Urban Biodiversity

Garrard et al. (2018) wrote about biodiversity sensitive urban design (BSUD) and applied this to two case studies in Australia. According to Garrard et al. (2018), five principles of BSUD are, “maintain and introduce habitat,” “facilitate dispersal,” “minimize threats and anthropogenic disturbances,” “facilitate natural ecological processes” and “improve potential for positive human-nature interactions” (pp. 3-4). While these ideas may be helpful, Garrard et al. wrote that, “BSUD alone is insufficient to conserve biodiversity in cities while they continue to densify and expand….To maximize urban biodiversity conservation outcomes, BSUD should be implemented alongside strategic land planning including specification for housing densities that minimize the urban footprint” (p. 8). Lafayette Park advocates could utilize BSUD principles and talk with “ecological consultants” in order to determine which species to focus on in the park (p. 8)

In addition, Threlfall et al. (2017) looked at biodiversity in Melbourne, Australia in “golf courses, public parks and residential neighbourhoods” (p. 1875). Threlfall et al. (2017) found that “In general, top–down policies that promote green space management practices that increase planting of native vegetation and maintenance of a complex understorey will have strong, positive impacts on most fauna species we examined, ranging from sedentary invertebrates to highly mobile vertebrate species” (p. 1881). Master gardeners in Lafayette Park could take this into consideration when maintaining and planting in the park. 

Garrard, G. E., Williams, N. S. G., Mata, L., Thomas, J., & Bekessy, S. A. (2018). Biodiversity sensitive urban design. Conservation Letters, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12411

Threlfall, C. G., Mata, L., Mackie, J. A., Hahs, A. K., Stork, N. E., Williams, N. S. G., & Livesley, S. J. (2017). Increasing biodiversity in urban green spaces through simple vegetation interventions. Journal of Applied Ecology, 54(6), 1874–1883. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12876