Biodiversity and Urban Connectivity

A picture showing a street that was converted to 50% greenspace.

Enhancing biodiversity in urban areas is a critical step in improving our ecosystems, resilience against the climate crisis, and ensuring nature exposure for residents. But how do you increase biodiversity on pavement?

According to two researchers, it can start with stepping stones.

Drs. Thami Croeser and Holly Kirk tackled this issue and showed the brilliance of available solutions in their paper Nature-based solutions for urban biodiversity: spatial targeting of retrofits can multiply ecological connectivity benefits.

In short, the researchers showed that converting underutilized parking spaces in urban Australia can improve ecological connectivity – the ability for various species to move across the landscape from one patch of greenspace to another. To share the need for such connectivity changes, how they developed and ran their study, the incredible benefits to both people and ecosystems, and what lessons we can learn, Drs. Thami Croeser and Holly Kirk join Defender Radio.

To listen to this episode click the ‘play’ button below, download the MP3, visit us on Apple PodcastsSpotify or Google Podcasts. Get the RSS feed here.

SHOW NOTES:

Episode art provided by Dr. Thami Croeser

Read the paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204624001683

Dr. Thami Croeser on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thami-croeser-822ab9a/

Dr. Holly Kirk’s website: https://natureonthebrain.wordpress.com/

The Conversation Article: https://theconversation.com/stepping-stones-for-wildlife-how-linking-up-isolated-habitats-can-help-nature-thrive-in-our-cities-234923

Sound of Mole Crickets via Mostly Nature / YouTube

Want to suggest topics for Defender Radio? Reach out to us at [email protected], by visiting DefenderRadio.com or engaging host Michael Howie on social media via Instagram (www.instagram.com/howiemichael) or Facebook (www.Facebook.com/DefenderRadio). 

Defender Radio is produced by The Fur-Bearers (www.TheFurBearers.com), a charitable non-partisan organization whose mandate is to advocate on behalf of fur-bearing animals in the wild and in confinement, promote coexistence solutions in communities and protect the habitats of fur-bearing animals across Canada. You can follow The Fur-Bearers on Instagram (www.instagram.com/furbearers), Twitter (www.twitter.com/furbearers) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FurFree). 

Help Make A Difference

Join The Fur-Bearers today and help us protect fur-bearing animals in the wild and confinement. To become a monthly donor (for as little as $10/month – the cost of two lattes) please click here and help us save lives today. Your donation is tax-deductible.

Tags

Latest Posts

Defender Radio

00.00
Listen To The Latest
  • Listen To The Latest

Pin It on Pinterest

Scroll to Top