Brownfield landscaping: urban invertebrate conservation
Caroline Nash (UEL)
TRANSITIONING TOWARDS URBAN RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY
Global biodiversity loss:
Provisioning services: products such as food, fibre and medicines.
Supporting services: functions necessary for the production of other ecosystem services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling.
Regulating services: processes such as water purification, air quality maintenance and climate regulation.
Cultural services: non-material benefits such as education and well-being.
Global biodiversity loss:
30% global decline in wildlife since 1970
the need for development to be truly sustainable
UK - Thames Gateway
© bbc.co.uk
•Availability of large Brownfield sites providing great opportunities for commercial and residential development
• 40 miles of opportunity • Biggest regeneration area in North West Europe with £9 billion Government investment • Government Housing Target of 160,000 homes to be built in the Thames Gateway by 2016
Countryside-properties.com
Brownfield: derelict, previously developed land
©philipwolmuth.com
Brownfield: Urban wildspace
Brownfield value
Buglife: All of A Buzz project Roberts, J., Harvey, P. and Jones, R. (2006) All of a Buzz in the Thames Gateway; Phase 1 project report. Report produced for English Nature.
Buglife All of a Buzz
• Surveyed over 40% of Thames Gateway brownfield sites
• 40% estimated to be of ‘High’ quality for invertebrates.
• 1,198 invertebrate species of nature conservation importance associated with brownfield habitats.
•Including a suite of UKBAP priority and Red Data book species.
© Craig Slawson
The state of brownfields in the Thames Gateway
Buglife revisit data set 6 years later and less than 50% of important brownfield sites remain intact.
(Robins et al., 2013)
Brownfield loss
Planning process encouraged to target brownfield
No established framework for assessing the value of
brownfield sites in terms of biodiversity and ecosystem
service provision
Appropriate mitigation requires appropriate
ecological assessment
Conservation Invertebrates generally hold little weight in the planning
process
Planning
Mitigation – green roofs
©Dusty Gedge
Green roof - design
Laban Dance Centre © Kadas & Gedge
Truly sustainable development
Kadas, G.J. (2006) Rare Invertebrates Colonizing Green Roofs in London. Urban Habitats 4(1), 66-86.
At least 10% of species collected at the study sites were designated nationally rare or scarce.
Are green roofs adequate mitigation on their own for brownfield loss?
ISIS
National conservation significance thresholds
Specific Assemblage Types (SATs)
Species lists
Broad Assemblage Types (BATs)
based on niches and processes
Rarity score
Are green roofs adequate mitigation on their own?
Greenroof invertebrate surveys (Kadas/Gedge) n = 261 species
All of a buzz in the Thames Gateway (Buglife)
n = 629 species
ISIS
Specific Assemblage Types 3 groups
• Coleoptera • Arachnids
• Hymenoptera
Datasets
Analysis
Are green roofs adequate mitigation on their own?
Greenroofs: (Kadas/Gedge)
Brownfield: (Buglife)
Favourable
Unfavourable
n = 629 spp
n = 261 spp
ISIS ver. 2009
Are green roofs adequate mitigation on their own?
Are green roofs adequate mitigation on their own?
