Species-specific breeding habitat association of declining farmland birds within urban environments: conservation implications - Jan Havlíček; Jan Riegert; Jaroslava Bandhauerová; Roman Fuchs; Martin Šálek (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Reproductive patterns of solitary cavity-nesting bees responsive to both local and landscape factors - Aaron N. Sexton; Sarah Benton; Adam C. Browning; Sarah M. Emery (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Floristic diversity and correlates of naturalization of alien flora in urban green spaces of Srinagar city - Gousia Mehraj; Anzar A. Khuroo; Maroof Hamid; Insha Muzafar; Irfan Rashid; Akhtar H. Malik (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

‘Stray appetites’: a socio-ecological analysis of free-ranging dogs living alongside human communities in Bangalore, India - Shireen Jagriti Bhalla; Roy Kemmers; Ana Vasques; Abi Tamim Vanak (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Across the developing world, humans and free-ranging domestic dogs share common spaces. The relationship between these dogs and humans can range from one of dependence, to apathy, to conflict. Given the high number of humans attacked by dogs every year in India, and the lack of an effective population control strategy, we seek to provide insights into the conflict and propose alternative population management options based on reducing the carrying capacity of the environment. We used a mixed methods approach to understand both ecological and sociological underpinnings of free-ranging dog-human relationships in Bangalore, India. We conducted a photographic capture-recapture survey of free-ranging dogs to estimate population size and linked it to the availability of potential food sources. We also conducted a qualitative survey to assess attitudes of residents towards the dog population. We found that dog population varied from 192 to 1888 per square kilometre across a gradient of housing densities. The density of houses, bakeries and garbage piles were significant predictors of dog population size. Crucially, as low as 10 to 18% of houses supported the large population of dogs, highlighting the need for residents to act responsibly towards the dogs. Further, we found that garbage, although significant, is a secondary food source to household-maintained dogs. Since on the whole, respondents expressed the desire for a reduction in dog population, we suggest decreasing the carrying capacity of the environment by targeting these three food sources.

Distribution and diet of recovering Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) along the natural-to-urban habitat gradient (river Segura, SE Spain) - Ettore Emanuele Dettori; Alessandro Balestrieri; Victor Manuel Zapata-Perez; Daniel Bruno; Nuria Rubio-Saura; Francisco Robledano-Aymerich (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Estimates of energy partitioning, evapotranspiration, and net ecosystem exchange of CO2 for an urban lawn and a tallgrass prairie in the Denver metropolitan area under contrasting conditions - Thomas S. Thienelt; Dean E. Anderson (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Lawns as a landcover change substantially alter evapotranspiration, CO 2 , and energy exchanges and are of rising importance considering their spatial extent. We contrast eddy covariance (EC) flux measurements collected in the Denver, Colorado, USA metropolitan area in 2011 and 2012 over a lawn and a xeric tallgrass prairie. Close linkages between seasonal vegetation development, energy fluxes, and net ecosystem exchange ( NEE ) of CO 2 were found. Irrigation of the lawn modified energy and CO 2 fluxes and greatly contributed to differences observed between sites. Due to greater water inputs (precipitation + irrigation) at the lawn in this semi-arid climate, energy partitioning at the lawn was dominated by latent heat ( LE ) flux. As a result, evapotranspiration ( ET ) of the lawn was more than double that of tallgrass prairie (2011: 639(±17) mm vs. 302(±9) mm; 2012: 584(±15) mm vs. 265(±7) mm). NEE for the lawn was characterized by a longer growing season, higher daily net uptake of CO 2 , and growing season NEE that was also more than twice that of the prairie (2011: −173(±23) g C m −2 vs. -81(±10) g C m −2 ; 2012: −73(±22) g C m −2 vs. -21(±8) g C m −2 ). During the drought year (2012), temperature and water stress greatly influenced the direction and magnitude of CO 2 flux at both sites. The results suggest that lawns in Denver can function as carbon sinks and conditionally contribute to the mitigation of carbon emissions - directly by CO 2 uptake and indirectly through effects of evaporative cooling on microclimate and energy use.

Living in the concrete jungle: a review and socio-ecological perspective of urban raptor habitat quality in Europe - Brandon Mak; Robert A. Francis; Michael A. Chadwick (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Raptors can be important components of urban ecosystems due to their role as apex predators, the presence of which may bring benefits to people. Urban environments may provide good quality habitats, and the raptors’ ability to utilize resources found here can contribute to their success. However, urban environments are socio-ecological systems and such mechanisms shaping habitats and ecological resources therein are less understood. This paper explores how raptors utilize urban resources, and the socio-ecological processes influencing their quality and availability. It begins with a systematic mapping of the literature to summarize the utility of urban resources by raptors with European distributions. Eighteen species were documented in the literature successfully exploiting novel hunting and/or nesting opportunities in both green and built-up locations of urban areas. We discuss how these may be consequential of human activities, some of which intentionally provided as subsidies, and how their utility by raptors create opportunities for human-raptor interactions further shaping public perception and decisions which potentially affect the raptors. Finally, we demonstrate these concepts by drawing on our experience from an urban peregrine falcon ( Falco peregrinus ) conservation site in London, UK. The paper concludes with a call for urban raptor conservation and research to consider social and ecological aspects together, appropriately reflecting urban environments as socio-ecological systems.

Impacts of strengthened warming by urban heat island on carbon sequestration of urban ecosystems in a subtropical city of China - Jun Wang; Ziyuan Xiang; Weimin Wang; Wenjing Chang; Yang Wang (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

High diversity of diurnal Lepidoptera associated with landscape heterogeneity in semi-urban areas of Loja City, southern Ecuador - Claudia Nuñez-Penichet; Marlon E. Cobos; María F. Checa; Juan D. Quinde; Zhofre Aguirre; Nikolay Aguirre (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Parrots and the city: modeling potential corridors in an urban environment - Paulla Jezuíno; Renata Duarte Alquezar; Ricardo Bomfim Machado (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Caterpillar survival in the city: attack rates on model lepidopteran larvae along an urban-rural gradient show no increase in predation with increasing urban intensity - Lindsay D. Nason; Perri K. Eason; Margaret M. Carreiro; Amy Cherry; Jacob Lawson (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

The relationship between landscape features and domestic species on the occupancy of native mammals in urban forests - Alaaeldin Soultan; Omar Attum; Wade Lahue (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Landscape features such as roads, hiking trails, and forest edge are prevalent features of urban forests. These features can negatively influence biodiversity through fragmentation and facilitate the penetration of invasive species, particularly predators such as domestic dogs and cats. This study examined how these landscape features affect the distribution of native and domestic mammals and how domestic species affect the occupancy and activity patterns of native mammals. To this end, we conducted camera trap surveys in forested urban and suburban parks in Indiana and Kentucky, USA, to record the presence of native species (deer, raccoons, coyote, and opossums) and non-native predators (domesticated cats and dogs) in relation to distance to nearest roads, hiking trails, and forest edge. We found negative correlations between proximity to roads, hiking trails, and forest edge and the occupancy of the native species with this effect extending up to 300 m. We also found evidence that the presence of dog and cat was negatively correlated with the occupancy for all native species. We recommend park management consider the impact of roads, hiking trails, and forest edge when designing parks and the enforcement of dog leash regulations for the conservation of large mammals in urban parks.

Seasonal variation in habitat use, daily routines and interactions with humans by urban-dwelling gulls - Joana Pais de Faria; Vitor H. Paiva; Sara Veríssimo; Ana M. M. Gonçalves; Jaime A. Ramos (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Soil chemical properties in forest patches across multiple spatiotemporal scales in mid-Atlantic U.S. metropolitan areas - Tara L. E. Trammell; Richard V. Pouyat; Vince D’Amico (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

The University of West Florida campus ecosystem study: the college/university campus as a unit for study of the ecology of longleaf pine - Frank S. Gilliam; Selina J. Detzel; Katelyn D. Bray; Emily A. Major (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Patterns in macroinvertebrate taxonomic richness and community assembly among urban wetlands in Cape Town, South Africa: implications for wetland management - Charl Deacon; Bethany R. S. Fox; Leigh Morland; Michael J. Samways; Shannon Weaver; Ruth Massey; Matthew J. Hill (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Uncovering the potential for exurban properties and small working farms in the Midwestern United States to provide food and refuge for pollinators - Amélie Davis; Olivia Herron; Sarah Dumyahn (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Correction to: Anthropogenic factors influence the occupancy of an invasive carnivore in a suburban preserve system - John P. Vanek; Andrew U. Rutter; Timothy S. Preuss; Holly P. Jones; Gary A. Glowacki (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Bright lights, big city: an experimental assessment of short-term behavioral and performance effects of artificial light at night on Anolis lizards - Jason J. Kolbe; Haley A. Moniz; Oriol Lapiedra; Christopher J. Thawley (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Greenspace sites conserve taxonomic and functional diversity of dung beetles in an urbanized landscape in the Brazilian Cerrado - César M. A. Correa; Kleyton R. Ferreira; Anderson Puker; Lívia D. Audino; Vanesca Korasaki (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Records of rat control campaigns in a food market with the largest seafood trading volume worldwide - Yasushi Kiyokawa; Ryoko Koizumi; Ryoko Yamada; Masayuki Hijikata; Goro Kimura; Kazuyuki D. Tanaka; Yukari Takeuchi; Tsutomu Tanikawa (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Anthropogenic noise and atmospheric absorption of sound induce amplitude shifts in the songs of Southern House Wren (Troglodytes aedon musculus) - Guilherme Sementili-Cardoso; Reginaldo José Donatelli (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

How do heat and flood risk drive residential green infrastructure implementation in Phoenix, Arizona? - Sara Meerow; Alysha M. Helmrich; Riley Andrade; Kelli L. Larson (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Plant-pollinator networks in Australian urban bushland remnants are not structurally equivalent to those in residential gardens - Kit S. Prendergast; Jeff Ollerton (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

An avian urban morphotype: how the city environment shapes great tit morphology at different life stages - Aude E. Caizergues; Anne Charmantier; Marcel M. Lambrechts; Samuel Perret; Virginie Demeyrier; Annick Lucas; Arnaud Grégoire (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

No overall effect of urbanization on nest-dwelling arthropods of great tits (Parus major). - Lisa F. Baardsen; Luc De Bruyn; Frank Adriaensen; Joris Elst; Diederik Strubbe; Dieter Heylen; Erik Matthysen (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

