Saturday, February 4, 2012

Biodiversity

In class we've been talking a lot about biodiversity...the measure of how many species there are in an ecosystem and how their interactions lead to the meta-phenomenon of biocomplexity. The more I learn and teach about science the more I understand the importance of biodiversity in terms of a "healthy" ecosystem. One dimension has to do with sustainability. If an ecosystem has lots of species, no one particular pathogen can wipe out all the living things. Consider this garden picture. With the 20-odd species we see here, it would take many pathogens or pests to wipe out the whole system.

Urban garden diversity

Natural ecosystems also feature a wide variety of species. Biodiversity is the consequence of many niches that can be filled. Each plant, animal, fungus or bacteria has its own range of habitats that it can live in.

New England landscape

When there are fewer species in the landscape a single pest can wipe out all the greenery. For example, when I grew up in Chicago the streets were lined with the most wonderful elm trees. The elms formed a green tunnel--a canopy that reached across every street. It was wonderful, shady, quiet, and green. Until Dutch Elm Disease came to the midwest. Then every single tree on the block was killed within a matter of a year or two.

I took this picture in Medicine Hat, Alberta last summer. These are elms lining a street, giving you an idea of what most midwestern towns had about 40 or 50 years ago. I guess the disease hasn't taken a foothold in the climate of southern Alberta, which is consistently bitterly cold in the winter. Perhaps the beetle that carries the fungus that kills the elms can't live in this climate.

Elms

There's been a lot in the news lately about Rochester, New York and its ability to survive and thrive after the bankruptcy of Eastman Kodak. Economic experts attribute Rochester's survival to its diverse economy. Though Kodak failed, there are many other sources of economic vitality that keep the city afloat.

In a similar way, diverse communities can survive social, architectural, or economic trends that might otherwise ruin them. Consider our very diverse community of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, where houses that are almost two centuries old live side to side with contemporary housing projects. Ironically our neighborhood is threatened by upward economic trends (high real estate values) that threaten to chase out poorer residents, artists, the elderly, and families, all of whom contribute to the vitality and diversity of this neighborhood.

Cambridgeport Fall Garden

Cottage Street Cambridge after Snowstorm

How can designers and planners provide flexibility in their designs that will encourage diversity and long-term survival in their communities?

27 comments:

  1. I think biodiversity is extremely important and therefore should definitely be expanded into other disciplines such as urban planning. From this article, I learned that the more diverse amount of species in an ecosystem the harder it is for the entire system to be wiped out by one particular thing. Therefore, the expansion of biodiversity will help preserve ecosystems and the specifies within them. The impact of buildings and diseases and other outside forces will still be present and may impact the ecosystem but hopefully not in a way where everything is wiped out.

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  2. I think biodiversity is an extremely interesting topic and your argument outlines and explicates how the severity of this problem will only increase as time progresses. There is definitely a need for flexibility in designers and large corporations' designs to encourage diversity and long-term survival in their communities. Where people build need to be considered and how they build also needs to be a part of the plan. Planners need to see that human impact is causing nature to wither and biodiversity to decrease so their plans should involve some form of maintaining that or leaving some of it untouched.

    -Chelsea Mencio

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  3. As you stated, biodiversity is a key feature that allows given environments to survive. However, I do not believe it can always be attributed to urban planning. Given that designing can be quite costly, it's not in the best interest of a country that is currently in a an economic recession to be worried about diversity. However, this is highly dependant on the industry we're discussing. If a family would like to build their own home that sets itself apart from the rest, that's fine, it's their money. But, if it's the state attempting to "diversify" the plant-life in a park, there are much better uses of government funds.

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  4. It is so interesting to me how one problem in biodiversity can wipe out an entire kind of plant, like the evergreen trees. Is there a way to prevent this from happening? I guess, according to what you said here, the species that carries the disease needs to be able to survive in that specific climate to spread it.

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  5. Diversity is always seen as a positive feature to any environment; yet, this post really shed light on the benefits of diversity in all areas of our lives. Just like different specie types benefit an ecosystem, diverse residents, architectural styles, and economic situations make a community more complex and, thus, more resistant to negative change. Homogeneousness seems synonymous to vulnerability.

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  6. As a person paying attention to the simple beauties in my daily life, I love seeing the harmony created by diversity. Besides the positive -biological- effects of diversity on the environment, its impact on visual pleasure is clear even in the photos above.
    Thank you for sharing.

    Nazli Yayla

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  7. Preserving and increasing biodiversity is extremely important. And as you stated, it very well plays an active role in our community and therefore we need to somehow keep the diversity. I think with many building projects these days, builders and architects need to consider and implement ways to maximize the green in their plans and not only restore the diversity that is destroyed due to construction, but also add on to it.

    Another possibility, is to preserve those established buildings that contribute so much to their neighborhoods, by claiming them as landmarks therefore preventing them from being subject to rising home values and new construction.

