CityScapeLab Berlin: A Research Platform for Untangling Urbanization Effects on Biodiversity

Urban biodiversity conservation requires an understanding of how urbanization modulates biodiversity patterns and the associated ecosystem services. While important advances have been made in the conceptual development of urban biodiversity research over the last decades, challenges remain in understanding the interactions between different groups of taxa and the spatiotemporal complexity of urbanization processes. The CityScapeLab Berlin is a novel experimental research platform that allows the testing of theories on how urbanization affects biodiversity patterns and biotic interactions in general and the responses of species of conservation interest in particular. We chose dry grassland patches as the backbone of the research platform because dry grasslands are common in many urban regions, extend over a wide urbanization gradient, and usually harbor diverse and self-assembled communities. Focusing on a standardized type of model ecosystem allowed the urbanization effects on biodiversity to be unraveled from effects that would otherwise be masked by habitat- and land-use effects. The CityScapeLab combines different types of spatiotemporal data on (i) various groups of taxa from different trophic levels, (ii) environmental parameters on different spatial scales, and (iii) on land-use history. This allows for the unraveling of the effects of current and historical urban conditions on urban biodiversity patterns and the related ecological functions.BMBF, 01LC1501, BIBS-Verbund: Bridging in Biodiversity Science (BIBS

Emerging Urban Forests: Opportunities for Promoting the Wild Side of the Urban Green Infrastructure

Many cities aim to increase urban forest cover to benefit residents through the provision of ecosystem services and to promote biodiversity. As a complement to traditional forest plantings, we address opportunities associated with “emerging urban forests” (i.e., spontaneously developing forests in cities) for urban biodiversity conservation. We quantified the area of successional forests and analyzed the species richness of native and alien plants and of invertebrates (carabid beetles, spiders) in emerging forests dominated by alien or native trees, including Robinia pseudoacacia, Acer platanoides, and Betula pendula. Emerging urban forests were revealed as shared habitats of native and alien species. Native species richness was not profoundly affected by the alien (co-)dominance of the canopy. Instead, native and alien plant species richnesses were positively related. Numbers of endangered plants and invertebrates did not differ between native- and alien-dominated forest patches. Patterns of tree regeneration indicate different successional trajectories for novel forest types. We conclude that these forests (i) provide habitats for native and alien species, including some endangered species, (ii) allow city dwellers to experience wild urban nature, and (iii) support arguments for adapting forests to dynamic urban environments. Integrating emerging urban forests into the urban green infrastructure is a promising pathway to sustainable cities and can complement traditional restoration or greening approaches.BMBF, 01LC1501, Bridging in Biodiversity Science (BIBS

Ist ein kommunales Konjunkturprogramm sinnvoll?

In seiner Regierungserklärung vom 14. März 2003 kündigte Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder unter anderem zinsgünstige Kreditprogramme für bestimmte kommunale Investitionsvorhaben an. Nach Ansicht von Prof. Dr. Helmut Seitz, Universität Frankfurt/Oder, handelt es sich hierbei »um ein reines Zinsverbilligungsprogramm für kommunale Infrastrukturprojekte ... Die Erwartung zu hegen, dass sich mit diesem Programm bei einem Subventionswert von 2 q je Einwohner in den nächsten Jahren eine spürbare Belebung der kommunalen Investitionsaktivität, geschweige denn der Konjunktur, bewerkstelligen lässt, ist sicherlich völlig überzogen.« Prof. Dr. Gunnar Schwarting, Städtetag Rheinland-Pfalz, sieht die Gefahr, dass das Programm nur zu einer Umfinanzierung bestehender Kreditrahmen und damit lediglich zu Mitnahmeeffekten führt. Auch Dr. Birgit Frischmuth, Deutscher Städtetag, äußert sich skeptisch: »Mit einem Kreditprogramm der Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau wird das Ziel einer wirksamen Soforthilfe für die Kommunen verfehlt. ... Es gibt keine Alternative zu einer Gemeindefinanzreform.« Für Prof. Dr. Horst Zimmermann, Universität Marburg, dagegen »ist eine kurzfristige Stärkung der Einnahmen der Städte sinnvoll. ... Das Fazit lautet daher, dass ein kommunales Konjunkturprogramm derzeit durchaus Sinn macht.«Konjunkturpolitik, Kommunale Politik, Kommunale Infrastruktur

