Recommendations for Urban Biodiversity Conservation in the Context of Landscape Preference in Singapore

摘要

Effective urban biodiversity conservation requires that planners facilitate public acceptance towards biodiversity and its associated habitats within urban areas. This research quantifies the biodiversity conservation potential of landscapes of varying human interference in Singapore and functions under a backdrop that the general public has an aesthetically-driven preference for manicured landscapes. Biodiversity counts for conservation-targeted species from six biodiversity categories species [seed plants, ferns and fern allies, mammals, reptiles, birds and insects (excluding Lepidoptera)] across four landscape types show that naturalistic landscapes (primary and secondary vegetation) harbored at least eight times the number of conservation-target species than manicured landscapes and urban areas. To conserve a maximum number of threatened species while keeping in line with aesthetic landscape preferences, this research offers specific suggestions at modifying existing manicured landscapes to provide better habitats for conservation-target species which have shown recent adaptations to manicured landscapes and urban areas. The percentage of these species makes up as much as 50.39% of seed plants to a lowest of 17.86% of mammals. Taking these small initial steps in urban biodiversity conservation would not only serve to enhance public experience with native nature in urban areas but improve conservation potential of these areas in tangible and feasible means.