Sacred sites as habitats of culturally important plant species in an Indian megacity

Cultural ecosystem services related to urban green spaces contribute significantly to liveable cities. While previous studies highlight the intersection of cultural ecosystem services with societal values, spiritual or religious values associated with urban nature have received less attention. In India, as in other parts of the world, sacred sites are known for their biological richness, but analyses from urban sacred sites are largely missing. Based on a stratified random sampling approach, we analysed the cultivated and wild plant species assemblages of 69 sacred sites in the megacity of Bengaluru, India, in relation to biological and cultural features, and parameters related to the urban matrix and type of sacred sites (temple vs. katte). Unlike other urban studies, we found a dominance of native species in the cultivated and spontaneous species pools (121 species in total), with Ficus religiosa and Azadirachta indica as most frequently planted species. Culturally relevant species prevailed in the species pool (89%), with overlaps between religious (36%), medicinal (50%) and ornamental (62%) plants; only 11% of species were weeds. Urban matrix parameters (age of development, housing density) and size and type of sacred sites were related to differences in species assemblages. We identified key species for different classes of age and housing density, and for types of sacred sites. Our study demonstrates that urban sacred sites have an important potential in harbouring both native and culturally significant species that can support urban livelihoods in developing countries by a range of cultural and provisioning ecosystem services, including medicinal uses. As such sites are conserved by communities for spiritual or cultural beliefs, local biodiversity can be enhanced, e.g. by adapting management practices through community participation. This would strengthen the important contribution of sacred sites within the green infrastructure of rapidly growing megacities.     

The economic benefits and costs of trees in urban forest stewardship: A systematic review

Understanding the benefits provided by urban trees is important to justify investment and improve stewardship. Many studies have attempted to quantify the benefits of trees in monetary terms, though fewer have quantified the associated costs of planting and maintaining them. This systematic review examines the methods used to jointly analyse the costs and benefits of trees in the urban landscape, assesses the relative balance of benefits and costs, and attempts to understand the wide variation in economic values assigned in different studies. The benefits most frequently studied are those related to environmental regulation and property values, and the available data show that these usually outweigh the costs. Aesthetic, amenity, and shading benefits have also been shown to provide significant economic benefits, while benefits in terms of water regulation, carbon reduction and air quality are usually more modest. Variation in benefits and costs among studies is attributed largely to differences in the species composition and age structure of urban tree populations, though methodological differences also play a role. Comparison between studies is made difficult owing to differences in spatiotemporal scope, and in the way urban forest composition and demographic structure were reported. The overwhelming majority of studies concern deciduous trees in Northern America, and much less is known about urban forests in other regions, especially in the tropics. Future work should thus seek to fill these knowledge gaps, and standardise research protocols across cities. In light of ambitious goals in many cities to increase tree cover, ongoing advances in valuation methods need to provide a more comprehensive accounting of benefits and costs, and to better integrate economic assessment into the decision-making process.     

Tracing regime influence on urban community gardening: How resource dependence causes barriers to garden longer term sustainability

This article explores how resource dependence leads to barriers to urban community gardening. Nine barriers to urban gardening were identified: finance, space, organizational structure, water, external damage, soil, communication, interpersonal issues, and participation issues. Using process tracing and grounded theory, we found that these barriers could be divided into three groups: primary, secondary, and participation barriers. Primary barriers are caused and directly influenced by the regime, whereas secondary barriers are the result of decisions and actions taken while addressing the primary barriers. All of these barriers cause frustration and affects the ability of the gardens to retain and acquire new members. This affects the longer term sustainability of the gardens and their potential to contribute to an urban governance transition.     

Can trail spatial attributes predict trail use level in urban forest park? An examination integrating GPS data and space syntax theory

