Tue, Aug 03, 2021: 9:30 AM-10:30 AM
Session Organizer:
Paola A. Olaya Arenas
Volunteer:
Jennifer Perez
This special session is focused on understanding the factors influencing connections between plants and animals in cities and the effect on ecosystem services such a pollination and pest suppression in urban landscapes. Green urban areas, either at street level (parks and trees) or in buildings (green walls, green roofs, balconies, and courtyards) have been recognized as key habitats that contribute to the conservation of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services such as microclimate regulation, reduction in pollution and a recreational environment for citizens, adding social and cultural benefits. City planners use a combination of non-native trees and native trees to reforest cities under aesthetical, ecological, or socioeconomic criteria. However, the introduction of non-native trees within the cities changes the interactions between species (plants-plants & plants-animals) and their ecological function. In this session, we will share research about the effect of green urban management on birds, insects, and plants diversity and their biotic interactions in Bogotá city. These types of studies are important to understand biodiversity and ecosystem services within cities and to be able of implementing sustainability in an age of global urbanization.