The resilient frugivorous fauna of an urban forest fragment and its potential role in vegetation enrichment - Eduardo Delgado Britez Rigacci; Natalia Dantas Paes; Gabriel Moreira Félix; Wesley Rodrigues Silva (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Urban ecosystems and ecosystem services in megacity Dhaka: mapping and inventory analysis - Naeema Jihan Zinia; Paul McShane (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Aspects of the ecology and behaviour of a potential urban exploiter, the southern tree agama, Acanthocercus atricollis - Nikisha Singh; Cormac Price; Colleen T. Downs (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Characterizing the landscape compositions of urban wildlife encounters: the case of the stone marten (Martes foina), the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) in the Greater Paris area - Mary Capon; Benjamin Lysaniuk; Vincent Godard; Céline Clauzel; Laurent Simon (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

The role of woodpeckers (family: Picidae) as ecosystem engineers in urban parks: a case study in the city of Madrid (Spain) - Patricia Catalina-Allueva; Carlos A. Martín (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Classes of protection in urban forest fragments are effectiveless in structuring butterfly assemblages: landscape and forest structure are far better predictors - Elton Orlandin; Eduardo Carneiro (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Behavioral responses of rural and urban greater white-toothed shrews (Crocidura russula) to sound disturbance - Flávio G. Oliveira; Joaquim T. Tapisso; Sophie von Merten; Leszek Rychlik; Paulo J. Fonseca; Maria da Luz Mathias (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

A sustainable urban regeneration project to protect biodiversity - Elvira Tarsitano; Alba Giannoccaro Rosa; Cecilia Posca; Giovanni Petruzzi; Michele Mundo; Marcello Colao (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
The sustainable urban redevelopment project to protect biodiversity was developed to regenerate the external spaces of an ancient rural farmhouse, Villa Framarino, in the regional Natural Park of Lama Balice, a shallow erosive furrow (lama) rich in biodiversity, between two suburbs of the city of Bari (Apulia, Italy) and close to the city airport. This work includes a complex system of activities aimed not only at a spatial revaluation, necessary to relaunch the urban image, but it is accompanied by interventions of a cultural, social, economic, environmental and landscape nature, aimed at increasing the quality of life, in compliance with the principles of sustainability and social participation. One of the means to revitalize a territory subject to redevelopment is the planning of events and activities of socio-cultural value that involve the population to revive the sense of belonging to the territory and the community and at the same time to protect the biodiversity of the urban park of the protected natural area.

Evaluation of the importance of ornamental plants for pollinators in urban and suburban areas in Stuttgart, Germany - Melanie Marquardt; Lydia Kienbaum; Lea Annina Kretschmer; Anja Penell; Karsten Schweikert; Ute Ruttensperger; Peter Rosenkranz (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Urban landscapes are often characterized by a wide range of diverse flowering plants consisting of native and exotic plants. These flower-rich habitats have proven to be particularly valuable for urban pollinating insects. However, the ability of ornamental plants in supporting urban pollinator communities is still not well documented. For this study, we established flower beds at 13 different urban testing sites, which were planted with identical sets of ornamental garden plants. The pollinator visitation patterns were then observed throughout the summer seasons. Over a two-year period, a total of 10,565 pollinators were recorded with wild bees (> 50%, excluding bumblebees) being the most abundant pollinator group. Our results revealed that (I) the assortment of ornamental plants was visited by a high number of urban pollinators for collecting pollen and nectar, and (II) the pollinator abundance and composition varied significantly within the tested ornamental plants. These differences occurred not only among plant species but to the same extent among cultivars, whereby the number of pollinators was positively correlated with number of flowering units per plant. By using a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) and redundancy analysis (RDA) we identified further significant impacts of the two variables year and location on the insect pollinator abundance and richness. Despite of the local and yearly variations, our approach provided a good and field-applicable method to evaluate the pollinator friendliness in ornamental plants. Such tools are urgently required to validate labels like ‘bee friendly’ or ‘pollinator friendly’ used by plant breeding companies.

Demographic drivers of Norway rat populations from urban slums in Brazil - C. G. Zeppelini; T. Carvalho-Pereira; R. Sady Alves; D. C. C. Santiago; V. F. Espirito Santo; M. Begon; F. Costa; Hussein Khalil (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
The Norway rat is a globally distributed pest, known for its resilience to eradication and control programs. Efficient population control, especially in urban settings, is dependent on knowledge of rat demography and population ecology. We analyzed the relationship between four demographic outcomes, estimated by live-trapping data, and fine-scale environmental features measured at the capture site. Wounds, a proxy for agonistic interactions, were associated with mature individuals. Areas with environmental features favorable to rats, such as open sewers and unpaved earth, were associated with more mature individuals with a better body condition index. The control measures (environmental stressors) are likely to be disrupting the social structure of rat colonies, increasing the frequency and distribution of agonistic interactions, which were common in both sexes and maturity states. The relationship between the favorable environmental conditions and the demographic markers analyzed indicate possible targets for infestation control through environmental manipulation, and could be incorporated into current pest management programs to achieve long-term success. Our study indicate that urban interventions focused on removal of potential resources for rats could be potential long-term solutions by reducing the carrying capacity of the environment.

Urbanization does not affect green space bird species richness in a mid-sized city - Dávid Korányi; Róbert Gallé; Bettina Donkó; Dan E. Chamberlain; Péter Batáry (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Urbanization is one of the most intensive forms of landscape and habitat transformation, resulting in species loss, and taxonomic and functional homogenization of different communities. Whilst green infrastructure (the network of natural and semi-natural areas in cities) has been studied extensively in terms of specific features that promote biodiversity, there have been no studies that have assessed how species richness in different types of green space (GS) varies with increasing levels of urbanization in the surrounding matrix. We studied the effects of different types of GS and urbanization in the surrounding matrix on bird communities in the mid-sized city of Göttingen, Germany. We used the point-count method for bird observations in allotments and parks. To determine the level of urbanization, we calculated percentage of impervious surfaces around GSs. Increasing levels of urbanization around GSs had no effect on the species richness, functional traits or the community composition of birds. Nevertheless, we found that species richness and functional traits varied according to GS type. Parks had a greater species richness and were found to have more ground nesting and tropical migrant birds compared to allotments. We found more cavity nesting and resident birds in allotments. As different types of GS can contribute to the presence of different species and functional trait variations, their positive effect on bird species richness can be enhanced when they are present together in urban landscapes. Our findings suggest that green spaces with a high variety of local characteristics should be incorporated into urban planning designs in order to ensure diverse bird communities in cities.

Influence of urbanization on the avian species-area relationship: insights from the breeding birds of Rome - Stefano Di Pietro; Cristina Mantoni; Simone Fattorini (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
The species-area relationship (SAR) is one of the most investigated patterns in ecology and conservation biology, yet there is no study testing how different levels of urbanization influence its shape. Here we tested the impact of urbanization on avian SARs along a rural-urban gradient using the breeding birds of Rome (Central Italy). We divided the city into 360 cells of 1 km 2 . Each cell was classified as rural, suburban or urban using the proportion of impervious surface calculated from remote sensing data. For each of these three landscape categories, we constructed a SAR as a species accumulation curve (Gleason function) using bird species distribution data. SAR intercepts (i.e. the number of species per unit area) decreased from rural to urban areas, which indicates that urbanization depressed the number of species, reflecting the loss of specialized species strictly associated with natural habitats. The slope was highest for the rural curve, indicating that natural landscapes have the highest turnover due to their higher habitat heterogeneity. A higher slope for the urban cells, compared to the suburban ones, can be explained by the presence of green spaces embedded in the built-up matrix which host different avian communities. Previous studies that compared whole cities with natural areas failed to find differences in the respective SARs. Our study, which constructed SARs for different levels of urbanization, indicated significant changes in the SARs along the rural-urban gradient. Further analyses in other cities and taxa will be useful to test how general are our findings.

Microclimate in an urban park and its influencing factors: a case study of Tiantan Park in Beijing, China - Yilun Li; Shuxin Fan; Kun Li; Yue Zhang; Li Dong (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Urban open spaces from a dispersal perspective: lessons from an individual-based model approach to assess the effects of landscape patterns on the viability of wildlife populations - Homero Marconi Penteado (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Green areas drawn on a city plan represent open spaces that have different meanings for humans and wildlife. Diverse kinds of green may influence species viability in urban environments. It is necessary to understand what those areas mean for wildlife populations and how land-use changes affect habitats and movements for making scientifically defensible planning and design decisions. My objective was to demonstrate how open space and urban development patterns affect the viability of wildlife populations in urbanizing landscapes from a movements perspective. Eight scenarios for 2060 for an urbanizing area near Portland, Oregon combined four open space (none, corridors, parks, and network) with two urban development patterns (compact and dispersed). Dispersal model HexSim simulated three target species – Red-legged frog ( Rana aurora aurora ), Western meadowlark ( Sturnella neclecta ) and Douglas squirrel ( Tamasciurus douglasii ) – movements on those scenarios to compare and contrast sustained populations to the ca. 2010 baseline landscape. Network scenarios presented the largest number of frog breeders. Greenway scenarios showed the largest populations of squirrels. Park and network scenarios sustained viable populations of meadowlarks, but park scenarios performed best. Compact development scenarios performed best for most indicators, while dispersed development scenarios performed better for meadowlarks. Network scenarios performed best when considering the collective of species. Networks presented more diverse habitats, sustaining higher diversity of species. For plans to sustain more species, more comprehensive and diverse habitats must be promoted, otherwise trade-offs should be expected – like the extinction of meadowlarks in greenway scenarios.