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  8. In the perseverance of biodiversity is definitely very crucial to maintain the communities for animals and the plant itself. As more human interactions becomes more influential to many of the land areas, engineers should consider the value of plants and animals. It is essential that humans in general shall preserve the natural biodiversities on the planet itself since we are running out of natural resources. Thus, as architecture emerges into the communities, we think about preserving the natural "greens" to give a more diverse species of animals, insects, plants, and the natural community.
    -Lena Wang

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  9. The article is certainly very interesting to illustrate the importance of biodiversity. From a business perspective, the core of managing funds is to diversify, so if one account is compromised, the losses are not detrimental. The same idea goes for plants and animal species. However, it terms of urban planning, it is hard to diversify the designs of housing or the development of plant species due to cost. It is, regrettably, the underlining issue in every development. There are no communities that can sustain diseases or lack of resources forever. Conversely, there are few communities that cannot sustain any damage to their biological and social ecosystem. Although there is no immediate plan to solve this problem, it is indeed a fascinating topic and worth exploring.

    -Thomas Cui

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  10. Public policy is a dynamic field that constantly redefines itself. Even when a policy is seemingly in place and fairing well, (good) policymakers will continuously redefine the issue area in order to seek better and better alternatives for policy. As the ecosystem is constantly in flux, it only makes logical sense that biodiversity should play a greater role in policy planning. Direct effects are easily predicted when it comes to policy formation, but because we learned in class that only an estimated 10 percent of all biodiversity is known to science, that opens the door to a wide spectrum of indirect effects of our policies, structures, and activities. The problem is that it is difficult, if not impossible for me to conceptualize an architect, for example, integrating flexibility in his or her design once erected in the desired plot of land - so - the only solution I can come up with is an exponentially more rigorous planning process with input of various agencies, NGOs, and policy experts.

    -Gunita Singh

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  11. I think maintaining biodiversity is extremely important. I grew up in Queens, NY and I can probably count the number of trees in my neighborhood on one hand. The little grass we did have was even paved over. I hate not being able to see nice trees, flowers, and other plants. During the spring time, the few trees that are in my neighborhood have the most beautiful flowers growing and it completely brightens up the neighborhood and I hate that I can only experience that once a year. Biodiversity should and needs to be preserved. Not only is it in some ways ethical, but it adds so much beauty to neighborhoods.

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  12. The only way to maintain biodiversity amongst all of the construction going on is to implement preserving plant life into building plans. If we do not take our natural surroundings into consideration, who knows what could happen in the future.
    -Liz Lauzon-

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  13. Coming from a very suburban New Jersey town, I can somewhat understand the importance of maintaining biodiversity. I feel that because of all the biodiversity my town looks the way it does, with tons of different trees, flowers, and even ecosystems in general (like the river that runs through our town and the small conservancy creek that we have), and I couldn't imagine it any other way. So, while reading the article, I can see how much of a threat new real estate endeavors and like human influences can affect the future of neighborhoods to maintain some type of biodiversity. I can't help but worry what will happen years from now if these threats go on without being addressed.

    -Gabriella

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  14. If you are able to put aside the costs for urban planing, I think it is a good idea to have a diversity in the planning of towns and neighborhoods. However, I did grow up going to a school that was off a street lined with cherry trees and I was reminded of that with the picture of the elm trees. While I think the diversity would help, and i haven't the slightest idea how to go about it, I think there is still something about having the same tree line the streets of a neighborhood.

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  15. I like how Chicago is still a very industrial city, yet it tries to protect the environment and takes steps to make itself more green. I believe more cities should try to add biodiversity in their areas, too.

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  16. I think that having a diverse and lush landscape filled with many different types of plants would not only be aesthetically appealing but would also do wonders for the environment! It seems like diversity is the key to ensuring that our ecosystems continue to thrive. It not only benefits all the animal and plant life, but also humans. I think we owe it to ourselves and to these other organisms to do our best to preserve nature and take into consideration our natural surroundings when we build a structure. In the long run, this could be extremely beneficial.

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  17. I really enjoyed the pictures of the Elm trees, they are very beautiful. Biodiversity is important to every neighborhood. It is very troublesome to find out that such a defining aspect to an area, like the Elm trees in Chicago, can be destroyed completely in such a short amount of time. When something like these trees become obsolete, I do think it would hurt the economy. It makes a neighborhood less appealing, in my opinion. I believe the buying if real estate would go down.

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  18. I think it is extremely important to expand the idea of biodiversity into something like urban planning. Humans are not going anywhere anytime soon so something must be done to make sure that biodiversity, as seen in the pictures above, does not become totally destroyed. The designers and planners must take into account the ecosystems that surround the places that they are trying to modernize. If they do not, places like Boston will begin to look more like your hometown in Chicago, without any trees.

