Biodiversity in sacred urban spaces of Bengaluru, India
Biodiversity in sacred urban spaces of Bengaluru, India
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DOI：
10.1016/j.ufug.2018.03.021
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发表时间：
2018-05-01
影响因子：
6.4
通讯作者：
Nagendra, Harini
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Jaganmohan, Madhumitha;Vailshery, Lionel Sujay;Nagendra, Harini
城市绿地为城市提供了重要的社会和生态支持，但我们对全球南方城市绿地的多样性和构成知之甚少。对于不太为人所知的城市空间，如具有重要文化和生物多样性意义的圣地，尤其如此。我们在印度发展最快的城市之一班加罗尔的圣地考察了树木的多样性和组成。我们在班加罗尔中心地区的62座寺庙、教堂以及印度教、基督教和穆斯林墓地记录了来自93个物种的5504棵树。超过一半（52%）的树种是原生的，与城市中的其他绿地（如公园）相比，这一比例要高得多。在班加罗尔，圣地的树木密度远高于公园和非正式定居点。寺庙和印度教墓地的本地物种比例最高，其中有大量的榕属植物，这是一种重要的神圣物种。在印度城市中，神圣空间中的树木为抵御城市环境压力提供了重要的缓冲，并成为城市野生动物和生物多样性的避难所。我们需要更多关于这些鲜为人知但具有重要文化意义的替代空间的信息。它们在全球南方快速发展的城市的环境可持续性中发挥着重要的作用，尽管被忽视了。
Urban green spaces provide critical social and ecological support for cities, but we know little about their diversity and composition in cities of the Global South. This is especially true of lesser known urban spaces such as sacred sites, which are of important cultural and biodiversity significance. We examine tree diversity and composition in sacred sites in Bengaluru, one of India's fastest growing cities. We recorded 5504 trees from 93 species across 62 temples, churches, and Hindu, Christian and Muslim cemeteries in central areas of Bengaluru. Over half (52%) of the tree species were of native origin, a much higher proportion when compared to other green spaces in the city such as parks. Tree density in sacred sites was much higher than that in parks and informal settlements in Bengaluru. Temples and Hindu cemeteries contained the highest proportion of native species, with large numbers of Ficus benghalensis, a keystone sacred species. Trees in sacred spaces provide an important buffer against urban environmental stress in Indian cities, and serve as refuges for urban wildlife and biodiversity. We need greater information on these lesser known, but culturally significant alternate spaces. They play an important, though ignored role in the environmental sustainability of rapidly growing cities in the Global South.