Lawn Cover Research Articles

Habitat complexity, connectivity, and introduced fish drive pond community structure along an urban to rural gradient.

Urbanization can influence local richness (alpha diversity) and community composition (beta diversity) in numerous ways. For instance, reduced connectivity and land cover change may lead to the loss of native specialist taxa, decreasing alpha diversity. Alternatively, if urbanization facilitates nonnative species introductions and generalist taxa, alpha diversity may remain unchanged or increase, while beta diversity could decline due to the homogenization of community structure. Wetlands and ponds provide critical ecosystem services and support diverse communities, making them important systems in which to understand the consequences of urbanization. To determine how urban development shapes pond community structure, we surveyed 68 ponds around Madison, Wisconsin, USA, which were classified as urban, greenspace, or rural based on surrounding land use. We evaluated how landscape and local pond factors were correlated with the alpha diversity of aquatic plants, macroinvertebrates, and aquatic vertebrates. We also analyzed whether surrounding land use was associated with changes in community composition and the presence of specific taxa. We found a 23% decrease in mean richness (alpha diversity) from rural to urban pond sites and a 15% decrease from rural to greenspace pond sites. Among landscape factors, adjacent developed land, mowed lawn cover, and greater distances to other waterbodies were negatively correlated with observed pond richness. Among pond level factors, habitat complexity was associated with increased richness, while nonnative fishes were associated with decreased richness. Beta diversity was relatively high for all ponds due to turnover in composition between sites. Urban ponds supported more nonnative species, lacked a subset of native species found in rural ponds, and had slightly higher beta diversity than greenspace and rural ponds. Our results suggest that integrating ponds into connected greenspaces, maintaining riparian vegetation, preventing nonnative fish introductions, and promoting habitat complexity may mitigate the negative effects of urbanization on aquatic richness. While ponds are small in size and rarely incorporated into urban conservation planning, the high beta diversity of distinct pond communities emphasizes their importance for supporting urban biodiversity.

Floristic diversity of native wild ornamental plants of Aravalli Hill Range: a case study from district Rewari, Haryana, India

Ornamental plants are important constituent of floristic diversity which beautify and glorify our surroundings. They add a positive attitude to life, intensify the feeling of happiness, and enhance the economic value of the estate. There has been a growing trend promoted by environmentalists, ecologists, and horticulturalists toward the inclusion of new wild ornamental plants (WOPs) for minimising their maintenance costs and enhancing their survival rate. The current study inventorised the floristic diversity of native WOPs of the Aravalli Hill Range of Haryana State. Researchers recorded 88 native WOPs species belonging to 40 plant families. Asteraceae and Poaceae are the most dominant families, contributing seven species each followed by Fabaceae and Malvaceae with six species each. The habit wise distribution of native WOPs from the Aravalli hill ranges depicted that herbaceous types of plants are dominant with 53.4 % followed by trees (18.2 %), climbers (14.8 %), and shrubs (11.4%). These native WOPs were found suitable for various ornamental purposes which ranges from the garden, potted, medicinal, lawn cover, avenue tree, hedge/fencing, edible, religious/ ceremonial, road dividers, cacti, succulent, and indoor foliage. The current study documented four plants, viz., Argyreia cuneata (Willd.) Ker Gawl., Boswellia serrata Roxb. ex Colebr., Pulicaria wightiana (DC.) C.B.Clarke, and Rivea hypocrateriformis (Desr.) Choisy. endemic to the Indian subcontinent. Blumea lacera (Burm.f.) DC., Cleome viscosa L., Saccharum spontaneum L., and Triumfetta rhomboidea Jacq. were reported to have somewhat invasive potential in this region. Further, it is also suggested to introduce some potential native WOPs into domestication by florists, horticulturists, nurserymen, and municipal authorities for the protection, conservation, and perpetuation of these plants to minimize the use of foreign floral species to control the further spread of alien plants.