Red list and checklist of established vascular plants of Berlin

Die vierte Fassung der Roten Liste und Gesamtartenliste der etablierten Farn- und Blütenpflanzen Berlins enthält 1.527 Sippen, davon 307 Neophyten. Fast die Hälfte (46,4 %) wurde einer Gefährdungskategorie zugeordnet. 264 Sippen, also etwa ein Sechstel, gelten als ausgestorben oder verschollen. Von den aktuell vorkommenden 1.263 Sippen ist ein Drittel bestandsgefährdet. Im Vergleich mit der letzten Roten Liste des Jahres 2001 ist bei 83 Sippen (5,4 %) eine Verbesserung und bei 179 Sippen (11,7 %) eine Verschlechte-rung bei der Gefährdungseinstufung zu verzeichnen, 55 Arten sind seit 2001 ausgestorben oder verschollen. 26 Sippen, die in der Roten Liste von 2001 noch als ausgestorben bzw. verschollen eingestuft wurden, konnten wiedergefunden werden. Seit 2008 liegt für Berlin ein Florenschutzkonzept vor. Zu diesem Zweck wurden 230 Zielarten des Berliner Florenschutzes ausgewiesen und ihre Vorkommen kartiert. Die Erfassung zeigte, dass über 20 % der prioritären Zielarten in den letzten zwanzig Jahren verschollen sind und dass weitere Zielarten erhebliche Bestandseinbußen erlitten haben. Um weitere Artenrückgänge und -verluste zu stoppen, werden durch die Stiftung Naturschutz Berlin gezielte Erhaltungsmaßnahmen durchgeführt. Diese Maßnahmen sind ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Umsetzung der Berliner Biodiversitätsstrategie.The fourth edition of the Red List and checklist of established vascular plants of Berlin contains 1.527 taxa, 307 of these are alien species. Nearly half of them (46.4 %) are listed in one of the Red List categories. 264 taxa, one out of six, are extinct. One third of the currently occurring taxa are threatened. Compared with the Red List of 2001, there is a positive status change in 83 taxa (5.4 %) and a negative status change in 179 taxa (11.7 %). 55 taxa have become extinct and 26 taxa have been rediscovered since 2001. A framework for the conservation of the flora of Berlin was developed in the year 2008. With a standardized method 230 target species were identified and mapped. Over 20 % of the target species with conservation priority have disappeared in the last 20 years and other target species show significant losses. The Stiftung Naturschutz Berlin is taking conservation measures to stop further population declines. These measures are important components for the implementation of the biodiversity strategy of Berlin

Grassland allergenicity increases with urbanisation and plant invasions

Pollen allergies have been on the rise in cities, where anthropogenic disturbances, warmer climate and introduced species are shaping novel urban ecosystems. Yet, the allergenic potential of these urban ecosystems, in particular spontaneous vegetation outside parks and gardens, remains poorly known. We quantified the allergenic properties of 56 dry grasslands along a double gradient of urbanisation and plant invasion in Berlin (Germany). 30% of grassland species were classified as allergenic, most of them being natives. Urbanisation was associated with an increase in abundance and diversity of pollen allergens, mainly driven by an increase in allergenic non-native plants. While not inherently more allergenic than native plants, the pool of non-natives contributed a larger biochemical diversity of allergens and flowered later than natives, creating a broader potential spectrum of allergy. Managing novel risks to urban public health will involve not only targeted action on allergenic non-natives, but also policies at the habitat scale favouring plant community assembly of a diverse, low-allergenicity vegetation. Similar approaches could be easily replicated in other cities to provide a broad quantification and mapping of urban allergy risks and drivers