Greenroofs: (Kadas/Gedge)
Brownfield: (Buglife)
Favourable
Unfavourable
n = 629 spp
n = 261 spp
ISIS ver. 2009
Open mosaic habitat
Countryside-properties.com
Shelter belt of mid/late successional trees and
bushes
Early successional ruderal and scrub
South facing slopes
Seasonally wet areas
Lichen and mosses
Bare ground heats up rapidly
Brownfield landscaping projects
Barking Riverside brownfield landscaping
LWT community garden
UEL’s beetle bump
Barking Riverside brownfield landscaping
• 443 acre brownfield development • 10,800 homes • Planning consent included requirement to conserve valuable wildlife
• 40% of site will be greenspace AND • 40% of properties will have green roofs
Brownfield habitat features as part of landscaping
Bringing together brownfield habitat niches and the aesthetics of urban landscape design
Brownfield habitat features as part of landscaping
Rubble, metal sheeting and ornamental planting
Rubble, metal sheeting and ornamental planting
Brownfield habitat features as part of landscaping
Woodland pocket with standing deadwood and deadwood piles
Brownfield habitat features as part of landscaping
Woodland pocket with standing deadwood and deadwood piles
Brownfield habitat features as part of landscaping
Brownfield habitat features as part of landscaping
South facing sand bank with concrete features
Brownfield habitat features as part of landscaping
South facing sand bank with concrete features
Brownfield habitat features as part of landscaping
Wildflower meadow blended with ornamental planting and amenity turf
Brownfield habitat features as part of landscaping
Wildflower meadow blended with ornamental planting and amenity turf
Biodiversity surveys
2010
2011
Characterising habitat features
Biodiversity surveys
2010
2011
Characterising habitat features
Biodiversity surveys
2010
2011
Characterising habitat features
Biodiversity surveys
Vegetation surveys (2011 = 135 spp)
Invertebrate surveys • Bumblebee and butterfly walks • Sweep netting • Pitfall trapping
Biodiversity surveys
Invertebrate surveys • Bumblebee and butterfly walks
Number
Species diversity
Biodiversity surveys
Invertebrate surveys • Pitfall trapping
Invertebrate surveys • Sweep netting
Species of conservation concern
• Red Data Book 2 (RDB2) species: Philanthus
triangulum
• Two RDB3 species: Lasioglossum pauperatum,
Lygus pratensis
• Four notable species
• 13 local species (one of which was also an
Essex Red Data species - Melitta leporina)
• 3rd modern record of the solitary bee Andrena
nigriceps in Essex and the first from the East
Thames Corridor.
Species of conservation concern
• RDB2 species Polistichus connexus
• Proposed nationally notable (pNa): species
Zodarion italicum
• Nationally scarce (Nb) species: Brachinus
crepitans (Essex RDB), Calathus ambiguus
(Essex RDB), Harpalus ardosiacus and
Notiophilus quadripunctatus (Essex RDB),
Substantial variation between different habitat pockets
LWT community garden
LWT community garden: ISIS analysis
Favourable status
Flower-rich resource (F002)
Unshaded early successional mosaic (F1)
Permanent wet mire (W3)
Mineral marsh & open water (W2)
Broad Assemblage Types (BAT) Specific Assemblage Types (SAT)
Score Corresponding national status No. of spp
16 Extinct; Presumed extinct; Ireland Only; RDB1; RDB2; pRDB1; pRDB2 2
8 RDB3; pRDB3; RDBI 1
4 RDBK; pRDBK; RDB4 (out of danger); RDB5 (endemic); Na; Notable/Nb(endemic) 25
2 Local, Nr 103
LWT community garden: Design
LWT community garden: Design
Native wildflowers South-facing sandy bank
Wildlife pond
Dead log pile with standing deadwood Gravel planting
Picnic benches
LWT community garden: Community Engagement
UEL’s Beetle Bump
© Craig Slawson
Streaked bombardier beetle (Brachinus sclopeta)
UEL’s Beetle Bump
UEL’s Sports Dock
Beetle bump site
Beetle bump construction
Recycled aggregates used: • 20 tonnes of broken brick, • 20 tonnes of screened recycled soil, • 10 tonnes of chalk • 10 tonnes of crushed concrete
Plants used: • Wild carrot (Daucus carrota) • Autumn hawkbit (Leontodon autumnalis). • Red deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) • Wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) • Red clover (Trifolium pratense) • Bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) • Red bartsia (Odontites verna) • Narrow-leaved Bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus glaber) • Black horehound (Ballota nigra) • Musk mallow (Malva moschata) • Weld (Reseda luteola) • mix of composites • Commercial wildflower seed mix
Beetle bump – from above
Beetle bump 2013
UEL - amenity landscaping 2013
Wetland green roof experiment
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TRANSITIONING TOWARDS URBAN RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY
