Urban ecology
Urbanization is a major contributor to habitat and biodiversity loss. At the same time urban areas provide opportunities for those species that are adapted, or can adapt, to the novel and ever-changing urban landscape.
The defining feature of urbanized areas is the intensive use by humans, as a place to sleep and work, but also for leisure time and recreational activities. This opens up the potential for ample contact among society and wildlife, including on the one hand conflicts and on the other hand interactions that increase human wellbeing and the quality of the city. Ongoing human migration into cities results in densification within cities and sprawl of cities into the surrounding landscapes contribute to the loss of wildlife habitat. Currently, it remains unclear which properties of urban spaces have the strongest effects on urban wildlife and how to maximize positive effects of urban green infrastructures. As the green infrastructure decreases with ongoing urban development, many cities are looking for strategies to reduce the loss of urban nature and to secure and develop green infrastructures as a means to retain the ecosystem services provided by nature.
We research green infrastructure development and its effect on human well-being, as well as conflicts arising from co-inhabitation of the urban habitat. For example (https://www.bayklif.de/verbundprojekte/baysics/teilprojekt-7/), we study how the urban context changes attitudes towards animals in the city, and how urbanization affects the phenology of animals such as hedgehogs. in the 100 squares project [LINK], we investigate the abundance and diversity of various animal groups depend on the size, distance to the city centre, and greenness on and in the surrounding of public squares in the city of Munich as a model system. Moreover, in our ALAN project, we focus on the effects of artificial light at night on plant functioning, and how this influences interactions with plant-associated organisms in the phytobiome, such as insects and microbes. With [link] Animal-Aided Design [/link], we aim to integrate the development of buildings with nature conservation, such that conflict is minimized and the ecosystem services provided to society are maximized. In [link] Ecolopes we go one step further, and envision the building’s outer surface as an ecosystem, in which the needs of plants, animals, microbes and society are equally considered.
100 squares
Rural land use is threatening biodiversity and cities have been suggested as an alternative habitat for wildlife with a potential for species conservation. However, urbanisation increases worldwide due to the migration of humans into cities. Resulting densification within cities and sprawl of cities into the surrounding landscapes contribute to the loss of wildlife habitat. Currently, it remains unclear which properties of urban spaces have the strongest effects on urban wildlife and how to integrate these properties into city planning. We investigate these questions using public squares in the city of Munich as a model system. In the 100-squars project, we have selected 103 that are a representative sample of all squares in Munich, which span gradients in size, distance to the city centre, and greenness on and in the surrounding of the squares. We monitor the abundance and diversity of various animal groups to investigate the effects of square properties on urban biodiversity. We demonstrate positive effects of an increasing greenness (proportion of grassy surface area, number of trees, shrub volume) on the abundance and diversity of various taxa.