Understanding users’ spatial distribution in forest park is crucial for providing visitors with quality recreation experiences and for park planning and management. Utilizing users’ spatial distribution data, this study aims at investigating associations between trail use level and trail spatial attributes, through examining two large urban forest parks (Gongqing forest park and Paotaiwan forest park) in Shanghai, China. Users’ spatial distribution was measured utilizing GPS trackers with the interval of 10 seconds. This study conceptualizes trail spatial attributes as trail metric attributes and trail configurational attributes. Trail metric attributes include trail mean distance to gates, length, width and level of enclosure, which are calculated based on park map and on-site observation. We computed trail configurational attributes utilizing space syntax theory, which comprise measures of global integration, control, and connectivity. Trail connection with features/facilities, visual connection with water and shading are included as covariate variables. In total, we obtained 134 valid samples in Gongqing forest park and 210 valid samples in Paotaiwan forest park for analysis. Multivariate regression analyses indicate that when involving covariate variables, consistently in both parks, a greater trail usage is significantly related to trail shorter mean distance to park gate, trail width wider than 3 meters, higher global integration and higher control values. Collectively, these four trail spatial attributes explained 31.7 % (p < 0.001) and 27.3 % (p < 0.001) of the variances in trail use level in Gongqing forest park and Paotaiwan forest park. These findings provide direct implications to park designers and managers for providing visitors with different desirable social conditions, and ultimately improve users’ experiences and satisfactions.     

长安区城市森林建设思路探讨

本文探讨了如何在西安市近郊长安区发展城市森林,以适应西安现代国际化大都市建设发展的需要。     

The Occurrence of Salmonella in Airline Meals

The occurrence of Salmonella in airline meals was studied in 1989-1992. Samples were collected from flight kitchens in 29 countries. The material consisted of 400 cold dishes and 1,288 hot dishes as well as salads, cheese plates and desserts. Total number of samples was 2211. Salmonella spp. were isolated from 6 samples; 1 contaminated sample was a cold dish prepared in Bangkok, 1 was a hot dish prepared in Mombasa and the remaining 4 contaminated samples were hot dishes prepared within one week in Beijing. The isolated serotypes were S. ohio, S. manchester and S. braenderup. The contaminated cold dish prepared by a flight kitchen in Bangkok was found to be connected with a Salmonella outbreak which occurred in Finland in 1990. Cold airline dishes containing food of animal origin seems to be more risky as a source of Salmonella infections among airline passengers.     

宁陕县城区生态环境治理工程初探

介绍并分析宁陕县城区及周边地区“8．29”惨遭洪水、泥石流袭击,生态环境遭到严重破坏的情况,提出了城区生态环境方面存在的问题,同时在规划设计方案中运用生态治理技术,以工程造林的方法,探求城区生态环境建设的新模式。     

城市绿地系统对经济发展提升作用的机制——与大连市实证研究

城市绿地系统具有生态、经济、社会等多重属性 ,在城市复合系统中占有特殊的位置 ,对城市经济发展亦具有直接、间接的提升作用 :( 1 )改善城市环境质量 ,创造环境优势 ,促进城市地价及布局其间的各种经济成分增值 ;集聚外来资金和高新产业发展 ,带动整个城市产业结构优化升级。( 2 )绿地建设作为城市经济产业的有机组成部分 ,形成环境经济产业链 ,拉动其相关经济产业的发展 ,促进经济增长。 ( 3 )提高城市知名度 ,促进城市旅游业发展 ,集聚高素质人才 ,促进城市经济发展 ,本文以北方海滨城市大连为例 ,在定性分析绿地经济提升作用机制的基础上 ,建立计量经济模型 ,定量分析城市绿地系统的经济提升作用     

植物空间诱变育种及其在牧草上的应用

近年来,空间诱变育种已成为空间生命科学研究方面的重要内容之一,即经过卫星搭载,生物在高真空、微重力、强辐射及其他因素的综合作用下产生变异,经过地面选育、筛选和固定变异,培育新品种.在植物方面,国内外已利用该技术培育了粮食作物、经济作物、花卉及菌类等高产、优质新品种(系).空间诱变育种技术开创了育种的又一新途径,其在牧草育种的应用还不多,但前景广阔.     

长春市精明增长测评研究

“精明增长”是由西方国家针对城市蔓延提出的一种全新的城市发展理念,它倡导高效、集约、紧凑的城市发展模式,对于解决我国城市化进程中面临的诸多问题具有现实意义.该研究从城市增长的数量、强度、效益、循环和建设水平5个方面选取了8个指标建立城市精明增长现状测评体系,对长春市的精明增长现状进行测评.结果表明,长春市城市扩展速度较快,土地利用的集约度与强度均有待提高,但就城市经济发展、道路和公共交通现状来说,符合精明增长的发展方向.