Vacant lot soil degradation and mowing frequency shape communities of belowground invertebrates and urban spontaneous vegetation - Kayla I. Perry; Nicole C. Hoekstra; Steve W. Culman; Mary M. Gardiner (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Vegetation management and benthic macroinvertebrate communities in urban stormwater ponds: implications for regional biodiversity - James S. Sinclair; Lindsey S. Reisinger; Carrie R. Adams; Eban Bean; Alexander J. Reisinger; Basil V. Iannone (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Determining daytime resting site habitats of exurban feral cats - Catherine Normand; Rachael E. Urbanek; Carson L. Hicks (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Are vascular epiphytes in urban green areas subject to the homogenization of biodiversity? A case study in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest - Francine Seehaber Alvim; Samyra Gomes Furtado; Luiz Menini Neto (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Increased population density and behavioural flexibility of African clawless otters (Aonyx capensis) in specific anthropogenic environments - Tshepiso L Majelantle; Andre Ganswindt; Rowan K Jordaan; David J Slip; Robert Harcourt; Trevor McIntyre (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Comparisons of flux-based stemflow enrichment ratios for two Quercus spp. within the megalopolis of the eastern USA - Asia L. Dowtin; Courtney M. Siegert; Delphis F. Levia (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Population estimates of non-native rose-ringed parakeets Psittacula krameri (Scopoli, 1769) in the Durban Metropole, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa - Tinyiko C. Shivambu; Ndivhuwo Shivambu; Colleen T. Downs (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Shrinking into the big city: influence of genetic and environmental factors on urban dragon lizard morphology and performance capacity - James Baxter-Gilbert; Julia L. Riley; Celine H. Frère; Martin J. Whiting (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Correction to: Planning for active management of future invasive pests affecting urban forests: the ecological and economic effects of varying Dutch elm disease management practices for street trees in Milwaukee, WI USA - Richard J. Hauer; Ian S. Hanou; David Sivyer (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Correction to: The contribution of urban community gardens to food availability in Emfuleni Local Municipality, Gauteng Province - Thabo P. Modibedi; Mosima R. Masekoameng; Matome M. S. Maake (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Correction to: Influence of environmental factors on bird diversity in greenspaces in an Amazonian city - José F. Rico-Silva; Emmy J. Cruz-Trujillo; Gabriel J. Colorado Z. (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Conceptualizing social-ecological drivers of change in urban forest patches - Lea R. Johnson; Michelle L. Johnson; Myla F. J. Aronson; Lindsay K. Campbell; Megan E. Carr; Mysha Clarke; Vincent D’Amico; Lindsay Darling; Tedward Erker; Robert T. Fahey; Kristen L. King; Katherine Lautar; et al. (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Urban renewable energy and ecosystems: integrating vegetation with ground-mounted solar arrays increases arthropod abundance of key functional groups - John H. Armstrong; Andy J. Kulikowski; Stacy M. Philpott (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

‘Urban biocultural diversity’ as a framework for human–nature interactions: reflections from a Brazilian favela - Sanna Stålhammar; Ebba Brink (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Biocultural diversity (BCD), denoting the ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity, has traditionally highlighted the coevolution between highly biodiverse regions and the ethnic–linguistic diversity of indigenous communities. Recently, European researchers have relaunched BCD as a conceptual foundation for urban greenspace planning capable of overcoming challenges of the ecosystem services paradigm. However, the methodological foundation for this particular approach to ‘urban BCD’ is still in its infancy, obscuring precisely how the framework is an advancement for studying different urban residents’ experience of and connectedness to nature and biodiversity. In this paper, we further develop the urban BCD concept by using the culturally and biologically diverse city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a ‘critical case’. First, we employ qualitative field methods to investigate manifestations of human–nature relationships in the favela (informal settlement) of Rocinha and the neighbouring Tijuca Forest. Second, we reflect on how the urban BCD framework and methodology emphasise i) interrelationships, ii) varied group values and iii) participation, and iv) are sensitising and reflexive. Our findings challenge the ‘usual’ narrative about favelas as places of environmental degradation and disaster risk, revealing BCD and nature connectedness that are as related to popular culture, fitness ideals and citizen-building, as to traditional livelihoods and spiritual beliefs. Departing from interrelationships, BCD can portray aspects that a narrow focus on ‘services’ and ‘disservices’ cannot, but attention should be paid to how operationalisation risks perpetuating ecosystem services thinking. Nevertheless, we identify promising avenues for its use in highly diverse cities with unequal access to natural areas.

Multiscale determinants of Pacific chorus frog occurrence in a developed landscape - Jemma Green; Purnima Govindarajulu; Eric Higgs (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Pacific chorus frog ( Pseudacris regilla ) populations have persisted despite urban and rural development throughout the species’ range; yet it is possible that P. regilla , like other anurans with which it historically co-occurred, will become extirpated from cities and suburbs if urbanization intensifies as predicted. An improved understanding of the conditions that enable this species to persist in developed landscapes is needed to identify and conserve suitable habitats. We investigated species-habitat relationships for P. regilla in a mixed urban-rural landscape in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, to identify potential criteria for habitat suitability. We conducted repeat auditory surveys of chorusing males at 52 potential breeding wetlands and modeled occupancy at 26 of these sites using local and landscape variables representing competing hypotheses and spatial scales of influence. The models that best explained P. regilla occupancy included a combination of terrestrial habitat and connectivity factors and the presence of non-native predators. We found that the proportion of impervious cover within 250 m of a wetland had the strongest negative impact on occupancy. Our findings suggest that availability of terrestrial habitat adjacent to breeding sites is the primary driver of species presence in the developed landscape. Conservation efforts should seek to limit impervious cover to less than 20% within a 250-m buffer around breeding wetlands. Further, restored and created wetlands in urban and rural areas may be more likely to support P. regilla if they are designed with a seasonal hydroperiod that excludes non-native aquatic predators and are placed in an area of high pond density.

Urbanization alters the abundance and composition of predator communities and leads to aphid outbreaks on urban trees - Dávid Korányi; Viktor Szigeti; László Mezőfi; Előd Kondorosy; Viktor Markó (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Urbanization can affect arthropod abundance in different ways. While species with narrow habitat range and low dispersal ability often respond negatively to urban environments, many habitat generalist species with good dispersal ability reach high densities in city centers. This filtering effect of urban habitats can strongly influence predator-prey-mutualist interactions and may therefore affect the abundance of predatory and phytophagous species both directly and indirectly. Here, we assessed the effect of urbanization on aphids, predatory arthropods, and ants on field maple ( Acer campestre ) trees in and around the city of Budapest, Hungary. We used the percentage of impervious surfaces within a 500 m radius of each site as an index of the degree of urbanization. We found that the abundance of aphids increased with increasing level of urbanization. However, abundance of predatory arthropods and occurrence of poorly dispersing species within the predator community were negatively related to urbanization, and we identified these two independent factors as significant predictors of aphid abundances. The abundance of ants decreased with urbanization, and contrary to our expectations, did not affect the abundance pattern of aphids. Our results suggest that urbanization, by altering the abundance and composition of predator communities, can disrupt biological control of aphid populations, and thus may contribute to the aphid outbreaks on urban trees.

Urban colonies are more resistant to a trace metal than their forest counterparts in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi - L. Jacquier; C. Doums; A. Four-Chaboussant; R. Peronnet; C. Tirard; M. Molet (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Green infrastructures and ecological corridors shape avian biodiversity in a small French city - Erika Beaugeard; François Brischoux; Frédéric Angelier (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

The effects of red fox scent on winter activity patterns of suburban wildlife: evaluating predator-prey interactions and the importance of groundhog burrows in promoting biodiversity - Jeremy D. Pustilnik; Jeremy B. Searle; Paul D. Curtis (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Butterfly species’ responses to urbanization: differing effects of human population density and built-up area - Mikko Kuussaari; Marjaana Toivonen; Janne Heliölä; Juha Pöyry; Jorge Mellado; Johan Ekroos; Vesa Hyyryläinen; Inkeri Vähä-Piikkiö; Juha Tiainen (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Good knowledge on how increasing urbanization affects biodiversity is essential in order to preserve biodiversity in urban green spaces. We examined how urban development affects species richness and total abundance of butterflies as well as the occurrence and abundance of individual species within the Helsinki metropolitan area in Northern Europe. Repeated butterfly counts in 167 separate 1-km-long transects within Helsinki covered the entire urbanization gradient, quantified by human population density and the proportion of built-up area (within a 50-m buffer surrounding each butterfly transect). We found consistently negative effects of both human population density and built-up area on all studied butterfly variables, though butterflies responded markedly more negatively to increasing human population density than to built-up area. Responses in butterfly species richness and total abundance showed higher variability in relation to proportion of built-up area than to human density, especially in areas of high human density. Increasing human density negatively affected both the abundance and the occurrence of 47% of the 19 most abundant species, whereas, for the proportion of built-up area, the corresponding percentages were 32% and 32%, respectively. Species with high habitat specificity and low mobility showed higher sensitivity to urbanization (especially high human population density) than habitat generalists and mobile species that dominated the urban butterfly communities. Our results suggest that human population density provides a better indicator of urbanization effects on butterflies compared to the proportion of built-up area. The generality of this finding should be verified in other contexts and taxonomic groups.

Investigating temporal and spatial correlates of the sharp decline of an urban exploiter bird in a large European city - Bertille Mohring; Pierre-Yves Henry; Frédéric Jiguet; Frédéric Malher; Frédéric Angelier (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Increasing urbanisation and human pressure on lands have huge impacts on biodiversity. Some species, known as “urban exploiters”, manage to expand in urban landscapes, relying on human resources. The House Sparrow ( Passer domesticus ) is the perfect example of a human-commensal species. Surprisingly, this urban exploiter has been declining all over Europe over the past decades. The proximate causes of this decline remain poorly understood. We particularly lack understanding about urban habitat characteristics that are particularly unfavourable for House Sparrows. In the present study, we analysed fine-scale habitat characteristics of House Sparrow population sizes and trends using a fifteen-year House Sparrow census (2003–2017) covering the urban diversity of Paris (nearly 200 census sites), one of the densest European cities. We documented for the first time the dramatic decline (−89%) of the species in Paris over the study period. The temporal decline over the whole city correlates with the concomitant increase in the number of breeding Sparrowhawks. We could not detect statistical influences of annual variations in weather conditions and pollution. The decline of House Sparrows is spatially heterogeneous. Indeed, site-scale analyses revealed sharpest declines at sites that initially hosted the largest numbers of sparrows, which are areas with a relatively high proportion of green spaces and new buildings. Further experimental studies are now needed to disentangle the exact impact of specific characteristics of the urban environment on House Sparrow populations.

The effects of water chemistry and lock-mediated connectivity on macroinvertebrate diversity and community structure in a canal in northern England - Jack R. Walker; Christopher Hassall (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Population increase and synurbization of the yellow-necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis in some wooded areas of Warsaw agglomeration, Poland, in the years 1983–2018 - Grzegorz Lesiński; Jakub Gryz; Dagny Krauze-Gryz; Przemysław Stolarz (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Studies on the contribution of the yellow-necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis and of other vertebrates to the diet of the tawny owl Strix aluco were carried out in Warsaw (central Poland) in the years 1983–2018. The frequency of the yellow-necked mouse in owl pellets increased at the break of the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly in some woodlands in the peri-urban area of the agglomeration. In the second half of the first decade of the twenty-first century, this mouse species colonised a park in the city centre. The yellow-necked mouse may become an important competitor for the synurbic population of the striped field mouse Apodemus agrarius.

