Biodiversity in sacred urban spaces of Bengaluru,India

Urban green spaces provide critical social and ecological support for cities, but we know little about their diversity and composition in cities of the Global South. This is especially true of lesser known urban spaces such as sacred sites, which are of important cultural and biodiversity significance. We examine tree diversity and composition in sacred sites in Bengaluru, one of India’s fastest growing cities. We recorded 5504 trees from 93 species across 62 temples, churches, and Hindu, Christian and Muslim cemeteries in central areas of Bengaluru. Over half (52%) of the tree species were of native origin, a much higher proportion when compared to other green spaces in the city such as parks. Tree density in sacred sites was much higher than that in parks and informal settlements in Bengaluru. Temples and Hindu cemeteries contained the highest proportion of native species, with large numbers of Ficus benghalensis, a keystone sacred species. Trees in sacred spaces provide an important buffer against urban environmental stress in Indian cities, and serve as refuges for urban wildlife and biodiversity. We need greater information on these lesser known, but culturally significant alternate spaces. They play an important, though ignored role in the environmental sustainability of rapidly growing cities in the Global South.     

山东省大型真菌生物多样性及资源保护与可持续利用

经过大量实地调查和数量统计．对山东省大型真菌进行了生物多样性研究．按照目前国内外普遍使用的Ainsworth G．C．（1973）的分类系统，共有255种隶属于6纲、14目、45科、儿3属。根据其生长基质和营养方式的不同可划分为昆虫寄生菌、木腐茼、菌根菌、粪生菌、土壤腐生菌、真菌共生菌、落叶生茼、真菌寄生茼、植物寄生菌、天麻共生菌等10个生态类型．阐述了山东大型真菌的资源开发与保护利用中值得注意的几个问题．提出了进一步研究、保护和持续利用这一生物资源的合理化建议。     

Biodiversity and environmental stressors along urban walking routes

There is increasing focus on designing liveable cities that promote walking. However, urban walking routes can expose people to adverse environmental conditions that reduce health, well-being and biodiversity. Our primary objective is to assess how urban form is associated with environmental quality, including biodiversity, for people moving through urban spaces. We assess a range of environmental conditions that influence human health and biodiversity (temperature, noise and particulate pollution) and biodiversity of three taxa (trees, butterflies and birds) along 700 m public walking routes embedded in 500 m x 500 m grid cells across three UK towns. Cells are selected using random stratification across an urbanisation intensity gradient. Walking routes in more built-up areas were noisier and hotter; noise levels further increased in areas with more industrial land-use and large roads. There was no evidence of vegetation mitigating noise or temperature, but there was some evidence that increased vegetation cover mitigated small particulate pollution. Walking routes in more built-up environments had lower butterfly, bird and native tree species richness, and reduced butterfly abundance. Large roads were associated with reduced bird species richness and increased noise was associated with reduced bird abundance. Most specific measures of vegetation in the surrounding matrix (median patch size, structural complexity at 1.5 m resolution) were not detectably associated with biodiversity along walking routes, indicating minimal beneficial spill-over. Increased garden cover in the surrounding matrix was associated with less abundant and less species-rich butterfly communities. Our results highlight considerable heterogeneity in the environmental quality of urban walking routes and pedestrians’ potential to experience biodiversity along these routes, driven by reduced quality in areas with more built cover. A greater focus is needed on mitigating adverse effects of specific features of the built environment (roads, industrial areas, noise) surrounding walking routes to enhance the co-benefits of more biodiversity and healthier conditions for pedestrians.     

城市生物多样性保护的行动计划与规划

由于高速城市化引发的一系列生态环境问题,导致城市生物多样性急剧降低,城市生物多样性的保护已成为全世界关注的焦点问题和人类实现可持续发展过程中面临的首要任务。鉴于生物多样性面临的严峻局面,我国各级政府都纷纷采取措施,致力于生物多样性的保护与可持续利用工作,制定了一系列生物多样性保护行动计划与规划,为城市的生物多样性保护和生态建设提供依据和保证。