ASSESSMENT OF MODEL GRASS PLOTS OF THE CITY OF KYIV IN ECO-CONDITIONS OF ANTHROPOGENIC LOAD

Urban heat islands (UHI) and rapid urbanisation create new health risks for residents of urban territories. The authors consider lawns as an eco-stabilising factor of the urban environment and an element of ensuring the environmental safety of the capital. The purpose of this study was to determine the qualitative state of lawns to the factors of the urban ecosystem and their thermoregulatory function. To determine the impact of anthropogenic factors on research objects, the study assessed the amount of emissions into the atmospheric air from stationary and mobile sources, satellite maps of the intensity of nitrogen dioxide emissions (NO2 ) and sulphur dioxide (SO2 ) in the city’s air basin, heat distribution, and normalised difference moisture index (NDMI). To assess the condition and quality of lawns, the methods of assessing the grasslands of A.A. Laptev (1983) and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were used. It was established that the results of the evaluation of lawn coenoses using the method of O.O. Laptev and UAV are correlated (r=0.87). Lawn areas that were rated as in “satisfactory condition” are characterised by a higher temperature on the heat map and lower NDMI values. Indicators of lawn cover that were rated as in “good condition” correlate with surface temperature and NDMI. The difference in surface temperatures over the area of the experimental sites reaches 5°C and depends on the objects surrounding the perimeter. It was established that lawn areas adjust the thermal mode of the urban system in the warm period of the year, and reduce the temperature of the asphalt surface by about 0.5°C, and together with flower and woody plants – by about 0.9°C. The study results improve the understanding of the physiological effects of heat stress on lawn areas, which allows developing practical strategies for managing urban green spaces with limited water resources and anthropogenic loads

Urban vegetation and songbird nesting guilds: Relationships and implications for conservation and management

Urban environments are heavily anthropogenic and often species depauperate. Many bird species, however, persist in cities, facilitated in part by the vegetated habitats cities provide. Urban vegetation management is likely to be key to bird conservation in cities, but supporting such conservation requires a more complete understanding of the relationships between urban birds and different aspects of urban vegetation than we currently possess. We sought to identify relationships between the species richness and abundance of songbird nesting guilds and attributes of urban vegetation to help build this understanding. We used guild richness and abundance and urban vegetation data compiled via point-count and urban-forest surveys in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City corridor of Iowa, USA to construct binomial N-mixture models. We used our models to evaluate relationships between the abundance and richness of native songbird nesting guilds and different attributes of urban forests and understory vegetation. Relationships between nesting guilds and urban vegetation differed among guilds, although relationships with some attributes of urban vegetation (e.g., impervious and lawn cover) were more similar. Our models indicate that some characteristics of urban vegetation (e.g., tree height, evergreen trees, standing dead trees) are related to the richness or abundance of only one guild, while others (e.g., low vegetation) are important predictors for multiple guilds, but with different relationships. These findings suggest that some attributes such as lawn and impervious cover could be managed city-wide to support conservation, but few vegetation management approaches could be applied uniformly across cities to support species in all nesting guilds. These results thus indicate that urban conservation in the study area and beyond is likely to require vegetation management that is targeted to specific settings within cities and to the requirements of different groups of species that occur within those settings to support a diversity of bird species.

Uncovering the potential for exurban properties and small working farms in the Midwestern United States to provide food and refuge for pollinators

Creating or restoring habitat is a well-established approach to improve pollinator populations. Rural and exurban properties might constitute a straightforward opportunity to convert land to native plants that are beneficial to pollinators given that, in Ohio, these parcels typically contain substantial lawn cover. The purpose of this study is to gauge the public’s acceptance of planting native plants on low-density rural properties. Out of 7557 properties in Butler County, Ohio (U.S.A.), that had at least ¼ acre lawn, were between 1 and 20 acres, and had a dwelling, 200 were randomly selected to receive a survey; half via the drop-off pick-up method and half via mail (for a combined 58% response rate). Pollinator beneficial plants of differing appearance, management, and pollinator service were shown in the questionnaire: Echinacea purpurea, Monarda fistulosa, Asclepias syriaca, and wildflower prairie (multiple species). Respondents were significantly less likely to be willing to plant Asclepias syriaca compared to the other plants shown. If all respondents planted what they said they would consider planting in the more accepted plants, these potentially new plantings would cover 5.4% of the 146.2 km2 devoted to these rural and exurban parcels in the county. However, that proportion decreases to 1% if we only take into account those that said they would make those changes within the year. We discuss what we see as challenges and opportunities to increase pollinator plantings on exurban properties and small working farms in the Midwest. We also describe implications for voluntary habitat restoration on these private lands.

