Urban Green Space Management Research Articles

The rising and heterogeneous demand for urban green space by Chinese urban residents: Evidence from Beijing

Studies using Hedonic housing price model to discuss residents' demand for urban green space (UGS) demonstrate the importance that residents place on UGS. While much of the empirical findings have focused on residents' willingness to pay, more attention needs to be paid on its temporal change and spatial heterogeneity. Taking advantage of the diverse composition of urban parks, housing, and residents in Beijing, this paper explores the dynamic and heterogeneous demand for UGS. Using more than 240 thousand micro housing resale transaction data from 2011 to 2019, this paper constructs a Hedonic model to empirically estimate and confirm the basic, dynamic and heterogenous willingness to pay of residents for urban parks. Our empirical findings confirm the rising and heterogeneous demand for UGS by Chinese urban residents. First, the willingness to pay for parks of urban residents has continued to grow during our study period. Second, in view of different socioeconomic characteristics, there exists heterogeneous demand related to the housing of residents and different types of parks. Residents who live in homes with a larger size have a stronger demand for urban parks. Meanwhile, urban residents prefer parks with free entry over fee-based parks, and they have strong preference for some specific types of parks. Moreover, we conduct a survey and collect 907 valid samples to directly obtain residents' willingness to pay for urban parks, and the survey results further confirm the abovementioned findings. This study deepens the understanding of urban residents’ demand for UGS, and will contribute to more scientific decision making on the planning, financing and management of UGS.

Role of Urban Greening Strategies for Environmental Sustainability—A Review and Assessment in the Context of Saudi Arabian Megacities

The review and assessment of urban greening patterns play a crucial role in sustainable urban planning and green spaces (GSs) management, helping to improve human well-being. In recent years, various methods and strategies were applied to examine the relationship between GSs and environmental sustainability, but so far, no studies on systematic review and empirical assessments were carried out in Saudi Arabian context. Thus, a comprehensive review and assessment of current GSs patterns and planning strategies are important for achieving urban environmental sustainability. This study aims to assess spatial pattern of GSs across the cities and a bibliographic review on the urban greening strategies in the Saudi context. These six urban strategies were further supported from empirical evidence on Saudi cities. Geographical information system (GIS) techniques and questionnaire surveys were performed for spatial mapping of GSs and the perceived role of GSs strategies of the respondent to environmental sustainability across cities. The findings showed that (i) highest PCGS was reported from Dammam (5.4 m2) followed by Riyadh (1.18 m2), and Jeddah (0.5 m2); (ii) most of the respondents use GSs for picnic (59%), mental well-being (53%), and physical activities (47%), respectively; (iii) GSs play a significant role for local climate regulation such as temperature control (78%) and UHI reduction (81%), and GSs provide thermal comfort (84%), respectively; and (iv) 40% respondents do not use GSs due to the lack of availability, accessibility, design, management, and safety of GSs. Thus, such findings of the study surely assist planners and policy makers to understand and implement the suggested GSs strategies to meet the satisfaction level of the respondents as well as to manage GSs at neighborhood and city level for urban environmental sustainability.

Unpacking Stakeholder Perceptions of the Benefits and Challenges Associated With Urban Greenspaces in Sub-Saharan Africa

Urban greenspaces underpin ecosystem service provision in cities and are therefore indispensable for human well-being. Nevertheless, they are increasingly disappearing from cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding how the stakeholders influencing urban greenspace management perceive the benefits provided by urban greenspaces and the challenges to its conservation and management is critical for reversing this trend. Using Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe, as a case study, we conducted 44 semi-structured interviews to explore the profiles and perceptions of stakeholders who currently hold influence over greenspace planning, conservation and management. Stakeholders with influence over urban greenspace management described the main focus of their organisation as relating to urban planning, natural resources protection and management, development work, or the hospitality business sector. Critically, only a third of all stakeholders focused on natural resources protection and management. Stakeholders had nuanced and varied appreciations of the benefits that greenspaces provide. Regulation and maintenance ecosystem services, as well as cultural services were frequently mentioned. However, provisioning services were mostly mentioned by those in development work. Stakeholders also identified an additional suite of societal benefits that do not directly map onto ecosystem service frameworks, such as the generation of financial income and the provision of employment opportunities. Challenges identified as hampering the planning, conservation and management of greenspaces included inappropriate urbanisation, lack of coordination and participation, and population growth. Lack of coordination was however not widely acknowledged among those focusing on natural resources protection, who conversely identified population growth more often than any other groups. Highlighting how stakeholders with varying priorities perceive ecosystem services a first step towards improving greenspaces management both for their better acceptation and for improving their potential for biodiversity conservation. Specifically, we bring attention to need for stakeholders working with natural resources protection to recognise more the need for collaborations and engagement. Additional research is also necessary to understand how those different perspectives might be integrated into ongoing processes and procedures to manage greenspaces in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Extensively managed or abandoned urban green spaces and their habitat potential for butterflies

