News
- Unleashing the Scientist in the Student:: A fantastic citizen science project enlists seventh grade students to help study salamanders in New York City.
- WA prison inmates raise imperiled butterflies:: This is an interesting story about local inmates trained with raising butterflies in a prison greenhouse to be released. This is a great program to help prevent a decline in the population of at-risk species and at the same time giving inmates skills and responsibility.
- Yellow belle on a green roof:: What is believed to be the first breeding colony of yellow belle moths in Yorkshire was recently discovered….on a green roof.
- Nature Studies by Michael McCarthy: In a city of falcons, it’s worth looking up:: This article is a fascinating look at London’s peregrine falcons.
- Where Is the Love for Bugs?:: An interesting article discussing the true value of invertebrates and how they are largely neglected in policy making and conservation.
- Urban meadow set to create buzz in Peterborough:: This new urban meadow aims to provide habitat for pollinators by sowing wildflower seeds in the center of Peterborough.
- NYC High Line inspires Philly to redevelop viaduct:: An abandoned railway viaduct is currently the subject of a new project in Philadelphia similar to the High Line in New York City.
- It’s Complicated – When Dragonfly Love Comes Calling:: A very interesting article about the sex lives of a common urban species, dragonflies.
- Using flower power to save council cash:: This article illustrates how some cities are turning to wildflowers and meadows to not only improve habitat, but to save money on landscape maintenance.
- London Business Group to Instigate Green Roofs:: The Victoria Business Improvement District in London is introducing several new green roofs, living walls and rain gardens to increase “biodiversity enhancement; climate adaptation; amenity value; human wellbeing and aesthetic enhancement.”
- A habitat on a hot, green roof: Project takes root atop Carmel school building:: A green roof on a new school building provides habitat for insects and birds and the building as a whole will be used to educate students and for the school’s ecoliteracy program.
- It’s a ‘spider fest’ atop Chicago skyscrapers:: This article highlights the amazing ability of spiders to inhabit the tops of skyscrapers and describes how they arrive there and how they also survive so high in the sky.
- Construction Watch: Central Terminal Urban Habitat Project:: A new project in Buffalo aims to create a living inner-city demonstration classroom by providing habitat.
- The Toronto Zoo goes native:: The Toronto Zoo has made many changes in their planting scheme over the last few years by planting more native plants which not only provides habitat for local wildlife, but also serves as an educational tool.
- Autumn Unfolds:: An ongoing series on the City Room Blog, these fascinating posts illustrate a part in New York City and the changes the season brings to the plants and the wildlife that interact with them.
Resources
- An ecology of gardens and yards:: This informative article from Per Square Mile discusses the vast potential of existing network of yards and gardens and they role they could play in improving urban ecology and habitat.
- Can We Make Nature Better? Inside the ‘Rambunctious Garden’:: This interview with author Emma Marris, author of the new book Rambunctious Garden discusses a variety of topics challenging the traditional view of nature and recognizes the potential for all of the ‘little spaces’ in the city to provide something much larger.
- Shell game:: This very interesting post from the Next-Door-Nature blog features a profile on the Eastern box turtle and how they use their shells.
- Hanging by a Thread:: A fascinating post by the Wild Pacific Northwest blog featuring the behavior of inchworms, which are actually caterpillars, of hanging off branches by a silk thread.
Design
- “inmidtown Habitats” New Design Competition Launched:: This is an interesting competition being organized in a business improvement district in central London which challenged designers to create “urban beehives, bird/bat-boxes and planters.”
- Bird conservation project for Piccadilly hotel:: A new hotel in Manchester, England will also have Black Restart habitat as part of the landscaping by including “crushed brick, rubble and stone in varying heights, a sedum turfed area, with planting including herbaceous perennials and wetland planting at the edge of the canal.”
- Milan’s Vertical Forest:: A new building design in Milan has a fantastical vision for a new high-rise creating a forest by planting trees on balconies.