Phenology of grassland plants responds to urbanization

Understanding phenological responses of plants to changing temperatures is important because of multiple associated ecological consequences. Cities with their urban heat island can be used as laboratories to study phenological adaptation to climate change. However, previous phenology studies focused on trees and did not disentangle the role of micro-climate and urban structures. We studied reproductive phenology of dry grassland species in response to micro-climate and urbanization in Berlin, Germany. Phenological stages were recorded weekly at the individual plant level for five native grassland species across 30 dry grassland sites along an urbanization and temperature gradient. We estimated 50% onset probabilities for flowering and seed maturation of populations, and analysed variation in onset dates using regression models. Early flowering species significantly advanced flowering phenology with increasing mean air temperature but were little influenced by urbanization. By contrast, late-flowering species showed significant phenological responses to both air temperature and urbanization, possibly because micro-climate was most affected by urbanization in late summer. Surprisingly, not all grassland species showed an advanced phenology with increasing intensity of urbanization. This contradicts observed patterns for urban trees, indicating that phenological shifts in urban areas cannot be generalized from the observation of one growth form or taxonomic group. Growth form appears as a possible determinant of phenological responses. Results suggest that the phenology of dry grassland species may directly respond to the urban heat island, albeit with variable direction and magnitude. This has implications for ecosystem services, shifted allergy seasons, changes of biogeochemical cycles and potential ecological mismatches

Student, faculty, and staff approval of university smoke/tobacco-free policies: an analysis of campus newspaper articles

Objective: To provide a nontraditional source of data to university policymakers regarding student, faculty, and staff approval of university smoke/tobacco-free policies, as published through campus newspaper articles. Methods: From January to April 2016, a total of 2523 articles were retrieved concerning campus smoking/tobacco at 4-year, public universities. Of these, 54 articles met the inclusion factors, which described 30 surveys about campus approval of tobacco-free policies and 24 surveys about smoke-free policies. Results: In all, the surveys included more than 130 000 respondents. With the exception of 4 surveys, all reported that the most of the respondents approved a tobacco/smoke-free campus policy. Conclusions: Although the study had several limitations, the findings provide a synthesis from a nontraditional data source that is consistent with findings from the peer-reviewed literature, in which most of the students, faculty, and staff on university campuses approve of smoke/tobacco-free campus policies

A multidimensional framework for measuring biotic novelty: How novel is a community?

Anthropogenic changes in climate, land use, and disturbance regimes, as well as introductions of non‐native species can lead to the transformation of many ecosystems. The resulting novel ecosystems are usually characterized by species assemblages that have not occurred previously in a given area. Quantifying the ecological novelty of communities (i.e., biotic novelty) would enhance the understanding of environmental change. However, quantification remains challenging since current novelty metrics, such as the number and/or proportion of non‐native species in a community, fall short of considering both functional and evolutionary aspects of biotic novelty. Here, we propose the Biotic Novelty Index (BNI), an intuitive and flexible multidimensional measure that combines (a) functional differences between native and non‐native introduced species with (b) temporal dynamics of species introductions. We show that the BNI is an additive partition of Rao's quadratic entropy, capturing the novel interaction component of the community's functional diversity. Simulations show that the index varies predictably with the relative amount of functional novelty added by recently arrived species, and they illustrate the need to provide an additional standardized version of the index. We present a detailed R code and two applications of the BNI by (a) measuring changes of biotic novelty of dry grassland plant communities along an urbanization gradient in a metropolitan region and (b) determining the biotic novelty of plant species assemblages at a national scale. The results illustrate the applicability of the index across scales and its flexibility in the use of data of different quality. Both case studies revealed strong connections between biotic novelty and increasing urbanization, a measure of abiotic novelty. We conclude that the BNI framework may help building a basis for better understanding the ecological and evolutionary consequences of global change

Enforcement of smoke/tobacco-free policies at public universities in the US

Objective: In this study, we examined how smoke/tobacco-free campuses are enforced at 4-year public universities in the United States. Methods: During September of 2016, smoke-free and tobacco-free policies of 4- year, public universities were located via the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation and the College Navigator websites. Policies were categorized based upon those who were responsible for initially confronting policy violators, those who were responsible for receiving reports of policy violations, methods for reporting a violation, and the types of sanctions for violators. Results: Of 167 policies, most (62%) relied on the entire campus community (students, faculty, staff) to provide initial policy enforcement. The majority (59%) did not mention who would receive violation reports, only 15% included a detailed method for reporting a violation, and over one-third did not mention any sanctions for students, employees, or visitors. Conclusion: This study highlights the need for more specific and robust policy enforcement at smoke/tobacco-free universities