Although the urban environment poses many challenges for study, the project aims to determine biodiversity-ecosystem relationships and deeper understanding by using 5 main steps:? Characterise the spatial ecological structure of urban areas? Determine the influence of connectivity on biodiversity-ecosystem relationships? Determine the flows of biodiversity and service delivery in selected cases? Determine the impact of these flows on ecosystem delivery? Integrate these finding in the form of a spatially explicit model
Area of Study:The urban areas of Luton, Bedford and Milton KeynesEcosystem services to be tackled:The project will focus on ecosystem services from three groups: regulating, provisioning and cultural services:Regulating: Carbon capture and storage, decomposition, runoff reduction, climate regulationProvisioning: Urban food productionCultural: Psychological well-being and aesthetics
- Title Original : F3UES - Fragments, functions and flows: the scaling of biodiversity and ecosystem services in urban ecosystems
- Website : http://bess-urban.group.shef.ac.uk/
- Project start : 2011
- Project end : 2016
- Contact Person : Anna Jorgenson University of Sheffield a.jorgensen@sheffield.ac.uk
- Funding Agency : BESS Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability
- Project Partners : Cranfield University: Ron Corstanje, Mark Tibbett, Paul Burgess, Humberto Perotto-Baldivieso and Tim Hess ? Sheffield University: Philip Warren, Karl Evans, Nigel Dunnett, Anna Jorgenson and Eckart Lange ? University of Exeter: Kevin Gaston, Karen Anderson and Patrick Devine-Wright
- Project structure : a multidisciplinary, multi-academic institution project that also works with organizations such local parks and wildlife trusts as well as town councils.