Urban green spaces are often subject to intensive management and therefore only provide habitat for very few plant and animal species. Many studies have already proven that less intensive management of near-natural grassland habitats can increase species diversity, for example of butterflies. However, there is still a lack of knowledge as to what extent less intensive management of urban green spaces can promote urban butterfly diversity. Therefore, we examined parameters that determine the number of butterfly species in less maintained or even abandoned urban green spaces. We expected butterfly species richness and observation numbers to be affected by different management regimes. Butterfly surveys were carried out on 56 sites in the city of Hannover, Germany, in three consecutive years. The sites were subject to different management regimes. We explored parameters such as area size, the diversity of nectar plant species and habitat diversity for each site. A total of 34 species were recorded, with a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 17 species per site and year. The extreme drought and heat in 2018 clearly influenced the results of our study and this was reflected in massive decreases of observation numbers for some species. Less intensive management showed preferable effects in comparison to intensive management, but area size and nectar plants were more important factors influencing butterfly species richness and number of observations. Our results suggest that site parameters such as area size, nectar plant species richness or number of habitat types had stronger influences on butterflies than variations of extensive management. We conclude that less intensive urban green space management for good butterfly habitats is not a question of grazing, mowing or temporary abandonment, but instead must aim to increase nectar plant and habitat diversity.

Testing the Effect of Hedge Height on Perceived Safety—A Landscape Design Intervention

Access to safe, green urban environments is important for quality of life in cities. The objective of this study is to explore the impact of a safety-enhancing landscape design measure on visitors’ experiences in an urban park. Additionally, this paper combines the use of field and virtual reality (VR) experiments, contributing methodological insights into how to evaluate safety measures in green space management and research on perceived safety. In a field experiment (n = 266), we explored whether the height of a hedge along a pathway influenced perceived safety among users. The field study showed that cutting down the hedge improved the perceived prospect of the immediate surrounding areas for female users, which again made them feel safer in the park. We developed a VR experiment for an evening scenario in the same environment (n = 19) to supplement the field study and test the effect of the intervention further. The VR experiment also found a gender effect on perceived safety, with females reporting lower perceived safety, but no effect was shown for the height of the hedge. The results in this study show that environmental attributes such as perceived prospect and concealment should be considered in the design and management of urban green spaces. Additionally, this research demonstrates an approach to conducting field experiments to test the effects of actual design interventions and then further developing these experiments using VR technology. Further research on perceived safety in outdoor spaces is needed to make use of this combined method’s potential.

Soil greenhouse gas fluxes from a humid tropical forest and differently managed urban parkland in Singapore

Studies of soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes (CO2, CH4 and N2O) from tropical soils are still scarce and the effects of urban green space management on soil GHG fluxes are poorly addressed. In order to establish reliable global GHG budgets, field measurements of soil GHG fluxes from different land uses and management practices in tropical regions are urgently needed. In this study, soil fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O were measured over a period of one year, from a forest and an urban parkland in Singapore. At the parkland site, two additional management practices were investigated, namely compost application to urban lawn and the replacement of lawn by legumes. The average CO2 efflux from the forest soil was 0.17 ± 0.01 g C m−2 h−1 and was 30% lower than that of the parkland soil. The forest soil was a CH4 sink (−36.03 ± 8.80 μg C m−2 h−1), while the parkland soil was a source of CH4 (43.79 ± 9.66 μg C m−2 h−1). Both soils were net emitters of N2O, with the forest soil releasing four times more N2O (23.23 ± 5.10 μg N m−2 h−1) than the parkland soil (6.47 ± 2.52 μg N m−2 h−1). During the entire observation period, compost application increased CO2eq by 30% compared with the untreated parkland soil. Shortly after compost addition, CO2 fluxes significantly increased and remained elevated until the end of the experiment. Soil CH4 emissions also increased, but the effect was small compared to CO2 (<1% CO2eq). Compost amendment caused an immediate short-term peak of N2O emissions. However, after the first day, which was characterized by a heavy rain event, the compost effect on N2O production was negligible. Compared to grass cultivation, legume planting resulted in a 20% reduction of CO2eq. This study shows that conserving mature secondary forests and the cultivation of herbaceous legumes on tropical urban soils, where open lawn spaces are not required, can reduce soil GHG emissions.

