urban Studies Geography Alpha diversity Species richness education Environmental planning 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Nature and Landscape Conservation Diversity (politics) media_common |
| Zdroj: | Landscape and Urban Planning. 213:104095 |
| ISSN: | 0169-2046 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104095 |
| Popis: | Aspiring towards cities that are sustainable and equitable, as detailed by Goal 11 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, has become increasingly relevant given the growing human population in urban areas. A key part of guaranteeing that cities meet Goal 11 is to ensure equitable access to urban green spaces, and the biodiversity that they support, for all residents. However, there is evidence from developed world cities of a Luxury Effect, where wealthier residents have greater access to urban biodiversity than poorer residents. To test for this Luxury Effect in a developing world city, we measured bird species richness and diversity in 27 urban green spaces in Johannesburg, South Africa, to examine how socio-economic and ecological drivers influence urban biodiversity. We found no evidence of a Luxury Effect with the median income of neighbourhoods surrounding the green spaces having no significant effect on bird richness or diversity. There were, however, ecological effects with surrounding natural land-cover negatively correlated to richness, and a positive influence of wetland connectivity on richness. The negative effect of natural land-cover is possibly due to the relatively low bird diversity of the natural grasslands surrounding Johannesburg. The positive effect of wetland connectivity and the lack of a Luxury Effect indicate that the use of waterbodies to historically separate populations has buffered poorer neighbourhoods from depreciated biodiversity within the selected green spaces. The effect of wetlands also further emphasises the importance of water availability on urban biodiversity. This indicates that historical land use decisions can still influence how biodiversity is distributed in urban landscapes. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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