Biodiversity and ecosystem service delivery in novel urban green space fragments

By 2050, two thirds of the human population will live in cities. Urban environments are novel habitats containing a human-modified environment and even green spaces within cities are highly modified and fragmented. These properties exert pressures on animal and plant populations resulting in responses ranging from phenotypic plasticity to microevolution. What has been less well studied are the ecological communities as a whole and the modified interactions which result from urban pressures acting on a diversity of species. 

Against this backdrop, there is increasing societal and management interest in creating new habitats within urban environments which have historically been thought of as biodiversity depauperate. New green spaces are being created ranging from major urban rewilding projects to street planting. These green spaces also reflect a gradient of economic and management input. These habitats often need to deliver additional ecosystem services such as air purification, flood protection and pollutant filtering. 

This PhD project will investigate the role of new green fragments within an urban environment. Questions will focus on:
How are new green fragments colonised within an urban environment and what is the role of initial management interventions?
Do newly created fragments support novel species or provide more habitat to existing urban-tolerant species?
Which ecosystem services are performed by new green fragments in urban environments?