Urban greenness and plant species are key factors in shaping air microbiomes and reducing airborne pathogens

Urban green space has been implicated in shaping airborne microbes, but there is an only rudimentary understanding of the key factors of urban green space affecting the composition and structures of airborne microbes. Here, we selected 40 urban sites based on stratified random sampling design and investigated the effects of multiple factors including landscapes, plant, soil, and anthropogenic factors on airborne microbial communities, especially bacterial and fungal pathogens. Bacterial and fungal communities in the control area with lower greenness were significantly (P < 0.05) different from those in other areas with a gradient of green space. The relative abundance of bacterial and fungal pathogens significantly (P < 0.05) decreased with increasing greenness. Other than soil thickness, soil type, slope position, and population density, plant species considerably contributed to the shift in the composition and abundance of potential bacterial and fungal pathogens. A significantly (P < 0.05) reduced abundance of bacterial and fungal pathogens was observed in areas with >30% masson pine. Together, these results provide insights into the importance of green space for providing health benefits for city dwellers by reducing pathogens in air, as well as providing support for the inclusion of plant species in the management of urban green space to reduce exposure risk of airborne pathogens.

Striving for Inclusion—A Systematic Review of Long-Term Participation in Strategic Management of Urban Green Spaces

This systematic review contributes to the research field of user participation by suggesting a new holistic approach comprising a cyclic process model for long-term participation in the strategic management of urban green spaces, including analysis, design, and implementation phases, each followed by an evaluation. User participation in urban green spaces is encouraged in international conventions. Such initiatives aim to involve citizens more closely in decisions regarding local spaces, based on the premise that this will create better, more inclusive, and sustainable local environments. However, a social inclusion perspective is largely absent in the growing body of European scientific literature on urban green spaces. Further, user participation processes are often carried out within projects, with uncertainties about which strategic management phase (planning, design, construction, and/or maintenance) to emphasize and about the long-term sustainability of project-based participation. Therefore, the literature was examined for tools for participation with the focus on participation of local users in the strategic management of urban green spaces, and in particular, marginalized groups. A systematic review based on peer-reviewed scientific papers revealed the necessity for adapting participation processes to the known needs of different participant groups, including those of marginalized groups often excluded in the past. Local authorities have several pathways to socially inclusive and long-term participation. These include choosing and employing a suitable participation approach, anchoring repeated project-based participation in existing municipal long-term strategies, continuously supporting participating users and evaluating ongoing participation processes, and employing a mix of participation types and approaches. The “cyclic process model for long-term participation in strategic management of UGS” presented in this paper could guide such efforts.

Drivers of spontaneous plant richness patterns in urban green space within a biodiversity hotspot

Urban green space provides refuges for species that are unintentionally introduced by humans and which do not belong to the remnants of natural habitats in urban areas. However, the quantitative relationships between urban green space properties and these spontaneous species are unclear. To address this, we surveyed plant species occurring in urban green patches in Kunming city, which is located in a biodiversity hotspot in southwest China. We classified spontaneous plants into native, non-native and invasive plant species. A total of 386 spontaneous species belonging to 278 genera and 92 families were recorded in 190 patches. Most of the recorded species were herbaceous plants (76.2 %). While invasive species constituted a relatively small proportion of the total species pool (17.9 %), six out of ten of the most frequently occurring species were invasive. Regression models inspired by the theory of Island Biogeography show that total, native, non-native and invasive spontaneous species richness in urban green patches were best explained by the size of the ‘island’ (patch area), dispersal limitations (as expressed by ‘distance to city boundary’) and edge effects (as shown by the landscape shape index). While the set of drivers of spontaneous plants is similar for the different groups of species, the relative importance of each driver varies among them. Our study provides quantification of drivers of biodiversity patterns in urban green space. Based on this understanding, planning and management of urban green space can be adapted to maximize spontaneous plant conservation in rapidly urbanizing biodiversity hotspot regions.