Probabilistic Mapping and Spatial Pattern Analysis of Grazing Lawns in Southern African Savannahs Using WorldView-3 Imagery and Machine Learning Techniques

Savannah grazing lawns are a key food resource for large herbivores such as blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) and white rhino (Ceratotherium simum), and impact herbivore densities, movement and recruitment rates. They also exert a strong influence on fire behaviour including frequency, intensity and spread. Thus, variation in grazing lawn cover can have a profound impact on broader savannah ecosystem dynamics. However, knowledge of their present cover and distribution is limited. Importantly, we lack a robust, broad-scale approach for detecting and monitoring grazing lawns, which is critical to enhancing understanding of the ecology of these vital grassland systems. We selected two sites in the Lower Sabie and Satara regions of Kruger National Park, South Africa with mesic and semiarid conditions, respectively. Using spectral and texture features derived from WorldView-3 imagery, we (i) parameterised and assessed the quality of Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Classification and Regression Trees (CART) and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) models for general discrimination of plant functional types (PFTs) within a sub-area of the Lower Sabie landscape, and (ii) compared model performance for probabilistic mapping of grazing lawns in the broader Lower Sabie and Satara landscapes. Further, we used spatial metrics to analyse spatial patterns in grazing lawn distribution in both landscapes along a gradient of distance from waterbodies. All machine learning models achieved high F-scores (F1) and overall accuracy (OA) scores in general savannah PFTs classification, with RF (F1 = 95.73±0.004%, OA = 94.16±0.004%), SVM (F1 = 95.64±0.002%, OA = 94.02±0.002%) and MLP (F1 = 95.71±0.003%, OA = 94.27±0.003%) forming a cluster of the better performing models and marginally outperforming CART (F1 = 92.74±0.006%, OA = 90.93±0.003%). Grazing lawn detection accuracy followed a similar trend within the Lower Sabie landscape, with RF, SVM, MLP and CART achieving F-scores of 0.89, 0.93, 0.94 and 0.81, respectively. Transferring models to the Satara landscape however resulted in relatively lower but high grazing lawn detection accuracies across models (RF = 0.87, SVM = 0.88, MLP = 0.85 and CART = 0.75). Results from spatial pattern analysis revealed a relatively higher proportion of grazing lawn cover under semiarid savannah conditions (Satara) compared to the mesic savannah landscape (Lower Sabie). Additionally, the results show strong negative correlation between grazing lawn spatial structure (fractional cover, patch size and connectivity) and distance from waterbodies, with larger and contiguous grazing lawn patches occurring in close proximity to waterbodies in both landscapes. The proposed machine learning approach provides a novel and robust workflow for accurate and consistent landscape-scale monitoring of grazing lawns, while our findings and research outputs provide timely information critical for understanding habitat heterogeneity in southern African savannahs.

A Guide to Public Green Space Planning for Urban Ecosystem Services

Street trees, native plantings, bioswales, and other forms of green infrastructure alleviate urban air and water pollution, diminish flooding vulnerability, support pollinators, and provide other benefits critical to human well-being. Urban planners increasingly value such urban ecosystem services (ES), and effective methods for deciding among alternative planting regimes using urban ES criteria are under active development. In this effort, integrating stakeholder values and concerns with quantitative urban ES assessments is a central challenge; although it is widely recommended, specific approaches have yet to be explored. Here, we develop, apply, and evaluate such a method in the Friendly Area Neighborhood of Eugene, Oregon by investigating the potential for increased urban ES through the conversion of public lawn to alternative planting regimes that align with expressed stakeholder priorities. We first estimated current urban ES from green space mapping and published supply rates, finding lawn cover and associated ES to be dominant. Resident and expert priorities were then revealed through surveys and Delphi analyses; top priorities included air quality, stormwater quality, native plantings, and pollinator habitat, while concerns focused on cost and safety. Unexpectedly, most residents expressed a willingness to support urban ES improvements financially. This evidence then informed the development of planting regime alternatives among which we compared achievable future urban ES delivery, revealing clear differences among those that maximized stakeholder priorities, those that maximized quantitative urban ES delivery, and their integration. The resulting contribution is a straightforward method for identifying planting regimes with a high likelihood of success in delivering desired urban ES in specific local contexts.