Moth assemblages within urban domestic gardens respond positively to habitat complexity, but only at a scale that extends beyond the garden boundary - Emilie E. Ellis; Tom L. Wilkinson (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
‘Wildlife-friendly’ gardening is a dominant theme in the media that readily engages public attention. However, there is little empirical evidence of the ecological benefits of increased habitat quality of individual domestic gardens. This study uses light-trapping to examine the response of moth assemblages to domestic gardens that are assessed in terms of their habitat complexity (simple and complex) both within the garden and extending out to a 30 m radius that includes surrounding habitats. The results clearly show that moth assemblages were influenced by complex habitats (particularly increasing levels of the variable shrubs and decreasing levels of artificial surfaces), but only at a scale that extended beyond the garden boundary to include the surrounding area. In other words, neither the complexity of the habitat within the garden or the size of the garden had any influence on the abundance or diversity of the moth assemblage. These results have implications for both garden management and landscape planning – if domestic gardens are to be a useful component of strategies to reduce biodiversity loss within the urban environment then they should provide good habitat quality and be managed as a network of interconnected patches rather than as individual units.

Predicting spatial patterns of bird richness in an urban landscape in Himalayan foothills, India - Aimon Bushra; Hitendra Padalia; Afifullah Khan (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Non-native shrubs and calcium availability are important for birds breeding in urban forests - W. Gregory Shriver; Zachary S. Ladin; Jeffrey Buler; Vincent D’Amico (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Setting up an efficient survey of Aedes albopictus in an unfamiliar urban area - Claire Kermorvant; Frank D’Amico; Grégory L’Ambert; Simplice Dossou-Gbete (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Spring flow lost: a historical and contemporary perspective of an urban fish community - Cody A. Craig; Timothy H. Bonner (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Urbanization is associated with differences in age class structure in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) - Dovid Y. Kozlovsky; Catherine A. Jarjour; Julie Morand-Ferron (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Reap what you sow: local plant composition mediates bumblebee foraging patterns within urban garden landscapes - Megan O’Connell; Zachariah Jordan; Erin McGilvray; Hamutahl Cohen; Heidi Liere; Brenda B. Lin; Stacy M. Philpott; Shalene Jha (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Vegetation structure drives taxonomic diversity and functional traits of birds in urban private native forest fragments - Lucas Andrei Campos-Silva; Augusto João Piratelli (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Influence of environmental factors on bird diversity in greenspaces in an Amazonian city - José F. Rico-Silva; Emmy J. Cruz-Trujillo; Gabriel J. Colorado Z. (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Comparison of the mustard oil and electrical methods for sampling earthworm communities in rural and urban soils - Céline Pelosi; Emmanuelle Baudry; Olaf Schmidt (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Chicago’s fish assemblage over ~30 years – more fish and more native species - Austin Happel; Dustin Gallagher (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Impacts of the remnant sizes, forest types, and landscape patterns of surrounding areas on woody plant diversity of urban remnant forest patches - Jingyi Yang; Jun Yang; Danqi Xing; Xiangyu Luo; Siran Lu; Conghong Huang; Amy K. Hahs (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

The influence of urbanization on morphological traits in the Balsas Basin Whiptail lizard (Aspidoscelis costatus costatus) - Aldo Gómez-Benitez; James Martin Walker; Ana Esthela López-Moreno; Oswaldo Hernández-Gallegos (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

The interaction of imperviousness and habitat heterogeneity drives bird richness patterns in south Asian cities - Marufa Sultana; Luca Corlatti; Ilse Storch (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
Bird species richness has often been used as an indicator of urbanisation effects on biodiversity in North America and Europe, but similar studies are rare in rapidly urbanising regions in the tropics. Here we assess the effect of different urban environmental factors on local resident bird species richness at different spatial extents in South Asian cities. Bird data at 57 urban locations distributed across 11 cities were retrieved from the available literature. Different variables assessing the degree of urbanisation and urban habitat factors were measured, at 1000 m and 5000 m radius scale extent, for each urban location. We investigated how resident bird species richness was affected by urban environmental predictors by fitting linear regression models in a Bayesian framework. Our model suggested strong positive influence of the interaction between habitat Shannon metric (a proxy of habitat heterogeneity) and proportion of impervious surface (a proxy of human built-up and settlement extent) on local resident bird richness at both spatial scales. Increasing values of habitat Shannon metric positively related to increasing bird richness, but only when the proportion of impervious surface was very high. Our results suggest that areas with a high degree of urbanisation necessitate an increase of habitat heterogeneity to maintain high local bird diversity. Increasing the quality and the compositional variability of remaining bird habitat patches in highly built-up areas should be a major conservation concern within cities of South Asia.

The contribution of urban community gardens to food availability in Emfuleni Local Municipality, Gauteng Province - Thabo P. Modibedi; Mosima R. Masekoameng; Matome M. S. Maake (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
This study investigated the contribution of urban community gardens to food availability in Emfuleni Local Municipality, Gauteng Province of South Africa. The objectives were to determine the ability of the urban community gardens to produce vegetables throughout the year and to assess the contribution of these gardens to food availability. It was conducted in six (6) townships of Emfuleni Local Municipality by means of semi-structured survey questionnaires. A sample of 254 participants was randomly drawn from 418 urban farmers. A descriptive analysis technique and one-way ANOVA formed part of the data analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. The study found that community gardens contributed to food availability of the respondents by providing fresh vegetables to most urban farmers and their household members throughout the year. Furthermore, it was discovered that there is no relationship between vegetable availability and gender of the respondents. Based on the results, the study recommended that farmers in urban community gardens should focus on increasing and sustaining their production to ensure that they have adequate vegetables to feed their families throughout the year.

Tolerance and avoidance of urban cover in a southern California suburban raptor community over five decades - Daniel S. Cooper; Pamela J. Yeh; Daniel T. Blumstein (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Mismatching streetscapes: Woody plant composition across a Neotropical city - Ina Falfán; Ian MacGregor-Fors (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

The relationship between pollinator community and pollination services is mediated by floral abundance in urban landscapes - Hamutahl Cohen; Stacy M. Philpott; Heidi Liere; Brenda B. Lin; Shalene Jha (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Diet, ecological role and potential ecosystem services of the fruit bat, Cynopterus brachyotis, in a tropical city - Angela An Qi Chan; Sheema Abdul Aziz; Elizabeth L. Clare; Joanna L. Coleman (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Carrion increases pollination service across an urban gradient - Sarah Cusser; Jennifer L. Pechal; Nick M. Haddad (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Medium and large mammal conservation in the City of Cape Town: factors influencing species richness in urban nature reserves - Andrea K. Schnetler; Frans G. T. Radloff; M. Justin O’Riain (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

More losses than gains in ground-nesting bees over 60 years of urbanization - Felipe Walter Pereira; Laís Carneiro; Rodrigo Barbosa Gonçalves (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Plant-bird mutualistic interactions can contribute to the regeneration of forest and non-forest urban patches in the Brazilian Cerrado - Allan Corral; Luciana Mendes Valério; Kwok Chiu Cheung; Bruno Henrique dos Santos Ferreira; Angélica Guerra; Judit Kriszta Szabo; Letícia Koutchin Reis (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Green space networks as natural infrastructures in PERI-URBAN areas - Amparo Verdú-Vázquez; Eva Fernández-Pablos; Rafael V. Lozano-Diez; Óscar López-Zaldívar (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

An unexpected backyard hunter: breeding Barred Owls exhibit plasticity in habitat selection along a development gradient - Marion A. Clément; Kyle Barrett; Robert F. Baldwin; Catherine M. Bodinof Jachowski; Addie Carter; David Brinker (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

A spatial and temporal assessment of human-snake encounters in urban and peri-urban areas of Windhoek, Namibia - Morgan Lindo Hauptfleisch; Ignatius Nyangana Sikongo; Francois Theart (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Interconnected ecological network design using lcp algorithm and cohesion index in urban scale - Shiva Gharibi; K. Shayesteh; B. Attaeian (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Tolerant and avoiders in an urban landscape: anuran species richness and functional groups responses in the Yungas’ forest of NW Argentina - Laura C. Pereyra; M. S. Akmentins; M. J. Salica; M. F. Quiroga; C. E. Moreno; M. Vaira (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Home range and use of residential gardens by yellow mongoose Cynictis penicillata in an urban environment - Nadine Elizabeth Cronk; Neville Pillay (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Plant diversity increases in an urban wildland after four decades of unaided vegetation development in a post-industrial site - Allyson Salisbury; Frank J. Gallagher; Hadas A. Parag; Liliana Meneses-Florián; Claus Holzapfel (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Anthropogenic factors influence the occupancy of an invasive carnivore in a suburban preserve system - John P. Vanek; Andrew U. Rutter; Timothy S. Preuss; Holly P. Jones; Gary A. Glowacki (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Raining feral cats and dogs? Implications for the conservation of medium-sized wild mammals in an urban protected area - Helí Coronel-Arellano; Maya Rocha-Ortega; Fernando Gual-Sill; Enrique Martínez-Meyer; Agueda Karina Ramos-Rendón; Marcela González-Negrete; Guillermo Gil-Alarcón; Luis Zambrano (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Noise and tree species richness modulate the bird community inhabiting small public urban green spaces of a Neotropical city - Beatriz Ferreira da Silva; João Carlos Pena; Arleu Barbosa Viana-Junior; Matheus Vergne; Marco Aurélio Pizo (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Analysis of cat diet across an urbanisation gradient - Aleksandra M. Piontek; Ewa Wojtylak-Jurkiewicz; Krzysztof Schmidt; Agnieszka Gajda; Maciej Lesiak; Izabela A. Wierzbowska (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)
The domestic cat is a widespread and abundant predator that negatively impacts a wide range of species. However, the predation activity and prey type of free-ranging cats may vary between areas with different levels urbanisation. Previous analyses of cat diet have used differing techniques to measure predation that often differ with one another. Given the variability in these methods we hypothesised that cats in rural areas will have a more diverse diet than in urban areas and their predation rate may be higher than those in the urban sites. Moreover, we hypothesized that the diet of urban cats should be highly influenced by anthropogenic food. We selected sites across a rural-to-urban gradient and used three methods of analysis to determine prey in the diet (cat stomachs, cat scats, and prey brought home). We collected 81 stomachs, 409 scats, and 337 prey items of free-roaming cats from six study sites located in southern and eastern Poland. We found seasonal and habitat related differences in prey composition. The proportion of scats and stomachs containing vertebrate varied from 17% in urban areas to 79% in one of the rural areas. Small rodents were the dominant prey category, followed by birds and soricomorphs. Anthropogenic food was found to be an important part of urban cats’ diet, but its significance decreased with a decrease in urbanisation level. Both predation rate and prey diversity were highest in rural areas. While diet analysis provided a better estimation of cat predation rate, the detailed prey examination provided better insight into less common taxa killed by the cats, such as reptiles and small mustelids. Our results contribute to the discussion about the risks associated with the activity of free ranging cats especially in areas with high conservation values.

Effect of legacy on hydric forest structure in a subtropical urban watershed - John J. Lagrosa; Michael G. Andreu; Melissa H. Friedman; Wayne C. Zipperer; Robert J. Northrop (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Who is abuzz about bees? Explaining residents’ attitudes in Phoenix, Arizona - Kelli L. Larson; Melissa Fleeger; Susannah B. Lerman; Megan M. Wheeler; Riley Andrade; Jeffrey A. Brown; Sharon J. Hall; Desiree L. Narango (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Spatial video remote sensing for urban vegetation mapping using vegetation indices - Luka Rumora; Ivan Majić; Mario Miler; Damir Medak (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Cues to care: future directions for ecological landscapes - Mark Hostetler (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

The diet of coyotes and red foxes in Southern New York - Michaela Peterson; Maria Baglieri; Kristen Mahon; Ronald J. Sarno; Lindsay Ries; Prabir Burman; Melissa M. Grigione (Urban Ecosystems, 2021)

Urban tree growth models for two nearby cities show notable differences - Adam Berland (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Woodland fragments in urban landscapes are important bat areas: an example of the endangered Bechstein’s bat Myotis bechsteinii - Markus Dietz; Kathrin Bögelsack; Axel Krannich; Olaf Simon (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Wetland plant community variation across replicate urban to rural gradients: non-native species as both drivers and passengers in systems impacted by anthropogenic land-use - Christian M. King; Stephen M. Hovick (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Interactive effects of urbanization and year on invasive and native ant diversity of sacred groves of South India - T.P. Rajesh; U. Prashanth Ballullaya; Anjana P. Unni; Surendran Parvathy; Palatty Allesh Sinu (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Understanding foraging flexibility in urban vervet monkeys, Chlorocebus pygerythrus, for the benefit of human-wildlife coexistence - Harriet R. Thatcher; Colleen T. Downs; Nicola F. Koyama (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Generalist wildlife species often thrive in urban environments because of increased anthropogenic resources. However, human-wildlife interactions, especially if negative, raise concerns for urban wildlife management. An enhanced understanding of wildlife behavioural flexibility has been suggested to be a key tool to provide educated and effective management strategies. We therefore investigated how availability of semi-naturally occurring food affected behavioural foraging patterns of urban vervet monkeys ( Chlorocebus pygerythrus ), a generalist primate commonly found in urban areas of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Over one year, we conducted 20 min. focal animal observations recording foraging behaviour and food consumption. We used a combination of a generalised linear model and descriptive statistics to examine the relationship between anthropogenic food consumption and semi-natural food availability. Our analyses showed that anthropogenic food consumption decreased as semi-natural food availability increased. We also showed that increased aggression from humans towards vervet monkeys decreased time spent foraging on anthropogenic food. Our study highlights how vervet monkeys have adapted to their urban landscape, showing foraging flexibility in response to available food resources and the frequency of human interactions. We suggest how our results can be applied for management recommendations, particularly controlling anthropogenic food availability and decreasing negative human-wildlife interactions.

Correction to: Colonization and habitat selection of a declining farmland species in urban areas - Martin Mayer; Peter Sunde (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Landscape Context Influences the Abundance and Richness of Native Lady Beetles Occupying Urban Vacant Land - Denisha M. Parker; Katherine J. Turo; Yvan A. Delgado de la flor; Mary M. Gardiner (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

What’s in a yardscape? A case study of emergent ecosystem services and disservices within resident yardscape discourses in Minnesota - Michael R. Barnes; Kristen C. Nelson; Maria E. Dahmus (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Estimates of above-ground tree carbon after projected land-use and land cover change in a subtropical urban watershed - John J. Lagrosa; Wayne C. Zipperer; Michael G. Andreu (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Where are the turtles when they are not? Underwater refuges used by Hydromedusa tectifera COPE, 1869 in a suburban stream - María B. Semeñiuk; María J. Cassano; Rocío M. Sánchez; Ezequiel Palumbo; Leandro Alcalde (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Aquatic landscape change, extirpations, and introductions in the Chicago Region - M. Joseph Pasterski; Anthony Bellagamba; Stephanie Chancellor; Alister Cunje; Emily Dodd; Kerri Gefeke; Shannon Hsieh; Alec Schassburger; Alexis Smith; Wesley Tucker; Roy E. Plotnick (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

How Cortaderia selloana, an ornamental plant considered highly invasive, fails to spread from urban to natural habitats in Southern France - Anne Charpentier; Marine Kreder; Aurélien Besnard; Perrine Gauthier; Claudine Bouffet (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

What Happens on Islands, doesn’t Stay on Islands: Patterns of Synchronicity in Mosquito Nuisance and Host-Seeking Activity between a Mangrove Island and Adjacent Coastal Development - Brian J. Johnson; Russell Manby; Gregor J. Devine (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

The effect of artificial light at night on the biomass of caterpillars feeding in urban tree canopies - Áron Péter; Gábor Seress; Krisztina Sándor; Ernő Vincze; Krisztián Pál Klucsik; András Liker (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Alternation of day and night is the oldest cycle on Earth, which is increasingly disturbed by the accelerating rate of urbanization and technological development. Despite the ubiquity of light pollution in cities, many aspects of its influence on urban ecosystems are still poorly understood. Here we studied the effect of artificial light at night (ALAN) on the biomass of arboreal caterpillar populations, which are a major component of the diet of many insectivorous animals. We predicted that increasing ALAN intensity is associated with reduced caterpillar biomass, because ALAN may increase predation risk for both caterpillars and adult lepidopterans (i.e. moths), and can also hinder the moths’ reproductive rate. We estimated caterpillar biomass from frass samples ( n = 3061) collected from 36 focal trees in two cities in Hungary during four consecutive years. To quantify ALAN we measured light intensity during night at each focal tree (range of illumination: 0.69–3.18 lx). We found that caterpillar biomass of individual trees was repeatable over the four years. This temporal consistency in prey biomass production may be important for birds because it can help predict territory quality, especially in cities where caterpillar abundance is generally low. Our results did not support the negative effect of ALAN on urban caterpillar populations, because ALAN intensity was not related to caterpillar biomass, and this lack of effect was consistent between study sites and tree species. We suggest that the effect of ALAN on urban caterpillar biomass is either weak and thus can be masked by other, local environmental factors, or light pollution may have antagonistic effects acting during different stages of the lepidopteran life cycle. Another explanation could be that even the lower levels of our sites’ public lighting are strong enough to cause serious detrimental effects for caterpillars, resulting in their uniformly low biomass.

Feeding habits of Anolis sagrei, an introduced species, in urban ecosystems of Guayas Province - Andrea E. Narváez; Taryn Ghia; M. Mar Moretta-Urdiales; Natalia Molina Moreira (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Introduced and native plant species composition of vacant unmanaged green roofs in New York City - Jason M. Aloisio; Matthew I. Palmer; Amy R. Tuininga; J. D. Lewis (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Vegetated roofs in boreal climate support mobile open habitat arthropods, with differentiation between meadow and succulent roofs - Kukka Kyrö; D. Johan Kotze; Małgorzata Anna Müllner; Sanja Hakala; Elöd Kondorosy; Timo Pajunen; Ferenc Vilisics; Susanna Lehvävirta (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Vegetated roofs are hoped to benefit urban wildlife, yet there are few empirical results regarding the conservation potential of such roofs. In this paper, we focus on arthropods on vegetated roofs. We vacuum sampled 17 succulent, meadow or succulent-meadow roofs, in Helsinki, Finland, and used order to species level information together with trait data to describe the communities. We evaluated the importance of biophysical roof characteristics on shaping arthropod assemblages to provide information concerning roof designs that promote rich arthropod fauna. Arthropod communities differed between the three roof types and the influence of roof variables varied between and within arthropod orders. The main local drivers of arthropod abundance across the individually analysed taxa were roof height and vegetation, with mainly positive effects of height (up to 11 m) and litter cover, and mainly negative effects of grass cover. Based on trait data from true bugs, spiders and ants, the roofs consisted mainly of common dispersive species that are generalist feeders and associated with dry open habitats or have wide habitat tolerance. We found one true bug species new to the country and assume that it arrived with imported vegetation. Based on these findings, vegetated roofs of varying height and size benefit common generalists and fauna of open dry habitats, but seem to lack rare native specialists and may introduce non-natives if imported plant material is used. Because the responses to vegetation characteristics are taxon-specific, high diversity of roof vegetation types would benefit arthropod conservation.

Urban vegetation cover correlates with environmental variables in a desert city: insights of mitigation measures to climate change - Carmen Isela Ortega-Rosas; Carlos Alberto Enciso-Miranda; Alberto Macías-Duarte; Daniel Morales-Romero; Leopoldo Villarruel-Sahagún (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Commentary on “Cues to Care: future directions for ecological landscapes” - Joan Iverson Nassauer (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Tree species diversity, volume yield, biomass and carbon sequestration in urban forests in two Nigerian cities - Aladesanmi Daniel Agbelade; Jonathan C. Onyekwelu (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Tree-circles spontaneous vegetation over a long climatic gradient - U. Šilc; F. Küzmič; S. Aćić; R. Ćušterevska; N. Jasprica; Đ. Milanović; D. Stešević; Ž. Škvorc (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Effects of urbanisation and landscape heterogeneity mediated by feeding guild and body size in a community of coprophilous beetles - Christopher W. Foster; Christopher Kelly; Jordan J. Rainey; Graham J. Holloway (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Although the impacts of urbanisation on biodiversity are well studied, the precise response of some invertebrate groups remains poorly known. Dung-associated beetles are little studied in an urban context, especially in temperate regions. We considered how landscape heterogeneity, assessed at three spatial scales (250, 500 and 1000 m radius), mediates the community composition of coprophilous beetles on a broad urban gradient. Beetles were sampled using simple dung-baited traps, placed at 48 sites stratified across three distance bands around a large urban centre in England. The most urban sites hosted the lowest abundance of saprophagous beetles, with a lower mean body length relative to the least urban sites. Predicted overall species richness and the richness of saprophagous species were also lowest at the most urban sites. Ordination analyses followed by variation partitioning revealed that landscape heterogeneity across the urban gradient explained a small but significant proportion of community composition. Heterogeneity data for a 500-m radius around each site provided the best fit with beetle community data. Larger saprophagous species were associated with lower amounts of manmade surface and improved grassland. Some individual species, particularly predators, appeared to be positively associated with urban or urban fringe sites. This study is probably the first to examine the response of the whole coprophilous beetle community to urbanisation. Our results suggest that the response of this community to urbanisation matches expectations based on other taxonomic groups, whilst emphasising the complex nature of this response, with some smaller-bodied species potentially benefitting from urbanisation.