Cemeteries as public urban green space: Management, funding and form

As cities around the world increase in density, and the number of urban green spaces decrease, the role cemeteries play is becoming increasingly important. Highly vegetated cemeteries can provide important public green spaces in urban environments and give recreational opportunities to city residents. They are also important historical and cultural landscapes, and as places of burial they contain special sacred and social meanings. Cemeteries are complex places that can have a myriad of meaning and uses.This research examines cross-national differences between cemeteries in Sweden and the United States. It uses a case study method to compare two large historical cemeteries in urban environments: Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York in the United States and the Östra kyrkogården (Eastern Cemetery) in Malmö, Sweden. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers in both cemeteries complemented by site observations.This study explores differences in cemetery management, funding and form, and how these factors can affect the recreational usage of these spaces as public urban green space. The research compares how the funding differences between the United States and Sweden regarding the private versus public funding of cemeteries and burials affects cemetery management differences. It also examines how the physical form of a cemetery can affect public accessibility, use as urban green space and landscape management practices.Public use of Östra kyrkogården and Green-Wood Cemetery as recreational urban green spaces has changed over time. Both cemeteries show how differences in management and physical form can affect public accessibility and their multifunctional usage as urban green spaces. National differences in private versus public cemetery funding, along with burial in perpetuity in the United States compared to grave reuse in Sweden, also have ramifications for the evolution and preservation of cemeteries.

Analysis of Regional Regulation Number year 2015 Implementation on Urban Green Space Management in Mataram City

Green open space is an area that has a function as well as a place to grow plants, both those that grow naturally and are planted. One way to improve environmental quality and revitalize urban ecosystems is by managing the Green Open Space. One of the alternatives supporting this effort is to make supportive and applicable policies, laws, and regulations. This research was conducted to examine the implementation of Regional Regulation Number 8 of 2015 regarding Green Open Space Management in Mataram City and to find out planning strategies in optimizing the implementation of applicable policies. The method used in this research is literature study method, interview, and observation. In this study, six criteria are used based on William N. Dunn's theory to analyze policies and SWOT analysis to determine the appropriate management strategy. The policy implementation analysis results show that the implementation of these regional regulations falls into the "medium" category with a score of 2.13. This indicates that several indicators need to be tightened to optimize policies' effectiveness, so it is necessary to revise policies to maximize implementation. Several strategies that can be carried out to maximize the role of stakeholders are disseminating information about the content of local regulations that are applied to all related parties, explaining the programs that will be implemented to create a common understanding for all parties as a whole based on the objectives to be achieved, optimizing local regulations which applies to improve coordination in the implementation of green open space management which aims to maximize the role between agencies to create adequate technical personnel, facilities and infrastructure and synchronize the main tasks and functions of each agency in implementing green open space management to maximize their respective roles.

Ecosystem Service Use and the Motivations for Use in Central Parks in Three European Cities

The majority of Europeans live in cities, where parks as components of Urban Green Spaces (UGSs) play an important role in well-being and the provision of ecosystem services (ES). UGSs are especially relevant for the implementation of the United Nations (UN) Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals “Good health and wellbeing” (Goal 3) and “Sustainable cities and communities” (Goal 11). This study focused on ES use and users’ motives, which were surveyed during visits at central parks in the cities Leipzig, Coimbra and Vilnius. Park visitors used 17 different ES, dominated by physical interactions such as walking or biking, followed by experiential and aesthetical ES and ES linked to social relations. Age of visitors, cultural setting and distance to homes influenced ES use in the parks differently in each city, limiting the transferability of park—user behaviour or motivations across different spatial and cultural contexts. Results also indicate that aligning sustainability objectives and usability, good accessibility of urban parks plays a central role and encourages the use of non-motorized or public transport for park visits. Concrete information about UGS user motivation and behaviour generated in this and similar studies contributes to convert the UN Agenda 2030 strategies at the municipal level into sustainability and user-oriented design and management of UGS.

