Check out the episode:

You can find the transcripts through this link.

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Are you interested in the relationship between urban biodiversity and ecosystem services?

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Debate of the article titled Understanding biodiversity-ecosystem service relationships in urban areas: A comprehensive literature review from 2017, by Nina Schwarz, Marco Moretti, Miguel N. Bugalho, Zoe G. Davies, Dagmar Haase, Jochen Hack, Angela Hof, Yolanda Meleroj, Tristan J. Pett, and Sonja Knapp, published in the Ecosystem Services journal.

This is a great preparation to our next interview with Caroline Howell in episode 456 talking about the need for structural changes for meaningful impact on handling nature in communities.

Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how we can improve our approach to nature beyond mere green washing. This article calls for more action to help urban designers navigate the trade-offs between promoting nature and ensuring reliable service delivery for residents.

Find the article through this link.

Abstract: Positive relationships between biodiversity and urban ecosystem services (UES) are widely implied within both the scientific and policy literatures, along with the tacit suggestion that enhancing urban green infrastructure will automatically improve both biodiversity and UES. However, it is unclear how much published empirical evidence exists to support these assumptions. We conducted a review of studies published between 1990 and May 2017 that examined urban biodiversity ecosystem service (BES) relationships. In total, we reviewed 317 publications and found biodiversity and UES metrics mentioned 944 times. Only 228 (24%) of the 944 mentions were empirically tested. Among these, 119 (52%) demonstrated a positive BES relationship. Our review showed that taxonomic metrics were used most often as proxies for biodiversity, with very little attention given to functional biodiversity metrics. Similarly, the role of particular species, including non-natives, and specific functional traits are understudied. Finally, we found a paucity of empirical evidence underpinning urban BES relationships. As urban planners increasingly incorporate UES delivery consideration to their decision-making, researchers need to address these substantial knowledge gaps to allow potential trade-offs and synergies between biodiversity conservation and the promotion of UES to be adequately accounted for.

Connected episodes you might be interested in:

• No.266 – Interview with Alison Whitten about urban regeneration
• No.446 – Interview with Andy Roberts about 10 regenerative principles
• No.454 – Interview with Kamogelo Thumankwe about crop resilience

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