Adapting to urban ecosystems: unravelling the foraging ecology of an opportunistic predator living in cities - Adrián Méndez; Tomás Montalvo; Raül Aymí; María Carmona; Jordi Figuerola; Joan Navarro (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Pollinator emerging from extensive green roofs: wild bees (Hymenoptera, Antophila) and hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae) in Geneva (Switzerland) - Aurelia Passaseo; Gaël Pétremand; Sophie Rochefort; Emmanuel Castella (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Effect of urbanization intensity on nest-site selection by Eurasian Magpies (Pica pica) - Yu Xu; Zhaoyang Cao; Bin Wang (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Foliar nitrogen characteristics of two tropical tree species along urban roads and parklands - Lai Fern Ow; Subhadip Ghosh; Mohd Lokman Yusof (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Identification of landscape multifunctionality along urban-rural gradient of coastal cities in South Korea - Ilkwon Kim; Hyuksoo Kwon; Sunghoon Kim; Baysok Jun (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Ecological risk resonance of urbanization and its effect on geohazard disaster: the case of Freetown, Sierra Leone - Wen Jin; Yifei Cui; Shengnan Wu; Deqiang Cheng (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Passive recovery of an urban forest in the Pacific Northwest after removal of invasive plants - Paulette Bierzychudek (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Planning for active management of future invasive pests affecting urban forests: the ecological and economic effects of varying Dutch elm disease management practices for street trees in Milwaukee, WI USA - Richard J. Hauer; Ian S. Hanou; David Sivyer (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Carbon stock and woody species diversity patterns in church forests along church age gradient in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Getaw Yilma; Abayneh Derero (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Seed banks in urban vacant lots of a Latin American megacity are easily germinable and strongly dominated by exotic flora - Javier A. Figueroa; Gabriela Saldías; Sebastián Teillier; Estefanía Carrera; Sergio A. Castro (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

A dead letter? Urban conservation, management, and planning strategies from the Mexican urban bird literature - Ian MacGregor-Fors; Miguel A. Gómez-Martínez; Michelle García-Arroyo; Carlos A. Chávez-Zichinelli (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Spatial distribution of sarcoptic mange (Sarcoptes scabiei) in urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Great Britain as determined by citizen science - Dawn M. Scott; Rowenna Baker; Alexandra Tomlinson; Maureen J. Berg; Naomi Charman; Bryony A. Tolhurst (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Urban areas may support high densities of wild carnivores, and pathogens can strongly influence carnivore populations. Red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ) are hosts of sarcoptic mange (Sarcoptes scabiei) , which infects numerous species, and transmission can be density dependent. In Great Britain, urban red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ) have recently increased in population density and undergone range expansions. Here we investigate corresponding changes in urban fox mange prevalence. We predicted a higher prevalence closer to historic epi/enzootics and lower prevalence where urban features reduce fox density and movements, i.e. large areas of public green space, and fragmented habitat, as measured by road length and urban perimeter shape complexity. We visually assessed mange symptoms from georeferenced images of urban foxes submitted online by the public, thus surveying private land on a national scale. We measured the proportion of foxes apparently showing mange and used SATSCAN to identify spatial clusters of high infection risk. Landscape features were extracted from urban layers in GIS to determine associations. Although mange was widespread, we identified a single cluster of high prevalence (37.1%) in Northwest and Central England, which exceeded double mean prevalence overall (15.1%) and mirrors the northward expansion of urban fox distribution. Prevalence was positively correlated with perimeter shape complexity and negatively correlated with distance to the nearest city with mange, although the latter association was weak. Our findings show that citizen science can effectively monitor diseases with highly visible symptoms and suggest that fox movements are influential in explaining spatial patterns of prevalence.

Spatial literacy influences stakeholder’s recognition and mapping of peri-urban and urban ecosystem services - Francisco J. Escobedo; Marius Bottin; Daniela Cala; Diego L. Sandoval Montoya (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Spatial and temporal variation of potential resource availability provided by street trees in southeastern Brazil - Simone Rodrigues FREITAS; Leandro Reverberi TAMBOSI; Natalia Pirani GHILARDI-LOPES; Marcio de Souza WERNECK (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Shading enhances plant species richness and diversity on an extensive green roof - Henk-Jan van der Kolk; Petra van den Berg; Gerard Korthals; T. Martijn Bezemer (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Green roofs can promote biodiversity in urban areas. The extent to which green roofs stimulate plant diversity can depend on roof characteristics such as roof age, substrate depth and shading. We exploratively studied the vegetation on a Dutch green roof in 50 permanent plots (1 m 2 ) over eight years (2012–2019) following roof construction. Plots were situated either on low substrate depth (6 cm light-weight extensive substrate) or high substrate depth (6 cm light-weight extensive substrate topped with 14 cm native soil) and differed in the amount of shading received from a higher building floor. Increased substrate depth and shading additively increased plant species richness and plant diversity, with high shaded plots supporting on average 6.4 more plant species than low unshaded plots. Shading likely acts via reducing drought stress, whereas increasing substrate depth with native soil may also enhance plant diversity via addition of nutrients and native seeds. The vegetation composition on the roof was dynamic and changed over the years. Sedum acre was initially dominant but disappeared within the first years, whereas Sedum kamtschaticum increased and became dominant in the last years. Trifolium arvense was the most abundant forb species and was especially dominant three years after roof construction. We conclude that increased substrate depth and shading can promote plant species richness and diversity and recommend that both aspects are considered when green roofs are designed. Shading can be achieved by a stepped building architecture and by placing structures on the roof itself, such as solar panels on standards.

Hatchery technology restores the spawning ground of phytophilic fish in the urban river of Yangtze Estuary, China - Xiaofeng Huang; Feng Zhao; Chao Song; Yu Gao; Yi Chai; Liqiao Zhong; Ping Zhuang (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Crown width models for woody plant species growing in urban areas of the U.S. - James A. Westfall; David J. Nowak; Jason G. Henning; Tonya W. Lister; Christopher B. Edgar; Mark A. Majewsky; Nancy F. Sonti (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Drivers of fish assemblage structures in a Neotropical urban watershed - Lorenna Campos Cruz; Paulo Santos Pompeu (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Diversity and structure of urban forests of Sahel cities in Niger - Soulé Moussa; Shem Kuyah; Boateng Kyereh; Abasse Tougiani; Saadou Mahamane (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Effect of pavement and water deficit on biomass allocation and whole-tree transpiration in two contrasting urban tree species - Xuming Wang; Xiaoke Wang; Xu Sun; Graeme P. Berlyn; Abdur Rehim (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Urban gradients alter the diversity, specific composition and guild distribution in tropical butterfly communities - Thaís Pignataro; Pedro Bressan; Ana Luíza Santos; Tatiana Cornelissen (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Are invasive House Sparrows a nuisance for native avifauna when scarce? - Michelle García-Arroyo; Diego Santiago-Alarcon; Javier Quesada; Ian MacGregor-Fors (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Planktonic algae abundance and diversity are similar in urban stormwater ponds of different geographic locations and natural shallow lakes - Greta Minelgaite; Paul C. Frost; Marguerite A. Xenopoulos; Diana A. Stephansen; Morten L. Fejerskov; Jes Vollertsen (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Elevated levels of different contaminants are typical to stormwater management ponds. Despite that, a number of works report stormwater ponds serving as habitats for a variety of biota. In this study we aimed to examine phytoplankton communities of urban ponds, as the basis of the aquatic food web, and compare them to those of natural shallow lakes. Stormwater ponds were selected from two distant geographic locations: three in Denmark and three in Canada. As a reference to natural systems, three Danish shallow lakes were sampled. The sampling was carried out in the spring, summer and fall of 2014. The phytoplankton communities in ponds were found to be at least as rich in taxa as natural shallow lakes. Their abundance and biovolume varied highly among the types of water bodies as well as in each pond or lake individually, depending on the sampling month. We did not find any significant differences among ponds and natural shallow lakes at the investigated taxonomic level, despite some distinction observed by multivariate DCA and CCA analyses. Little difference was found between Canadian and Danish ponds as well, even though they are separated by a large geographic distance. This study shows that stormwater ponds are habitats for diverse planktonic algae communities which have some similarities to those of natural shallow lakes. Also, the similarities observed between Danish and Canadian ponds indicate some consistence with the urban homogenization hypothesis, although this should be further looked into by future works examining a larger number and distinct types of ponds.

Are cities hotspots for bees? Local and regional diversity patterns lead to different conclusions - Weronika Banaszak-Cibicka; Michał Żmihorski (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
With the decline of natural habitats, there is an ongoing debate about the importance of the urban environment for pollinating insects. Our research assessed patterns in wild bee species composition, as well as α-, β- and γ-diversity patterns and the nestedness structure in urban, suburban and rural areas. For three years bees were collected along 18 sampling transects in the Poznań area in western Poland. The average species diversity (α-diversity) and the average number of specimens per sample (local abundance) did not differ significantly between the three classes of urbanization. The rarefaction analysis, however, was partly contradictory to the results recorded on the local scale. The highest dissimilarity in the species composition among the samples was observed in the rural areas, while the lowest (more homogenous) was in the urban areas. The differences were significant. This resulted in the highest γ-diversity (cumulative number of species) in the rural areas and the lowest in the urban areas. Furthermore, the bee community in the habitats studied was significantly nested, indicating that species-poor sites (sites with high rank) constituted subsets of species-rich sites (sites with low rank) and that this pattern was not random. Samples collected in urban areas had a significantly higher nestedness rank compared to samples from the other two classes of urbanization, thus suggesting that the urban bee community is a subset of the rural bee community. This is an important conclusion, which emphasises that different components of species diversity need to be screened to identify the real biological impact of urbanisation on bee communities.

Modeling the effectiveness of urban agriculture education courses - Soraya Pourjavid; Alireza Poursaeed; Seyed Mehdi Mirdamadi (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Three categories of urban green areas and the effect of their different management on the communities of ants, spiders and harvestmen - Gema Trigos-Peral; Tomasz Rutkowski; Magdalena Witek; Piotr Ślipiński; Hanna Babik; Wojciech Czechowski (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Urban green areas have become an important tool for biodiversity conservation in cities. However, land use and the different management practices applied to these areas determine their effectiveness as biodiversity refuges within cities. In our study, we compare the biodiversity of three bioindicator groups of arthropods (ants, spiders and harvestmen) found in eleven urban green sites in Warsaw (Poland). The studied sites represent three categories of management: botanical gardens, public parks and urban woodlands. Our aim was to determine the effect of the type of management (as urban green categories) on arthropod communities in urban areas.

