Abstract
The world is experiencing a rapid loss in the biodiversity of pollinator insects. Habitat segmentation caused by infrastructures is one of the contributing factors. To improve the habitat connectivity of pollinator insects, it is proposed in this study to build green corridors for pollinators over linear infrastructures such as highways. In the context of suburban areas of a large city, this study examines differences in air parameters between natural environments and a roadside environment based on monitored and estimated data. Influences of different green corridor designs on floral scent dispersion are also investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and simulation. It is found that, if flower plants are installed on highway overpasses, the floral scents would be better preserved as compared with those in a natural environment due to the lower concentrations of oxidative radicals in the air above highways. The stronger floral scents and their wider dispersion may help attract pollinators. Conversely, highway air contains a variety of volatine organic compounds (VOCs) that are traced to highway operations and pavements. Hence, the overall profile of VOCs in a highway environment differs from that in a natural environment. Results from CFD modeling and simulation suggest that the use of green corridors planted with flowers on the highway overpass can greatly improve the connectivity of floral scents. Hence, with proper engineering design and right combination of plant species, green corridors built on highway overpasses have the potential to facilitate pollinators to cross the road, thereby improving their habitat connectivity and resilience against declining biodiversity.
Highlights
Resilience of infrastructures has received much attention, but the impacts of built infrastructures on the resilience of ecological environment are less examined
Comparions of air parameters The average hourly concentrations of the air quality data from the two monitoring stations during the selected period are shown in Figs. 6 and 7
This paper discusses the possibility of introducing green corridors on highway overpass to increase the connectivity of habitats for flying pollinator insects
Summary
Resilience of infrastructures has received much attention, but the impacts of built infrastructures on the resilience of ecological environment are less examined. Loss in biodiversity will inevitably impair vital services provided by. Wang et al Journal of Infrastructure Preservation and Resilience (2021) 2:6 ecosystem, resilience is reduced through the losses of both redundancy and interconnections of the components in the system [17], affecting its ability to bounce back in environmental disturbances. A city typically imports most of its fresh produce from remote rural regions. With some severe disturbances such as the current Covid-19 pandemic, the transport systems may be severely disrupted due to lockdowns, causing the shortage and price increase of fresh produce. Maintenance of a healthy ecosystem is beneficial for cities even from the aspect of “provisioning,” not to mention other services provided by nature to urban dwellers such as clean air and water
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