Urbanization, characterized by built infrastructure coupled with impervious surfaces, creates a wide array of impacts on the broader ecosystem, dramatically changing both biotic and abiotic attributes of landscape from prior patterns. Vegetation provides a vast array of ecosystem services to urban systems, including biodiversity conservation, absorption of air pollutants, and oxygen generation. Furthermore, greening built areas with vegetation can improve stormwater management and improve the physical and mental health of people, as well as other socio-economic improvements and benefits. In this study, we examine natural habitats and similar habitats now in urban land use to identify parallels in ecosystem function and biodiversity. We use our findings, in collaboration with landscape designers, to support the development of desirable functions in urban ecological systems. Our research consists of three main steps: identifying structurally analogous habitats in urban and nearby natural and spontaneous unmanaged habitats; characterizing the communities associated with these habitats and their functions to generate hypotheses about their potential applicability to urban systems, and use these insights to support urban design projects which test these hypotheses.
Results/Conclusions
Herein, we present data from a preliminary stud in urban and natural thin soil environments in the Cuyahoga River watershed surrounding Cleveland. At 23 sites within the study area, we characterized bryophyte communities and recorded physical attributes of their habitats, density and growth form. We sampled sites we characterized as barrens, bluff rim forest, boulder communities, ledges, slumps, urban lawns, and urban walls. A total of 18 unique bryophyte species were observed across all the sampled habitats, with species richness per habitat being highest in barrens, ledges and urban walls.
Providing patches of habitat in cities is the key to fostering biodiversity, however, many projects fostering urban biodiversity focus on larger infrastructure. Yet, small, ruderal patches of vegetation may offer functional habitat patches in areas where larger infrastructure elements cannot be accommodated. The next steps in this research will include quantification of ecosystem metrics such as canopy cover, light intensity, humidity levels, substrate pH, and substrate water content at our sites, and in turn, investigating the effects of bryophytes on micro-ecosystem functioning, micro-invertebrate communities, microclimate modification and consequently, ecosystem services.