Accommodating green spaces in cities: Perceptions and attitudes in slums

The growing assumption in urban studies literature is that residents of slum communities struggle to find space to live but not a place to recreate and enjoy green space. However, at present no research has explored slum residents' perspectives and attitudes towards urban green spaces. The purpose of this study is threefold: (i) to establish a spatio-temporal analytical evidence of urban green spaces in slum communities; (ii) to examine slum residents' perceptions on urban green space availability and use; and (iii) explore how their perceptions have influenced their attitudes towards urban green space management. Using two slum communities - Nima and Agbogbloshie - in Ghana's national capital Accra as case studies, household surveys, focus group discussions, secondary data analysis and agency interviews were conducted. Spatio-temporal analysis showed significant loss of green spaces (about 83% in Agbogbloshie and 92% in Nima) between 2000 and 2018. Yet, slum residents generally expressed positive attitudes towards urban green spaces despite government agencies reporting otherwise (χ2 = 16.140, p < 0.000). The challenge with green spaces in slums was more of an urban planning's neglect of slums as part of the urban system rather than residents' attitudes.

Urban green spaces in Dhaka, Bangladesh, harbour nearly half the country’s butterfly diversity

AbstractCities currently harbour more than half of the world’s human population and continued urban expansion replaces natural landscapes and increases habitat fragmentation. The impacts of urbanisation on biodiversity have been extensively studied in some parts of the world, but there is limited information from South Asia, despite the rapid expansion of cities in the region. Here, we present the results of monthly surveys of butterflies in three urban parks in Dhaka city, Bangladesh, over a 3-year period (January 2014 to December 2016). We recorded 45% (137 of the 305 species) of the country’s butterfly richness, and 40% of the species detected are listed as nationally threatened. However, butterfly species richness declined rapidly in the three study areas over the 3-year period, and the decline appeared to be more severe among threatened species. We developed linear mixed effect models to assess the relationship between climatic variables and butterfly species richness. Overall, species richness was positively associated with maximum temperature and negatively with mean relative humidity and saturation deficit. Our results demonstrate the importance of urban green spaces for nationally threatened butterflies. With rapidly declining urban green spaces in Dhaka and other South Asian cities, we are likely to lose refuges for threatened fauna. There is an urgent need to understand urban biodiversity dynamics in the region, and for proactive management of urban green spaces to protect butterflies in South Asia.

Governance of Urban Green Spaces across Latin America - Insights from Semi-Structured Interviews to Managers Amid COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to managers of urban green spaces. As suggested by findings from 18 structured interviews from six Latin American countries reported in this paper, managers in Latin America have not been able to take the most advantage of available green space during the COVID-19 lockdown. At the core of this inability is a governance characterized by dependence on political will, lack of continuity due the non-existence of civil service, limited autonomy, insufficient budgets, absence of formal paths to fund themselves, shortage of technical know-how, and insufficient citizens' involvement. Thus, while a criticism to management of urban green spaces in developed cities is its focus on recreational services -with no attention to other ecosystem services-, management in Latin America is heavily constrained by funds that barely afford maintenance of basic infrastructure -with exceptions that we highlight in the manuscript. Consequently, managers of urban green spaces across Latin America have not successfully implemented adaptation measures that, for instance, European counterparts have -e.g. traffic management, information campaigns. In addition, these governance capabilities pose the risk of maladaptation. For instance, many managers in Latin America have formally resorted to a full closure of their premises during the COVID-19 lockdown but they have not successfully enforced such a closure, which likely has brought undesirable effects -e.g. more overcrowding than under a controlled no-closure scenario. We provide public policy recommendations, and a list of research questions specific to Latin America -an understudied region when it comes to both governance of urban green spaces, and the role of urban green spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