Оцінювання якісного стану газонного культурфітоценозу на території саду будинку Уряду України

Landscaping and greening of state institutions characterized by a set of special landscape planning decisions due to the functional purpose of the objects. Lawn coverings are eco-stabilizing elements of landscape objects for various purposes. Moreover, the perception of various structural elements of landscape objects depend on the quality of a lawn. The authors analyzed the history of the landscaping of the Building of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (CMU) according to archival data and found that the formation of the landscaping of the garden is characterized by a long history. Literature and cartographic data show that in the early years of the foundation of the garden of the building of CMU the plants assortment consisted of various types of fruit plants, which are arranged with ornamental trees, shrubs and lawn. The authors used the methods of Ukrainian scientist O. O Laptev (1987) to evaluate the quality of the structure of lawn and indicators of general decorativeness. In the article we presented results of distribution of lawn coverings by different types of functional purpose, which is represented with graphic material. We found 25 species of undesirable vegetation in the study area, where the highest hit rates is characteristic for the plants Taraxacum officinale (L.) Weber ex F.H.Wigg. and solitary species such as Asarum europaeum L., Ranunculus repens L. and Omphalodes scorpioides (Haenke) Schrank. The results of the research show that 5705 m2 of lawn cover was evaluated by 4 points with closed mosaic inclination with 75 % projective cover, 1089.5 m2 − 3 points and 60 % of projective cover, 2 points – 815.1 m2 and single (1 point) – 362 m2. The authors provide recommendations for improving the overall decorative condition of lawn.

Building façade-level correlates of bird–window collisions in a small urban area

Abstract Urbanization increasingly exposes birds to multiple sources of direct anthropogenic mortality. Collisions with buildings, and windows in particular, are a top bird mortality source, annually causing 365–988 million fatalities in the United States. Correlates of window collision rates have been studied at the scale of entire buildings and in relation to the surrounding landscape, and most studies have only assessed correlates for all birds combined without considering season- and species-specific risk factors. In Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA, we conducted bird collision surveys at 16 buildings to assess building structural-, vegetation-, and land cover-related collision correlates. Unlike past studies, we focused at the scale of individual building façades, and in addition to considering correlates for total collisions, we assessed correlates for different seasons and separately for 8 collision-prone species. Several façade-related features, including proportional glass coverage, façade length, and façade height, were positively associated with total collisions and collisions for most separate seasons and species. Total collisions were also greater at alcove-shaped façades than flat, curved, and portico-shaped façades. We found that collision correlates varied among seasons (e.g., surrounding lawn cover important in summer and fall, but not spring) and among species (e.g., surrounding impervious cover positively and negatively related to collisions of Painted Bunting [Passerina ciris] and American Robin [Turdus migratorius], respectively). Given the importance of glass proportion, collision reduction efforts should continue to focus on minimizing and/or treating glass surfaces on new and existing buildings. Our species- and season-specific assessments indicate that management of some collision risk factors may not be equally effective for all seasons and species. Future research, policy, and management that integrates information about collision risk for all bird species and seasons, and at multiple scales from building façades to the surrounding landscape, will be most effective at reducing total mortality from bird–window collisions.

Street design in suburban areas and its impact on bird communities: Considering different diversity facets over the year

