Articles | Volume 16, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/we-16-41-2016
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/we-16-41-2016
Review article
 | 
09 Feb 2016
Review article |  | 09 Feb 2016

Insects and the city: what island biogeography tells us about insect conservation in urban areas

S. Fattorini

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Human population density and tenebrionid richness covary in Mediterranean islands
Simone Fattorini and Giovanni Strona
Web Ecol., 16, 63–65, https://doi.org/10.5194/we-16-63-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/we-16-63-2016, 2016
Short summary

Related subject area

Urban Ecology
Rural–urban gradient and land use in a millenary metropolis: how urbanization affects avian functional groups and the role of old villas in bird assemblage patterning
L. Vignoli, S. Scirè, and M. A. Bologna
Web Ecol., 13, 49–67, https://doi.org/10.5194/we-13-49-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/we-13-49-2013, 2013

Cited articles

Adler, F. R. and Tanner, C. J.: Urban Ecosystems, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 353 pp., 2013.
Blair, R. B.: Birds and butterflies along an urban gradient: surrogate taxa for assessing biodiversity?, Ecol. Appl., 9, 164–170, 1999.
Bolger, D. T., Suarez, A. V., Crooks, K. R., Morrison, S. A., and Case, T. J.: Arthropods in urban habitat fragments in southern California: area, age and edge effects, Ecol. Appl., 10, 1230–1248, 2000.
Croci, S., Butet, A., Georges, A., Aguejdad, R., and Clergeau, P.: Small urban woodlands as biodiversity conservation hot spot: a multi-taxon approach, Ladsc. Ecol., 23, 1171–1186, 2008.
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Short summary
Habitat fragmentation caused by urbanization is considered a prominent threat to biodiversity. Urban development creates a mosaic of natural fragments which can be occupied by organisms able to survive in small spaces. These fragments are a set of habitat islands interspersed in a "sea" of built up areas. Hypotheses developed in the field of island biogeography can be used to preserve the insect communities inhabiting urban green spaces.
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