Urban bumble bees are unaffected by the proportion of intensely developed land within urban environments of the industrial Midwestern USA - Paige Reeher; Jessie Lanterman Novotny; Randy J Mitchell (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Flight initiation distance changes across landscapes and habitats in a successful urban coloniser - Matthew J. Hall; Alicia L. Burns; John M. Martin; Dieter F. Hochuli (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Bee community response to local and landscape factors along an urban-rural gradient - Kristen R. Birdshire; Adrian L. Carper; Christy E. Briles (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Over a third of the world’s crops require insect pollination, and reliance on pollination services for food continues to rise as human populations increase. Furthermore, as interest in urban agriculture has grown, so has a need for studies of urban pollinator ecology and pollination. Analyzing pollinator assemblages along a rural-urban gradient provides powerful mechanistic insight into how urbanization impacts pollinators. Yet, studies examining pollinators along urban-rural gradients are limited and results vary. Since pollinators vary tremendously in life history characteristics and respond to urbanization differently, studies from different regions would improve our understanding of pollinator response to urbanization. This study documents different bee assemblages along a high-plains semi-arid urban-rural gradient in Denver, Colorado, USA. Percent impervious surface was used to define the extent of urbanization at 12 sites and local and landscape characteristics were estimated using field assessments and geospatial analysis. Wild bees were collected and the relationships between urbanization and bee communities were explored using linear modeling. Overall, bee abundance and diversity decreased with increasing urbanization, suggesting that urban areas negatively impact bee communities. However, all bee guilds responded positively to local floral richness and negatively to the degree of landscape urbanization, suggesting that different types of bees responded similarly to urbanization. These findings suggest that providing a greater diversity of floral resources is key to mitigating the negative impacts of urbanization on pollinator communities.

Moving beyond the nature-based solutions discourse: introducing nature-based thinking - Thomas B. Randrup; Arjen Buijs; Cecil C. Konijnendijk; Tom Wild (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Suites of concepts and approaches have been launched during recent years to promote urban nature and greener cities. However, it is doubtable whether tinkering within the current economic and political system can provide adequate solutions. Nature-based Solutions can be seen as a new conceptual approach to the human-ecological connection, and as an outcome of an evolutionary development of socio-ecological concepts. In this Communication, we argue for drawing up inspiration by nature as an outset for the development of more sustainable and inclusive cities, balancing anthropocentric and ecocentric values and acknowledging the importance of the social and governance dimensions in a more balanced socio-ecological perspective. We call this approach Nature-based Thinking.

Effects of urban infrastructure on aquatic invertebrate diversity - Mia Vehkaoja; Milla Niemi; Veli-Matti Väänänen (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Wetlands are one of the world’s most important, economically valuable, and diverse ecosystems. A major proportion of wetland biodiversity is composed of aquatic invertebrates, which are essential for secondary production in aquatic and terrestrial food webs. Urban areas have intensified the challenges wetlands encounter by increasing the area of impermeable surfaces and the levels of nutrient and pollutant overflows. We investigated how urban infrastructure affects the aquatic invertebrate fauna of urban wetlands in metropolitan Helsinki, southern Finland. We measured riparian canopy cover, emergent vegetation coverage, and various land cover and road variables. Recreation area, forests, and open natural areas were the most important landscape features positively influencing aquatic invertebrate family richness, whereas buildings and roads had a negative effect on family richness and abundances of many taxa. Recreation area and the various forest types also positively affected the α-diversity indices of wetlands. On the other hand, fish assemblage did not affect either family richness or abundances of the studied taxa. Furthermore, trees growing on the shoreline negatively affected the diversity of aquatic invertebrate families. Invertebrate family diversity was greatest at well-connected wetlands, as these areas added to the regional species pool by over 33%. Our results show that connectivity and green areas near wetlands increase aquatic invertebrate family diversity, and our results could be utilized in urban planning.

Prevalence and risk factors of Leptospira infection in urban brown rats (Rattus norvegicus), Vienna, Austria - Amélie Desvars-Larrive; Steve Smith; Gopi Munimanda; Pascale Bourhy; Theresa Waigner; Margaret Odom; Diana S. Gliga; Chris Walzer (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Leptospirosis is a worldwide bacterial zoonosis which incidence is expected to increase in conjunction with global change. In urban ecosystems, synanthropic rats are the key source of Leptospira infection in humans and other animals. Risk assessment and prediction of human leptospirosis require investigations of the environment associated with the bacteria and infection patterns in the reservoir hosts. The objective of this study was to address the prevalence of mixed Leptospira infection in the lungs and kidneys of brown rats captured in three sites of the city centre of Vienna, Austria, between 2016 and 2018. A total of 96 brown rats were examined for the presence of Leptospira using PCR. Occurrence of mixed Leptospira infections was explored through next-generation sequencing (NGS). A logistic regression model was built to predict the individual infection status using morphological and land-use data. Overall, the prevalence of Leptospira interrogans in the kidney was 25% but varied among sites (0–36%). We did not evidence any pulmonary nor mixed infections. Host body mass and sex were strong predictors of Leptospira carriage in the sampled rats (relative variable importance (RVI) = 0.98 and 0.89, respectively) while the presence of water affected it moderately (RVI = 0.44). Our findings demonstrate that NGS is an unbiased approach to the direct characterisation of mixed leptospiral infections that could provide further insights into the ecology of Leptospira . Future surveillance programmes should consider the use of rats as sentinels for the early detection of emerging pathogenic Leptospira in urban ecosystems.

Effects of habitat fragment size and isolation on the density and genetics of urban red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) - Andrew J. Wilk; Kate C. Donlon; William E. Peterman (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Loud callings limit human tolerance towards invasive parakeets in urban areas - Emiliano Mori; Gianluca Onorati; Silvia Giuntini (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Flora of the tram tracks of Bratislava - Alena Rendeková; Karol Mičieta; Zuzana Randáková; Dominika Ballová; Mariana Eliašová; Ján Miškovic (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Urban or rural fragments: which soil use in forest surroundings induces greater litter deposition? - Priscila Silva dos Santos; Elcida de Lima Araújo; Juliana Ramos de Andrade; Kleber Andrade da Silva; Danielle Melo dos Santos; Josiene Maria Falcão Fraga dos Santos; Gicélia Lira dos Prazeres; Elba Maria Nogueira Ferraz (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Comparison of multiple behavioral traits between urban and rural squirrels - Kenta Uchida; Tatsuki Shimamoto; Hisashi Yanagawa; Itsuro Koizumi (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Feeding behaviour of red fox and domestic cat populations in suburban areas in the south of Paris - Irene Castañeda; Diane Zarzoso-Lacoste; Elsa Bonnaud (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Herbert Sukopp – an inspiring pioneer in the field of urban ecology - Ingo Kowarik (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Urban ecology is a well-established integrative discipline with many historical roots. One of the eminent pioneers of urban ecology is the German ecologist Herbert Sukopp, who works in Berlin since the late 1950s and is often referred to as the founder of the "Berlin School of Urban Ecology". On the occasion of his 90th anniversary in 2020, this paper aims to recognize and commemorate the major contributions of Sukopp to the field of urban ecology, based on his scientific work and on results of an online survey on his perception in the international scientific community. Sukopp’s contributions were groundbreaking for the establishment of urban ecology. Specifically, his work furthered: (1) the performance of comprehensive biodiversity studies across all land-use types within the city, in relation to the specifics of urban environments; (2) the establishment of modern approaches of nature conservation in cities and their integration into all land-use types, and the city as a whole; (3) the formation of a multidisciplinary conceptual basis of urban ecology as a modern science, with combined scientific and applied perspectives, ultimately aiming at the preservation and further development of nature within cities for the benefit of urban residents. Herbert Sukopp is thus an important and inspiring pioneer in the field of urban ecology.

Publisher Correction to: An integrated dietary assessment increases feeding event detection in an urban carnivore - Gabriella R. M. Leighton; Jacqueline M. Bishop; M. Justin O’Riain; Joleen Broadfield; Justin Meröndun; Graham Avery; D. Margaret Avery; Laurel E. K. Serieys (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Correction to: contrasting effects of urbanization on arboreal and ground-dwelling land snails: role of trophic interactions and habitat fragmentation - Ikuyo Saeki; Shigeru Niwa; Noriyuki Osada; Wakana Azuma; Tsutom Hiura (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

An integrated dietary assessment increases feeding event detection in an urban carnivore - Gabriella R. M. Leighton; Jacqueline M. Bishop; M. Justin O’Riain; Joleen Broadfield; Justin Meröndun; Graham Avery; D. Margaret Avery; Laurel E. K. Serieys (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Risk of bird predation and defoliating insect abundance are greater in urban forest fragments than street trees - Lawrence C. Long; Steven D. Frank (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Management of nature-based goods and services provisioning from the urban common: a pan-European perspective - Abhishek Tiwary; Ursa Vilhar; Miglena Zhiyanski; Vladimir Stojanovski; Lucian Dinca (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Urbanization drivers differentially affect ground arthropod assemblages in the city of Turin (NW-Italy) - Elena Piano; Francesca Bona; Marco Isaia (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

The evolutionary diversity of urban forests depends on their land-use history - Erica Rievrs Borges; Kyle G. Dexter; Marcelo Leandro Bueno; Vanessa Pontara; Fabrício Alvim Carvalho (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Effects of habitat-patch size and patch isolation on the diversity of forest birds in the urban-forest mosaic of Durban, South Africa - Mfundo S. T. Maseko; Manqoba M. Zungu; David A. Ehlers Smith; Yvette C. Ehlers Smith; Colleen T. Downs (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Research on termites in urban areas: approaches and gaps - Marcus Nascimento Santos (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Avian biotic homogenization driven by airport-affected environments - Renata D. Alquezar; Graziela Tolesano-Pascoli; Diego Gil; Regina H. Macedo (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Flood-resilient urban design based on the indigenous landscape in the city of Can Tho, Vietnam - Nguyen Van Long; Yuning Cheng; Tu Dam Ngoc Le (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Winter habitat selection of Corvids in an urban ecosystem - Klaudia Szala; Łukasz Dylewski; Marcin Tobolka (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Urban areas attract birds during the winter when cities provide a predictable source of food and relatively stable weather conditions. However, many other factors determine the occurrence of birds in cities. This study analysed the relationship between corvids wintering in the city of Poznań, in western Poland and habitat features. Each of 32 research site was investigated three times. The most abundant species was the rook (mean = 17.4 individuals/site); the most frequent was the Eurasian magpie (88% of all sites). To determine variables that influence the abundance of birds, a set of generalised linear models was created, with model averaging being selected for each species. The abundance of hooded crows was positively influenced by surface of parks, water and by the length of tram tracks. The number of rooks was positively linked with the number of walnut trees, garbage cans and the surface of the water and negatively linked with the length of watercourses. Jackdaw was affected positively by the number of garbage cans, the surface of the water and negatively by the cover of trees. The number of magpies was associated with the number of walnut trees, garbage cans and negatively influenced by the surface of trees. None of the investigated habitat variables significantly affected the abundance of European jay. We also found a positive correlation between the abundances of hooded crow, rook, jackdaw and magpie. The results indicate that corvids wintering in urban ecosystems exhibit selectivity toward specific habitat features and that preferences differ among the studied species.