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  19. Expanding biodiversity into the urban environment is extremely important. It is interesting to see that people are putting it into urban plans. For the people who are building on this biodiversity, it is important that they keep the ecosystems in mind so that the biodiversity is not completely ruined.

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  20. Diversity, either economically, socially, or biologically is essential to the many aspects of our world, whether it be the survival of an entire ecosystem, or the survival of a community. In discussing the survival of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, I guess the only way for the town to maintain its vitality and diversity comprised of poorer residents, artists, the elderly, and families, and to likewise tend to the needs of the rising housing market, is to mandate a law that requires new designers of homes in this area to create homes that easily mesh with the surrounding homes. I know of a couple of places where certain neighborhoods or properties are not allowed to be designed a specific way in order to maintain the history and overall "look" of the area. For instance, there is an area in a Bedford, NY that has been around for over four centuries. There is an old, quaint schoolhouse and small church that have been around since the settlement of the town. In this specific area there is a mandate that all the houses must remain distinctly colonial. However, with the rise of the housing market in this area, there has been an increase in wealthy businesses and new homes created, yet all of them remain colonial-esque. I think in a situation regarding the survival of towns and communities being affected with change, a great deal of fairness must be implemented in order to keep everyone happy.

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  21. I didn't think about biodiversity in terms of survival before this article. It is so interesting and makes perfect sense. Besides being beautiful, biodiversity can really help an ecosystem or lovely garden thrive.

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  22. Biodiversity is something we value in our day today. It is interesting that two places, such as the midwest and Alberta, Canada, have varying horticulture due to certain diseases. Many architects, constructors and engineers recently heavily implement green ideas to buildings, construction areas and new development areas to keep the surrounding ecosystem safe, diverse, and more importantly, they strive to better the surrounding ecosystem and not to disrupt it.

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  23. As we have been learning about biodiversity in our natural science class, I have come to learn more each day as we explore the details and structure of many ecosystems. As explained in this short essay, diversity among species is extremely important in a system or a community because without a diverse group of plants, tress, and species, the system is very vulnerable to any one pest or disease, which can wipe out the complete community. As you stated, in the midwest, the Dutch Elm Disease killed every Elm tree in the community within 2 years! Growing up in Los Angeles, the neighborhood I live in is also covered with trees, they actually do look exactly like the Elm trees in the photo, however I'd prefer not to make the assumption that they are indeed Elm trees. They also act like a beautiful canopy, a tunnel over every street in my neighborhood and it is quite beautiful. Luckily, the climate in Los Angeles does not vary too much and the trees are still standing! Regarding the question at the end of the essay, I think architects and builders should broaden their designs when they are constructing new buildings and landscapes. Instead of planting the same species of flowers or trees, they should vary the plantation to reduce the chance of the community being whipped out, as it did with the Dutch Elm Disease. On another note, as the value of estate keeps rising, there are people who study and get degrees for conserving old buildings, preventing reconstruction. If certain old, beautiful buildings in communities can be marked as landmarks, it will prevent the rise in value of the building, also creating diversity amongst the estate value.

    Thank you for sharing this information. The past few blogs that you have asked the class to read have definitely introduced me to new topics I have never thought of.

    -Cibelle Levi

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  24. I think that taking measures to increase biodiversity is possible but since many buildings and residential areas have been built it would hard to reform those houses to be sustainable and maintain biodiversity. For the future though it would possible to add some additions to homes such having a rooftop gardens especially in crowded cities or areas. This would allow for sustainable living and replace some of the biodiversity that may have been destroyed from residential construction. There are always innovations in creating more sustainable life and if society continues to do so, putting sustainable methods to practice can change the way that we live life and ultimately increase biodiversity.

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  25. It's hard to correlate the term "surviving" with plants when most people associate it with humans and living, breathing animals. I never thought about how having too little species in a landscape can ruin its entirety. At home, we have lots of elm trees shading over streets like that, especially in the nicer areas. This makes me wonder what would happen to the "look" and "prestige" of these particular neighborhoods if the elm caught a disease. Therefore, the city, or even the people themselves, should work on planting other trees and greenery that aren't elm.
    -Jessica Cordero-Wilson

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  26. As biodiversity is essential to the environment, it is important for designers and planners to be sensitive to such an issue. To protect species variety, designers should try to create environmental friendly housing or sustainable architecture. They, moreover, could construct houses in areas that do not require massive deforestation. Although a prevention of further environmental damage is necessary, it is likewise vital to add to the existing biodiversity. Not only will this augment the amount of biodiversity, it would create a more aesthetic environment.

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  27. Natural Disaster in Uttrakhand India can be a lesson for whole world to save biodiversity and look only toward sustainable development. Infrastructure development, mining mineral resources, encroaching forest area, all needs stern regulation and moreover public awareness reagrding nature and natural conservation is most important.

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