Ecosystem issues on a local scale

Urban niches - The place and role an organism occupies in an ecosystem

Types of urban habitat:

-Roads and railways

-Pavements, walls, buildings, abandoned warehouses and derelict land

-Ponds, lakes, resevoirs, canals, dock basins and sewerage works

-Gardens, allotments, cemeteries, city parks, playing fields and deer parks

-Remnents of woodlands, heathlands, meadows and wetlands

Changes in ecosystems as a result of urbanisation

Light availability - tall buildings reduce solar radiation

-Visual light pollution (seen at night) effects birds as they cannot see buildings and fly into them

-Moths like light = Bats eat moths

Water flow - Increased paved and tarmacced areas increases surface runoff so plant species are removed

Soil drainage - Soil is shallow and can be polluted by humans

-There are only a few green spaces in urban areas

Atmospheric pollution - Produces acid rain, pollutes lakes and kills plants

Colonisation of wasteland  secondary succession

-Lithosere (bare rock)

-Provides microhabitats (heaps of rubble, gravelled areas, old walls/buildings)

1) Pioneer  species colonise on bare soil 2) Mosses and lichens then grow 3) Grasses and herbs grow 4) Shrubs grow…