Several studies have shown that suburban areas have higher bird diversity than non-urban areas. Native vegetation cover, habitat complexity and socioeconomic variables of suburban areas have shown to influence bird richness and composition. However, few studies have explored the effect of street design on bird communities by analyzing different facets of diversity, such as taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity. Moreover, few studies have explored bird-habitat relationships during an annual cycle. In this study, we analyzed total and native bird community differences between two street designs in a suburban area of Mar del Plata city (Argentina) during the breeding and non-breeding seasons. We surveyed streets and chicanes (street with a zigzag pattern), the latter being characterized by a smaller paved area and larger lawn cover than the former. Birds were counted along 100 × 50-m transects. Total bird taxonomic and functional diversity were higher in chicanes than in streets during both seasons, whereas bird richness was higher in chicanes than in streets during the non-breeding season. Native bird richness was higher in chicanes during both seasons, whereas native species diversity was higher in chicanes than in streets during the non-breeding season. Total and native evolutionary distinctiveness and native functional diversity did not vary between street designs or seasons. Total and native species composition were similar between street designs and seasons, but the Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata), the Rufous Hornero (Furnarius rufus), the Chalk-browed Mockingbird (Mimus saturninus) and the Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) showed increased abundances in chicanes. The results suggest the importance of reducing paved road areas, with the consequent increase of vegetated areas and, therefore, of bird diversity in suburban areas. Our analysis highlights the need to conduct studies during an annual cycle for a better understanding of bird community dynamics in urban environments.

Комплексний аналіз рослинного покриву парку-пам’ятки садово-паркового мистецтва місцевого значення «Парк-сквер» (м. Чернівці, вул. Мирона Кордуби)

The results of floristic, coenotic and biotopic research of the phytocenosis cultures variety of the vegetation cover of the park-monument of landscape art of local value «Park-square» (Chernivtsi, Myron Korduba Street) are resented. Species composition of aboriginal (11 species) and introduced (19) woody plants is established. A complex evaluation of exotic dendroflora on the main biomorphological, bioecological and decorative indicators was carried out. It was revealed that most plants belong to a group of decorative and highly decorative plants in the absence of low-decoterative plants. It is established that the phytocenosis cultures of the park-square are characterized by the highest class of perspective and use with maximum recreational load. It has been investigated, that under condition of optimization of structure of existing plantings with participation of beautiful flowering bushes and decorative herbaceous species, the increase of their general esthetic estimation will be provided. The coenotic and ecological purpose for the lawns of the park was characterized. The park's lawn cover is assigned to the association Lolio-Plantaginetum majoris (Linkola 1921) Beger alliance Polygono-Coronopodion Sissingh 1969 order Polygono arenastri-Poetalia annuae Tx. in Géhu et al. 1972 corr. Rivas-Mart. et al. 1991 class Polygono-Poеtea annuae Rivas-Mart. 1975, and intended for mesophytic, hemihydrocontrastphilic, hemiaerophobic, subacidophilic, semi-autotrophic, acarbonphilic, nitrophilic conditions. On the territory of the park, 19 species of alien plants xenophytes were identified with the predominance of kenophytes of North American origin, epecophytes that are confined to anthropogenic-transformed growing areas. The most dangerous among alien plants is a quarantine allergic species Ambrosia artemisiifolia, single species of which are found at the park territory and is assigned to the association groups Lolio-Plantaginetum majoris. Threats of biomonoforming of park phytocenosis cultures were analyzed and the priority of studying of alien plants in the protected areas of the city was justified.

Climate and lawn management interact to control C4 plant distribution in residential lawns across seven U.S. cities.

In natural grasslands, C4 plant dominance increases with growing season temperatures and reflects distinct differences in plant growth rates and water use efficiencies of C3 vs. C4 photosynthetic pathways. However, in lawns, management decisions influence interactions between planted turfgrass and weed species, leading to some uncertainty about the degree of human vs. climatic controls on lawn species distributions. We measured herbaceous plant carbon isotope ratios (δ13 C, index of C3 /C4 relative abundance) and C4 cover in residential lawns across seven U.S. cities to determine how climate, lawn plant management, or interactions between climate and plant management influenced C4 lawn cover. We also calculated theoretical C4 carbon gain predicted by a plant physiological model as an index of expected C4 cover due to growing season climatic conditions in each city. Contrary to theoretical predictions, plant δ13 C and C4 cover in urban lawns were more strongly related to mean annual temperature than to growing season temperature. Wintertime temperatures influenced the distribution of C4 lawn turf plants, contrary to natural ecosystems where growing season temperatures primarily drive C4 distributions. C4 cover in lawns was greatest in the three warmest cities, due to an interaction between climate and homeowner plant management (e.g., planting C4 turf species) in these cities. The proportion of C4 lawn species was similar to the proportion of C4 species in the regional grass flora. However, the majority of C4 species were nonnative turf grasses, and not of regional origin. While temperature was a strong control on lawn species composition across the United States, cities differed as to whether these patterns were driven by cultivated lawn grasses vs. weedy species. In some cities, biotic interactions with weedy plants appeared to dominate, while in other cities, C4 plants were predominantly imported and cultivated. Elevated CO2 and temperature in cities can influence C3 /C4 competitive outcomes; however, this study provides evidence that climate and plant management dynamics influence biogeography and ecology of C3 /C4 plants in lawns. Their differing water and nutrient use efficiency may have substantial impacts on carbon, water, energy, and nutrient budgets across cities.