Replacement of semi-natural cover with artificial substrates in urban parks causes a decline of house sparrows Passer domesticus in Mediterranean towns - Edgar Bernat-Ponce; José A. Gil-Delgado; Germán M. López-Iborra (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Colonization and habitat selection of a declining farmland species in urban areas - Martin Mayer; Peter Sunde (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Mammal conservation in a changing world: can urban gardens play a role? - Bronte E. Van Helden; Paul G. Close; Rochelle Steven (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Local and landscape drivers of bird abundance, species richness, and trait composition in urban agroecosystems - Isabella Mayorga; Peter Bichier; Stacy M. Philpott (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Attitudinal and structural drivers of preferred versus actual residential landscapes in a desert city - Megan M. Wheeler; Kelli L. Larson; Riley Andrade (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Contrasting effects of urbanization on arboreal and ground-dwelling land snails: role of trophic interactions and habitat fragmentation - Ikuyo Saeki; Shigeru Niwa; Noriyuki Osada; Wakana Azuma; Tsutom Hiura (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Urbanization homogenizes the interactions of plant-frugivore bird networks - Israel Schneiberg; Danilo Boscolo; Mariano Devoto; Vinicius Marcilio-Silva; Cilmar Antônio Dalmaso; John Wesley Ribeiro; Milton Cezar Ribeiro; André de Camargo Guaraldo; Bernardo Brandão Niebuhr; Isabela Galarda Varassin (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Amphibians in an urban environment: a case study from a central European city (Wrocław, Poland) - Agnieszka Konowalik; Anna Najbar; Kamil Konowalik; Łukasz Dylewski; Marzena Frydlewicz; Paweł Kisiel; Agata Starzecka; Anna Zaleśna; Krzysztof Kolenda (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
In 2016, we studied the occurrence of amphibians in 231 selected ponds in the city of Wrocław (Lower Silesia, Poland) and confirmed the occurrence of 10 species: Bombina bombina, Bufo bufo, Bufotes viridis, Hyla arborea, Pelobates fuscus, Pelophylax esculentus complex, Rana arvalis , Rana temporaria, Lissotriton vulgaris and Triturus cristatus . Among all studied sites, the most common were P. esculentus complex (146 occupied sites, 63.2%) and B. bufo (119, 51.5%), while the rarest was P. fuscus (8, 3.5%). The number of species at a single site varied from 0 (28 sites, 12.1%) to 9 (1 site, 0.4%). Frequency and mean amphibian species richness reached 87.9% and 2.7 ± 1.9, respectively. The composition of amphibian species did not change in comparison to previous studies conducted in the years 1997–2009, but declining trends in five species ( B. bombina , B. viridis , H. arborea , P. esculentus complex, P. fuscus ) were observed (28 compared sites). The results revealed that the permanency of ponds, their occurrence in the vicinity of river valleys, and a high ratio of watercourse length and green area around ponds are positively correlated and have a significant influence on amphibian species richness within the city. Thus, these identified factors should be considered in the course of sustainable urban planning in order to avoid potential conflicts between nature conservation and urban development.

The effects of traffic noise on tadpole behavior and development - Erica Castaneda; Vernell R. Leavings; Reed F. Noss; Molly K. Grace (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Traffic noise is known to negatively affect many wildlife species by interfering with foraging behavior. Frogs often lay their eggs in roadside ditches because they are predator-free, but it is possible that traffic noise could reduce the survival and fitness of tadpoles, creating an ecological trap. In a series of lab experiments, we tested whether traffic noise has a negative impact on tadpole feeding behavior, whether this is mediated by changes in tadpole activity, and whether there is any impact on tadpole growth rate or metamorphosis. Traffic noise exposure significantly reduced the amount of food consumed by Cuban Treefrog ( Osteopilus septentrionalis ) tadpoles. Traffic noise exposure also increased the activity level of both Southern Toad ( Anaxyrus terrestris ) and Cuban Treefrog tadpoles, which could possibly make them more noticeable to predators in the wild. However, these behavioral changes were not associated with changes in growth rate or timing of metamorphosis. We caution, however, that this study aimed to isolate the specific impact of traffic noise, and did not investigate other road effects that may be damaging to tadpoles.

The University of West Florida campus ecosystem study: gopher tortoise and longleaf pine populations in an urban interface - Frank S. Gilliam; Emily E. Harmon; Skylar C. Boyles (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Where the wild things are! Do urban green spaces with greater avian biodiversity promote more positive emotions in humans? - Ross W. F. Cameron; Paul Brindley; Meghann Mears; Kirsten McEwan; Fiona Ferguson; David Sheffield; Anna Jorgensen; Julie Riley; Jon Goodrick; Liz Ballard; Miles Richardson (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Urban green space can help mitigate the negative impacts of urban living and provide positive effects on citizens’ mood, health and well-being. Questions remain, however, as to whether all types of green space are equally beneficial, and if not, what landscape forms or key features optimise the desired benefits. For example, it has been cited that urban landscapes rich in wildlife (high biodiversity) may promote more positive emotions and enhance well-being. This research utilised a mobile phone App, employed to assess people’s emotions when they entered any one of 945 green spaces within the city of Sheffield, UK. Emotional responses were correlated to key traits of the individual green spaces, including levels of biodiversity the participant perceived around them. For a subsample of these green spaces, actual levels of biodiversity were assessed through avian and habitat surveys. Results demonstrated strong correlations between levels of avian biodiversity within a green space and human emotional response to that space. Respondents reported being happier in sites with greater avian biodiversity ( p < 0.01, r = 0.78) and a greater variety of habitats ( p < 0.02, r = 0.72). Relationships were strengthened when emotions were linked to perceptions of overall biodiversity ( p < 0.001, r = 0.89). So, when participants thought the site was wildlife rich, they reported more positive emotions, even when actual avian biodiversity levels were not necessarily enhanced. The data strengthens the arguments that nature enhances well-being through positive affect, and that increased ‘engagement with nature’ may help support human health within urban environments. The results have strong implications for city planning with respect to the design, management and use of city green spaces.

Urban channel incision and stream flow subsidies have contrasting effects on the water status of riparian trees - Joanna P. Solins; Mary L. Cadenasso (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Mapping heat and traffic stress of urban park vegetation based on satellite imagery - A comparison of Bucharest, Romania and Leipzig, Germany - Irina Cârlan; Dagmar Haase; André Große-Stoltenberg; Ionut Sandric (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Home gardening practice in Pune (India), the role of communities, urban environment and the contribution to urban sustainability - Ingo Zasada; Meike Weltin; Felix Zoll; Siddhartha Lawrence Benninger (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Design catalogue for eco-engineering of coastal artificial structures: a multifunctional approach for stakeholders and end-users - Kathryn A. O’Shaughnessy; Stephen J. Hawkins; Ally J. Evans; Mick E. Hanley; Paul Lunt; Richard C. Thompson; Robert A. Francis; Simon P. G. Hoggart; Pippa J. Moore; Gregorio Iglesias; David Simmonds; James Ducker; et al. (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)
Coastal urbanisation, energy extraction, food production, shipping and transportation have led to the global proliferation of artificial structures within the coastal and marine environments (sensu “ocean sprawl”), with subsequent loss of natural habitats and biodiversity. To mitigate and compensate impacts of ocean sprawl, the practice of eco-engineering of artificial structures has been developed over the past decade. Eco-engineering aims to create sustainable ecosystems that integrate human society with the natural environment for the benefit of both. The science of eco-engineering has grown markedly, yet synthesis of research into a user-friendly and practitioner-focused format is lacking. Feedback from stakeholders has repeatedly stated that a “photo user guide” or “manual” covering the range of eco-engineering options available for artificial structures would be beneficial. However, a detailed and structured “user guide” for eco-engineering in coastal and marine environments is not yet possible; therefore we present an accessible review and catalogue of trialled eco-engineering options and a summary of guidance for a range of different structures tailored for stakeholders and end-users as the first step towards a structured manual. This work can thus serve as a potential template for future eco-engineering guides. Here we provide suggestions for potential eco-engineering designs to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services of coastal artificial structures with the following structures covered: (1) rock revetment, breakwaters and groynes composed of armour stones or concrete units; (2) vertical and sloping seawalls; (3) over-water structures (i.e., piers) and associated support structures; and (4) tidal river walls.

Minimal stories in Southeast Buenos Aires grasslands: carabid beetle biodiversity throughout an urban-rural gradient - Adela V. Castro; Darío P. Porrini; Sebastián Lupo; Armando C. Cicchino (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

If you plant it, they will come: quantifying attractiveness of exotic plants for winter-active flower visitors in community gardens - Perrin Tasker; Chris Reid; Andrew D. Young; Caragh G. Threlfall; Tanya Latty (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Genetic diversity and relatedness of a recently established population of eastern coyotes (Canis latrans) in New York City - Carol S. Henger; Giselle A. Herrera; Christopher M. Nagy; Mark E. Weckel; Linda J. Gormezano; Claudia Wultsch; Jason Munshi-South (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Multidimensional analysis of temporal and layered microclimatic behavior of subtropical climber green walls in summer - Louis S. H. Lee; C. Y. Jim (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Do small cities affect bird assemblages? An evaluation from Patagonia - Cristian Andrés Gorosito; Víctor Rodolfo Cueto (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Oak, Quercus chenii, dispersal in fragmented urban forests: acorn horizontal and vertical dispersal, seedling establishment and growth - Hongyu Niu; Xiaorong Wang; Hongmao Zhang; Dong Wang (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

City dwelling wild bees: how communal gardens promote species richness - Julia Lanner; Sophie Kratschmer; Božana Petrović; Felix Gaulhofer; Harald Meimberg; Bärbel Pachinger (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Size does matter: Passive sampling in urban parks of a regional bat assemblage - Elena Tena; Guillermo Fandos; Óscar de Paz; Roberto de la Peña; José Luis Tellería (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

Analysis of the spread of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus in an urban area, using GIS techniques: a study case in Central Italy - Alessandro Cinnirella; Carlo Bisci; Sandro Nardi; Emanuela Ricci; Francesco Alessandro Palermo; Luca Bracchetti (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)

The effects of urbanization on carnivores in the New York metropolitan area - Jillian R. Stark; Matthew Aiello-Lammens; Melissa M. Grigione (Urban Ecosystems, 2020)