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Using citizen science data to define and track restoration targets in urban areas
Author(s) -
Callaghan Corey T.,
Major Richard E.,
Lyons Mitchell B.,
Martin John M.,
Wilshire John H.,
Kingsford Richard T.,
Cornwell William K.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of applied ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.503
H-Index - 181
eISSN - 1365-2664
pISSN - 0021-8901
DOI - 10.1111/1365-2664.13421
Subject(s) - urbanization , citizen science , biodiversity , restoration ecology , index (typography) , species richness , environmental resource management , geography , urban ecosystem , ecosystem services , habitat , diversity index , urban ecology , ecosystem , urban planning , habitat fragmentation , ecology , environmental planning , environmental science , computer science , biology , botany , world wide web
Habitat fragmentation and land degradation, directly and indirectly caused by urbanization, are drastically altering the world's ecosystems and are therefore driving an imperative for ecological restoration within the world's cities. Current methods for the implementation and monitoring of restoration are limited. Restoration ecology needs cost‐effective and repeatable tools for tracking changes at global scales, but with local relevance. We propose the Urban Greenspace Integrity Index—a locally relevant measure of an urban greenspace's response to urbanization, derived from widely accessible citizen science data. Unlike classical measurements of biodiversity (e.g. species richness, species diversity), this index measures species‐specific responses to continuous measures of urbanization. Increases in this index are evidence of a successful urban restoration project; that is, restoration results in a community shift that favours urban‐sensitive species. Importantly, data for this index are easily and efficiently collected by citizen scientists, providing long‐term repeatable data. This urban index, calculated from greenspace surveys, correlates with and complements traditional biodiversity metrics. Synthesis and applications . Policymakers and practitioners can use the index—a measure of the urbanness of the local bird community—to define and track restoration of urban ecosystems, effectively measuring changes in biodiversity in response to urbanization: measuring whether the urbanness of the bird community changes through time. Importantly, this index can be calculated using citizen science data, providing a potentially long‐term monitoring effort of restoration projects.