Evaluating The Landscape-scale Benefits Of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems For Freshwater Biodiversity

评估可持续城市排水系统对淡水生物多样性的景观规模效益

• 批准号: 2775103
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Edinburgh Napier University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2775103
• 关键词: Evaluating; Landscape; scale; Benefits; Sustainable

More than half of the world's population now lives in urban areas and the ongoing rapid expansion of urban areas provides challenges and opportunities for the conservation of biodiversity. Urbanisation is commonly associated with loss of rare or pollution sensitive species, overall change in communities and the spread and dominance of invasive plants and animals. The development of urban green infrastructure (GI) has the potential to provide a counter-balance to such issues. Urban GI encompasses a wide range of ecosystem features including woodland, grasslands and meadows, and freshwater features. The development of effective GI has the potential to provide enhanced ecosystem services, biodiversity gain and societal benefits such as recreation.Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) are a common 'blue' component of GI. These are artificial waterbodies principally designed to intercept surface drainage in urban catchments, improving water quality by allowing settlement of sediment and absorption/breakdown of pollutants. Such SUDS, mostly consisting of small ponds and other artificial wetlands, also present an opportunity for enhancing urban freshwater biodiversity; the four 'SUDS pillars' emphasise their role in relation to water quality, quantity, biodiversity and amenity.The role of SUDS in relation to local biodiversity has been assessed through a number of studies. There's already evidence that SUDS can be important habitats for rare and important to conservation species. What has not been well established is their broader influence on diversity at the landscape or catchment scale, in terms of species richness, population connectivity and genetic diversity within and between populations. Many freshwater taxa are highly dispersive and SUDS can potentially act as important stepping-stone habitats both from other natural ponds and other types of freshwater ecosystems including rivers.Due to this potential connectivity, SUDS might allow otherwise isolated populations to persist as stable metapopulations within an ecosystem network that includes both natural and urban habitats.In extensive urban areas, where natural freshwaters are often scarce, SUDS may provide links between natural features and other sites such as garden ponds and therefore increase landscape permeability both in terms of population movement and gene flow. Habitat fragmentation associated with urbanisation is known to influence gene flow, with reduction in genetic diversity potentially impacting on the ability to adapt to changing environments. Given significant northwards shifts of many species ranges with changes in climate, such permeability may also be critical in allowing species to bypass urban barriers. Enhanced permeability can have a downside however; the value of SUDS for enhancing biodiversity must be weighed against the value for harbouring and encouraging spread of disease vector and pest organisms, with the planning of SUDS undertaken with consideration of this risk-reward ratio.Scottish Planning Policy identifies GI as an essential part of our long-term environmental performance and climate resilience. Significant investment is currently taking place in GI in Scotland through initiatives such as the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention (GISI). The GISI is part of the current European Regional Development Fund programme in Scotland and funds multifunctional GI in deprived areas of urban Scotland. As well as creating benefits for people and nature in the local areas, the sites will act as demonstrator sites, showing the value of GI and how it can deliver multiple benefits.With this ongoing investment it is vital to evaluate the outcomes and determine how such developments can be implemented to maximise benefits for native biodiversity whilst performing other functions such as urban water management.

目前，世界上一半以上的人口生活在城市地区，城市地区的持续快速扩张为保护生物多样性带来了挑战和机遇。城市化通常与稀有或污染敏感物种的丧失、社区的整体变化以及入侵植物和动物的传播和统治有关。城市绿色基础设施的发展有可能为这些问题提供平衡。城市地理信息系统包括一系列生态系统特征，包括林地、草地和草甸以及淡水特征。发展有效的城市排水系统有可能提供增强的生态系统服务、生物多样性增益和社会效益，如娱乐。可持续城市排水系统（SUDS）是城市排水系统的一个常见的“蓝色”组成部分。这些是人工水体，主要用于拦截城市集水区的地表排水，通过沉淀物和吸收/分解污染物来改善水质。这些主要由小池塘和其他人工湿地组成的城市可持续发展系统也为提高城市淡水生物多样性提供了机会;城市可持续发展系统的四大支柱强调了它们在水质、水量、生物多样性和舒适度方面的作用。已经有证据表明，SUDS可以成为稀有和重要的保护物种的重要栖息地。尚未得到很好确定的是，它们对景观或集水范围内的多样性，即物种丰富度、种群连通性和种群内及种群间的遗传多样性，产生更广泛的影响。许多淡水类群是高度分散的，SUDS可能成为其他天然池塘和其他类型淡水生态系统（包括河流）的重要垫脚石栖息地。由于这种潜在的连通性，SUDS可能允许孤立的种群在包括自然和城市栖息地的生态系统网络中作为稳定的集合种群持续存在。在天然淡水通常稀缺的广阔城市地区，SUDS可以提供自然特征和其他地点（如花园池塘）之间的联系，因此在人口流动和基因流动方面增加景观渗透性。与城市化相关的栖息地碎片化已知会影响基因流动，遗传多样性的减少可能会影响适应不断变化的环境的能力。鉴于许多物种的分布范围随着气候变化而显著北移，这种渗透性对于物种绕过城市障碍也可能至关重要。然而，提高渗透率也有不利的一面;必须权衡SUDS对提高生物多样性的价值与窝藏和鼓励疾病媒介和害虫生物传播的价值，并考虑到这种风险回报率进行SUDS的规划。苏格兰规划政策将GI确定为我们长期环境绩效和气候适应力的重要组成部分。目前，通过绿色基础设施战略干预等举措，苏格兰正在对地理信息系统进行重大投资。GISI是目前在苏格兰的欧洲区域发展基金方案的一部分，并为苏格兰城市贫困地区的多功能GI提供资金。除了为当地的人和自然创造利益外，这些地点还将作为示范点，展示地理信息系统的价值以及它如何带来多重利益。随着这项持续的投资，至关重要的是评估结果并确定如何实施这些开发，以最大限度地提高本地生物多样性的利益，同时履行其他功能，如城市水管理。