Modern Approaches to Greening the Urban Environment (on the Example of the Shevchenkovsky District, Kharkov)

Purpose. Scientific and practical justification for the introduction of plantings of ornamental perennial cereals and roses of a landscape group in the urban system of the Shevchenkovsky district, Kharkov. Methods For inventory of lawn stands, ArcGIS software was used. The basis for creating an inventory map of lawn stands was two basic maps - “Basemap Imagery” and “OpenStreetMap. The calculation of the total area of the research objects was carried out by using the Attribute Table. Assessment of the design coverage and constitutional structure of the species composition of lawn stands was carried out by A. A. Laptev and E. V. Avdeev. Observation of the ecological state of urban rose gardens was carried out by route examination, the presence of pathologies was determined visually. To determine the optimization measures, the SWOT analysis method was used. Results. An inventory map of urban lawn stands was developed. According to the results of a visual assessment, the T. G. Shevchenko city garden is the standard of landscaping in many territories and has a high level of quality of lawn stands. "23 August" Square sections of lawn populations near the Botanical garden station metro, square on the Klochkovskaya street includes areas of lawn stands with an excellent, good, satisfactory and unsatisfactory level of quality. The surface of Sargin Yar is well planned, the sites have an excellent, good and satisfactory level of quality. Based on the results of lawn stands comprehensive assessment, maps of the quality levels of urban lawn stands for the main recreational zones of the Shevchenkovsky district have been developed. The use of decorative cereals in particular, the impregnation of cylindrical, Chinese Miscanthus, feather grass feather, cane falaris, lightning blue is proposed. Using the SWOT analysis method, the strengths and weaknesses of the lawn stands of the Shevchenkovsky district, the possibilities and risks of their creation are determined. According to the results of an integrated ecological assessment of the varieties of landscape roses "Cordula" and "Tornado", the feasibility of their use in urban gardening is shown. Keeping these varieties in container culture can positively affect the artistic expressiveness of the urban sulfur, will provide a "high concentration of beauty" and solve the problems of wintering. Conclusions. Taking into account the principle of relevance in order to minimize the cost of further supporting the urban landscape, it is possible to develop cost-effective projects for landscaping areas with an unsatisfactory level of quality of lawn cover using decorative cereals. The proposed types of cereal plants are resistant to environmental factors, unpretentious, require minimal maintenance, have a high aesthetic appeal and decorativeness, low cost of creation.

Year-round monitoring reveals prevalence of fatal bird-window collisions at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center.

Collisions with glass are a serious threat to avian life and are estimated to kill hundreds of millions of birds per year in the United States. We monitored 22 buildings at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center (VTCRC) in Blacksburg, Virginia, for collision fatalities from October 2013 through May 2015 and explored possible effects exerted by glass area and surrounding land cover on avian mortality. We documented 240 individuals representing 55 identifiable species that died due to collisions with windows at the VTCRC. The relative risk of fatal collisions at all buildings over the study period were estimated using a Bayesian hierarchical zero-inflated Poisson model adjusting for percentage of tree and lawn cover within 50 m of buildings, as well as for glass area. We found significant relationships between fatalities and surrounding lawn area (relative risk: 0.96, 95% credible interval: 0.93, 0.98) as well as glass area on buildings (RR: 1.30, 95% CI [1.05–1.65]). The model also found a moderately significant relationship between fatal collisions and the percent land cover of ornamental trees surrounding buildings (RR = 1.02, 95% CI [1.00–1.05]). Every building surveyed had at least one recorded collision death. Our findings indicate that birds collide with VTCRC windows during the summer breeding season in addition to spring and fall migration. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) was the most common window collision species and accounted for 10% of deaths. Though research has identified various correlates with fatal bird-window collisions, such studies rarely culminate in mitigation. We hope our study brings attention, and ultimately action, to address this significant threat to birds at the VTCRC and elsewhere.