广州市典型绿地土壤水分入渗特征

绿地对于缓解城市洪涝灾害具有非常重要的作用，对其土壤入渗的定量化研究是评价城市绿地雨洪调蓄能力的关键。受城市土壤空间异质性的影响，不同功能区绿地土壤水分入渗速率的差异较大。采用双环入渗仪对广州海珠国家湿地公园典型乔草和灌草绿地的土壤水分入渗特征进行测定，并对其影响因素进行分析，结果表明：（1）广州海珠国家湿地公园的绿地土壤水分入渗性能处于中等至较高水平，但受机械和人为压实作用，绿地土壤容重偏大，总孔隙率偏低，加上外来客土影响，土壤物理性黏粒含量高，且有人为侵入体混入等，从而抑制了绿地表层土壤的水分入渗；（2）灌草相对于乔草对绿地表层土壤水分入渗的改善更为明显，这主要与前者的根系分布较浅有关，此外灌草绿地的凋落物更易留存，且其细根分解较快，这均有助于表层土壤有机质的及时返还，从而促进了绿地表层土壤的水分入渗；（3）广州海珠国家湿地公园绿地土壤的水分累积入渗量随时间变化更符合Kostiakov模型。未来广州市绿地的建设及管理应减少土壤压实及外来客土混入，适当增加灌草比例，使其兼顾旅游休闲和雨洪蓄积功能，从而有助于海绵城市的高效建设。;Rapid soil water infiltration in green space plays an important role in the alleviation of flood hazard in urban areas, so its accurate measurement is very critical for the assessment of flood storage capacity in cities. However, the soil infiltration rate of green space in different functional zones varied greatly due to the high spatial heterogeneity in urban soil. In this paper, soil infiltration rate was measured using a double ring infiltrometer and its influencing factors were analyzed in Haizhu National Wetland Park, Guangzhou city. The results indicated that:(1) soil water infiltration capacity in green space of the Haizhu National Wetland Park could be classified as the middle to relatively high level. However, the soil physical clay content and bulk density in our study area were relatively higher, while soil non-capillary porosity was relatively lower in green space soil compared with the natural soil, which could be attributed to its soil source mainly transported from other places, such as pond sludge. Moreover, heavy soil compactions from both mechanical and human activities, as well as mixture of anthropogenic intrusions due to the mismanagement of urban solid waste, which all contributed to the inhibition of soil water infiltration in urban green space. (2) Plantation of shrubs and grasses could greatly improve the soil water infiltration capacity in surface soil of urban green space compared with the plantation of trees and grasses, which was due to the relatively shallow root distribution of shrubs in soils. In addition, more difficulty in cleaning the leaf and branch litter, and higher decomposition rate with finer roots were more commonly observed in urban green space with shrubs and grasses, which both contributed to the rapid feedback of litter from leaves, branches and roots, facilitated the increase of the surface soil organic content, and further enhanced the soil water infiltration capacity in urban green space. (3) With higher R² and lower RMSE, the variation of cumulative infiltration of soil water into the urban green space could be better simulated through the Kostiakov model. The establishment and management of urban green space should focus more on the combined plantation of trees, shrubs and grasses, especially the increase of shrub plantations, while reduce the use of soil from other places, particularly the soil with high physical clay content, and weaken the soil compaction by building the specified passage and recreation area, which will balance the functions between leisure and flood storage in urban green space, and facilitate the development of sponge city in Guangzhou.

Relationship study among soils physicochemical properties and bacterial communities in urban green space and promotion of its composition and network analysis

AbstractBacterial communities are closely related to soil physicochemical properties in urban green spaces, which also are important biological indicators in urban soil quality. However, there has been little basic research on soil bacterial composition and network analysis in different urban green space types, leading to a lack of micro‐understanding during urban green space management. Therefore, 30 soil sample sites from 0 to 40 cm were separately selected from two primary urban green space types (attached and park) in Beijing. We investigated how soil bacterial communities and networks respond to soil physicochemical properties by using high‐throughput 16S rDNA sequencing. Soil moisture content, organic matter (OM), total N (TN), available N, available K (AK), total Pb, and total Hg in park green space soils were significantly increased 1.49, 2.04, 1.78, 1.46, 1.20, 1.84, and 7.19 times relative to attached green space soils. A total of 2,238,221 sequences (440 bp) were acquired from urban green space soils. norank_c_Acidobacteria, Blastocatellaceae_Subgroup_4_, Gemmatimonadaceae, Anaerolineaceae, and Nitrosomonadaceae were the major bacterial families, and soil OM (36.6%, P = .01) and TN (34.6%, P = .01) were significantly (P &lt; .01) positively correlated with bacterial communities at the family level in urban green soils. Through network analysis, we determined that Actinobacteria was the core microorganism in parks and attached green space soils, but taxonomic groups in park green space soils tended to be more modular and more closely connected. Therefore, we should pay more attention to promoting development of soil nutrients in urban green spaces, especially attached green spaces. Our results provide scientific guidance for urban green space ecological environmental management.

