Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, 30 Marie Curie Private, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada; St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences, 2 St. Lawrence Drive, Cornwall, Ontario K6H 4Z1, Canada.
Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, 30 Marie Curie Private, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada; Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 232 Elizabeth Ave, St. John's, Newfoundland A1B 3X9, Canada.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jun 15;773:145467. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145467. Epub 2021 Jan 30.
As cities expand, urban ecosystems could either contribute to or impede conservation efforts. To maximize the potential for urban areas to support biodiversity, there is a need to understand how systems in an urban environment can sustain the natural history requirements of species. This study compared the relative importance of local-scale factors (plant communities and water quality) to landscape factors (surrounding land cover) in structuring assemblages of a recognized group of wetland bioindicators. Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), at both the adult and larval life stages, along with plant communities, pond water quality and surrounding land cover types were sampled at 51 ponds across a north temperate metropolitan area. Plant communities (particularly of wetland species) consistently explained the largest amount of variation in both dragonfly and damselfly community structure at all life stages. Pond water quality was of secondary importance for both aquatic and terrestrial life stages, with dragonflies more negatively affected by urban contaminants than damselflies. Overall, surrounding land cover types in pond catchments explained less variation in Odonata community structure, especially in the case of damselflies. However, the presence of adjacent ponds and wetlands had a measurable effect. Plant, water quality and land cover variables together explained as much as half of the variation in Odonata community structure at ponds. Urban ponds could potentially provide high quality habitat for species when designed and managed to promote native wetland plant communities and water quality is maintained.
随着城市的扩张，城市生态系统可能会促进或阻碍保护工作。为了最大限度地发挥城市地区支持生物多样性的潜力，有必要了解城市环境中的系统如何能够维持物种的自然历史需求。本研究比较了局部尺度因素（植物群落和水质）与景观因素（周围土地覆盖）对一个公认的湿地生物指标类群组合结构的相对重要性。在北温带大都市地区的 51 个池塘中，同时对成体和幼虫阶段的蜻蜓目（蜻蜓和豆娘）以及植物群落、池塘水质和周围土地覆盖类型进行了采样。植物群落（特别是湿地物种）始终能够解释蜻蜓目和豆娘目在所有生命阶段群落结构的最大变化量。池塘水质对水生和陆生生命阶段都很重要，蜻蜓目比豆娘目更容易受到城市污染物的影响。总体而言，池塘流域周围的土地覆盖类型对蜻蜓目群落结构的变化解释较少，特别是在豆娘目中。然而，相邻池塘和湿地的存在具有可衡量的影响。植物、水质和土地覆盖变量共同解释了池塘中蜻蜓目群落结构变化的一半以上。当设计和管理城市池塘以促进本地湿地植物群落并保持水质时，它们有可能为物种提供高质量的栖息地。