Estimating urban lawn cover in space and time: Case studies in three Swedish cities

Lawns are considered monocultures and lesser contributors to sustainability than diverse nature but are still a dominating green area feature and an important cultural phenomenon in cities. Lawns have esthetical values, provide playground, are potential habitat for species, contribute to carbon sequestration and water infiltration, but also increase pesticides, fertilization, are monocultures and costly to manage at the same time. To evaluate the potential impact of lawns, whether positive or negative, it is of interest to estimate the total lawn cover in cities and its change over time. This is not a straightforward process, e.g., because many lawns are small and covered by trees. In this study we review the existing literature of lawn cover in cities and the different methodologies used for cover estimation. We found both pros and cons with NDVI and LiDAR data as well as manually interpreted aerial photos. The total cover of lawns in three case study cities was estimated to 22.5%. By extrapolating these percentages to all Swedish cities lawn cover was estimated to 2589 km2 (0.6% of the terrestrial surface). The approximated total municipal management cost of lawns in all Swedish cities was 910,000,000 USD/ year. During 50 years lawn area almost doubled in relative cover and 56% of them were continuously managed. Since lawns constitute large parts of the urban greenery and are costly to manage it is highly relevant to consider their social, ecological and cultural value compared to alternatives, e.g., meadows with less intensive management.

The lawn as a social and cultural phenomenon in Sweden

Lawns have a significant influence on the cityscape as one of the essential elements of green spaces and an important part of people’s everyday lives. Most people in the Western world view lawns as a compulsory element of the urban landscape, almost an icon, without questioning their social, symbolic, ecological or aesthetic values. This research is a part of the conceptual framework and methodological approaches that are being used in an ongoing transdisciplinary collaboration project to study lawns in Sweden as a social and ecological phenomenon.The overall aim of this study was to investigate social and cultural perceptions of lawns, as well as motives behind decisions about the establishment and management of lawns in Sweden. Two multi-family housing typologies, the ‘Million Programme’ and ‘People’s Homes’, were examined due to their dominance in Swedish cities. We also studied how an alternative vision of conventional lawns can be applied and accepted by urban residents. We estimated lawn cover in multi-family housing areas and links to people’s perception and use of lawns. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and observational studies were used (N=300). Our results showed that people like lawns even if they do not always directly use them. Lawns cover the most significant amount of outdoor spaces in all multi-family residential areas and accompany people everywhere from the house to the schoolyard or park. The total lawn cover in the study areas was 27.8%. Lawns were particularly valued as important places for different outdoor activities (playing, resting, picnicking, walking, socialising) and enjoying the green colour. However people do not want to use a vast monotonous lawn, but a variety of spaces that provide good conditions for different senses (sound, smell, touch and sight) and activities. Alternative lawns were also appreciated by many citizens, politicians, planners and managers. The implementation of new types of lawns requires special planning and design solutions adjusted for each particular neighbourhood.

The impacts of land cover types on urban outdoor thermal environment: the case of Beijing, China.

BackgroundThis study investigated the microclimatic behavior of different land cover types in urban parks and, the correlation between air temperature and land cover composition to understand how land cover affects outdoor thermal environment during hot summer.MethodsTo address this issue, air temperatures were measured on four different land cover types at four observation sites inside an urban park in Beijing, China, meanwhile, the land cover composition of each site was quantified with CAD, by drawing corresponding areas on the aerial photographs.ResultsThe results showed that the average air temperature difference among four land cover types was large during the day and small during the night. At noon, the average air temperature differed significantly among four land cover types, whereas on night, there was no significant difference among different land cover types. Results of the linear regression indicated that during daytime, there was a strong negative correlation between air temperature and percent tree cover; while at nighttime, a significant negative correlation was observed between air temperature and percent lawn cover. It was shown that as the percent tree cover increased by 10 %, the air temperature decreased by 0.26 °C during daytime, while as the percent lawn cover increased by 10 %, the air temperature decreased by 0.56 °C during nighttime.ConclusionsResults of this study help to clarify the effects of land cover on urban outdoor thermal environment, and can provide assistance to urban planner and designer for improving green space planning and design in the future.

