Maximising ecosystem services in urban environments (MEaSURE)

Lead Research Organisation: University of Manchester
Department Name: Earth Atmospheric and Env Sciences

Abstract

Urban environments are home to the majority of people on the planet and so ensuring these systems provide healthy, productive and resilient environments is critical. Green infrastructure - which we define as a network of multi-functional green space and other green features - is a key component of urban systems and the main reservoirs of much urban biodiversity. But how do we manage green infrastructure to maximise the benefits these features bring to humans and wider ecosystem functioning? Here we focus on gaining a better predictive understanding of diversity associated with green infrastructure can be optimised to enhance ecosystem services.

Biodiversity is widely recognised to be a key driver of multiple ecosystem functions (i.e. ecosystem multifunctionality), underpinning the provision of numerous ecosystem services for humanity, as well as undesirable disservices. Manipulation of biodiversity therefore has considerable potential to significantly improve how we construct and manage engineered and urban ecosystems. A major gap in knowledge hampering our ability to harness the benefits of biodiversity in urban areas is understanding how attributes particular to green infrastructure in urban environments affect biodiversity-ecosystem multifunctionality relationships. This knowledge is important for the design and management of urban green infrastructure to maximise ecosystem service provision in wider urban landscapes. Moreover, the mechanisms by which landscape form and biodiversity influence ecosystem services and mitigate against disservices operate at different scales, and we lack understanding of how these mechanisms operate and scale in urban landscapes. A further gap in knowledge is how the diversity of urban forms interact with the diversity of neighbouring peri-urban and rural forms to affect ecosystem services and disservices in urban landscapes.

Here we address these gaps in knowledge to understand how biodiversity can be used to enhance ecosystem multifunctionality in urban landscapes at contrasting scales. We focus on ecosystem services of carbon capture, cycling and storage, urban cooling, and water holding capacity, and disservices of greenhouse gas emissions, pathogen prevalence, and tick-borne pathogens; these services and disservices are intrinsically linked to green infrastructure and there is an established mechanistic basis for a link to biodiversity. We will integrate knowledge of biodiversity-ecosystem multifunctionality relationships into a modelling framework that will be used to create a web-based planning tool to determine how planning scenarios affect urban ecosystem multifunctionality. Our findings will contribute to the development of enabling mechanisms, with a focus on urban land use and green infrastructure planning, to enhance the contribution made by local scale green infrastructure interventions to wider landscape scale processes and the resilience of urban ecosystems.
 
Description Scottish Government's Scottish Health Protection Network Tick-borne disease group
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Scottish Government's Scottish Health Protection Network Tick-borne disease group
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description British Association for Veterinary Parasitology (BAVP) conference, Sep 2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Oral presentation "Understanding how attributes of rural and hinterland greenspaces are associated with the ecosystem services and disservices" at BAVP conference, 8th-9th September 2022.
Helped inform our study design and scientific questions and approach. A lot of interest from other delegates.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Conference poster online at Scottish Parasitological partnership in research, innovation and training SPPIRIT ECR Research Symposium 26th September 2022. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Poster titled "Understanding how attributes of rural and hinterland greenspaces are associated with the ecosystem services and disservices". Presented online at Scottish Parasitological partnership in research, innovation and training (SPPIRIT) ECR Research Symposium 26th September 2022.
Generated a lot of interest among the delegates including suggestions for the research approach and enquiries for further information to use our study sites.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Poster presentation at Inverness NorthTick conference Hall et al 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Poster presentation to the NorthTick conference in Inverness May 30-31st 2023, read by at least 50 of the conference delegates, which included health practitioners, researchers, patient groups and charities, students. Poster title: Ticks and Lyme disease risk in urban greenspace in northern UK Authors: Hall, Plahe, Johnson, Birtles, Gilbert
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Poster presentation at Inverness NorthTick conference Plahe et al 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Poster presentation at NorthTick conference, read by more than 50 international participants, who were public health professionals, academic researchers, patient groups and charities, students. Poster title: Comparison of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. abundance and diversity in urban greenspace and surrounding hinterland. Authors: Plahe, Hall, Gilbert, Birtles
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Undergrad lecture at University of Salford 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact Undergrad lecture at University of Salford on ticks and Lyme disease.
Many requests for further information, including students that will now take part in the study to gain them research experience and summer work.
Educating and engaging the new generation of researchers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023