Seasonal fluctuations of urban birds and their responses to immigration: An example from Macau, China

Understanding interactions between resident and non-resident birds in urban areas is important for managing urban greenspace to protect urban bird diversity. Here, we determined how interactions between resident and non-resident species potentially affect bird diversity in the urban green species of Macau (subtropical area of China). We examined seasonal fluctuations in the habitat use and structuring of an avian community, along with potential drivers. We recorded habitat use relative to land-use/landcover configurations, focal habitat characteristics, and disturbance data in 13 semi-isolated urban parks to identify factors driving competition. We used line-transects to count individual birds and species, and analyzed the data using ANOVA, linear regression, and variance partitioning analysis. Species richness, the abundance of non-residents, and the population size of various resident feeding guilds noticeably fluctuated across seasons within the year. These phenomena were attributed to birds migrating through Macau during spring and fall, which drove structural changes to resident bird populations. Resident and non-resident insectivore and insectivore-frugivore populations responded positively to shrub cover in spring, and to proximity to large waterbodies in fall. However, while both resident insectivores and insectivore-frugivores utilized high quality habitat during summer (non-migratory season), when interspecific competition was low, these two groups competed for available habitat during the migratory seasons. Thus, resident and non-resident bird guilds appear to compete for optimal habitat in Macau during the migratory seasons. In particular, residents appeared to avoid direct competition with migrants, potentially associated with the trade-off between fitness costs and shifting patches. Our results provide new insights on the seasonal fluctuations in the community structure of urban birds and potential driving factors. By understanding how the importance of certain habitats changes with changing community dynamics, the management of urban green spaces could be guided to ensure certain habitat types are more available.

The Optimized N, P, and K Fertilization for Bermudagrass Integrated Turf Performance during the Establishment and Its Importance for the Sustainable Management of Urban Green Spaces

Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers) turf is the most widely used turfgrass in urban landscapes. Large amounts of fertilizer are usually applied for maximum turf performance, while relatively little attention has been paid to efficient nutrient management of bermudagrass turf. The design opted for was a 3-factor and 5-level Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD) consisting of 24 experimental runs in the greenhouse with response surface methodology (RSM) and simulated regression modeling. The experiment covered in this study was carried out at Sichuan Agricultural University with the objectives of understanding the interactive effects of nitrogen, (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) fertilization on the bermudagrass integrated turf performance (ITP) and optimizing the amount of N, P, and K required for optimum turf performance during establishment. The qualitative and quantitative relationships between bermudagrass and fertilization significantly affected the ITP. The N, P, and K Fertilization significantly influenced the percent grass cover, turf height, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, and total chlorophyll content. Fertilization with N and P significantly enhanced the tiller length, turf density, color, and total protein levels. Root length was augmented with the application of P and K. We found that 3-D surface plots indicated significant interactive effects of NP, NK, and PK on the ITP. A simulation optimization and frequency analysis indicated that the optimal combined amounts of these nutrients were N: 26.0–27.6 g m−2, P: 24.2–26.4 g m−2, and K: 3.1–5.0 g m−2 during the establishment phase. The results suggest that optimized fertilization is key to sustainable nutrient management of bermudagrass integrated turf performance.

Assessing the Impacts of Urban Land Use Changes on Regional Ecosystem Services According to Urban Green Space Policies Via the Patch-Based Cellular Automata Model.

As urbanization affects the quality of regional ecosystems, which are needed to ensure the well-being of residents, urban land management plans should consider ecosystem services. While several studies have assessed urbanization impacts on regional ecosystem services in developing urban areas, they used limited approaches that only considered options pertaining to urban green space management. A modeling approach that simulates changes in urban land use and associated ecosystem services can better support urban land management decisions by comparing the effects of different scenarios. We simulated urban land use change impacts on regional ecosystem services using a patch-based cellular automata model and assessment tools for seven ecosystem service indicators in different urban management scenarios regarding green space policies in Ansan, South Korea. The simulation results showed spatial patterns of land use changes and impacts on associated ecosystem services although their impacts varied according to different service types. While urbanization affected regional ecosystem services to a lesser extent than land use changes, urban green space policies contributed to increasing ecosystem services. Our approach provides useful information for improved policy decisions with regard to coupling urban management with ecosystem services, as urban green spaces are necessary for residents' well-being.