Habitat associations of birds of prey in urban business parks

Various species of raptors, or birds of prey, have been found living and hunting in all parts of the urban environment, including complexes of business and light industrial facilities, commonly known as business parks. Conservation in business parks is a growing concern due to the amount of land they occupy and their pattern of development of formerly vacant land on the fringes of urban areas. We conducted call-broadcast surveys for raptors at a set of 155 survey points within the business park landscape of the St. Louis area to answer the question of what landscape characteristics of business parks are predictors of presence of raptors. The detection data from these surveys was used to model the occupancy probability of the target species of raptor at each survey site and to determine the effect of landscape variables at each site on occupancy probabilities. We detected nine species of raptors at business parks. The red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), the American kestrel (Falco sparverius), and the Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii) were the most commonly detected species. The probability of raptor occupation was negatively associated with lawn cover. Occupancy probabilities of red-tailed hawks and Cooper’s hawks were positively associated with woodland cover, and American kestrel occupancy probability was positively associated with grassland cover. Based on this study, we would recommend that businesses concerned with the conservation of raptors in and around their properties plan to develop less lawn area, preserve or plant more native grassland, and preserve woodlots.

The effect of plant richness and urban garden structure on bird species richness, diversity and community structure

Urban green areas improve the standard of living in cities and affect people's attitude to nature and conservation. Zoological knowledge may provide data that will help designers to enhance bird diversity in gardens. We studied the effect of plant species richness and structure on bird species richness, diversity and community structure in 25 public gardens in Tel-Aviv city and, neighboring suburbs, Israel. A total of 65 bird species were observed, of which nine were urban, exploiters or alien species. These latter species composed 54% of all individuals seen. Additional 13 bird species, mostly migrants, were observed in gardens further from the observation fixed radius. We found that shrubs species richness positively affected bird species diversity. Most bird species were found where trees and shrubs species richness was high, and trees and lawn cover were medium or low. High trees or high lawn cover attracted only a few bird species, mostly aliens and urban exploiters. Native birds preferred to forage on native trees and alien birds preferred to feed on alien trees. Bird species diversity was higher during spring and fall because of the presence of migrating bird species. Dogs and people had a negative effect on bird presence. Accordingly, we recommend that when planning new gardens, designers will avoid large lawns, prefer diverse and dense shrubberies, native trees, and will create some areas that will not be accessible to dogs and people. Finally, we emphasize the importance of multidisciplinary studies conducted in collaboration between landscape designers and zoologists.

A growing concern? Examining the influence of lawn size on residential water use in suburban Boston, MA, USA

In the US, households devote a considerable share of their annual water use to outdoor purposes. Existing literature suggests that residential lawns are a major driver of this outdoor use, especially in suburban settings. Yet this has not been tested using a broad-scope, fine-scale, and spatially explicit dataset. This paper presents a spatially explicit analysis of the relationship between household lawns and water use in suburban Boston for the year 2005, and extrapolates this relationship to the year 2030 under different scenarios of (sub)urban growth. We examine this relationship by employing two novel datasets: a 0.5m resolution land cover classification of the town of Ipswich, MA and a town-wide household-scale monthly water billing dataset. Two scenarios of (sub)urban development in 2030 are explored, representing current trends and smart growth assumptions, using the land change model GEOMOD. Expected total annual residential water use is calculated for each scenario by extrapolating the relationship between household characteristics and water use from 2005 to 2030. We find that lawn cover, living unit density, and the number of bathrooms can explain 90% of the variation in annual residential water use. We estimate that Ipswich, MA could save 46 million liters of residential water use (a reduction of 5%) by pursuing a smart growth strategy. These modest savings are notable as they are achieved strictly through a densification approach to development i.e., the scenario includes no demand side management.