Temporary conservation for urban biodiversity

Urban habitats, particularly wastelands and brownfields, maintain rich biodiversity and offer habitat for many species, even rare and endangered taxa. However, such habitats are also under socio-economic pressures due to redevelopment for housing and industrial uses. In order to maintain urban biodiversity, it is currently unknown how much open area must be preserved and whether conservation is possible without complete exclusion from economic development. In this study, we applied a simulation model based on species distribution models for plants, grasshoppers, and leafhoppers to investigate planning options for urban conservation with special focus on business areas. Altogether, we modelled the occurrence of 81 species of the urban species pool and analysed settings of different proportions of open sites, different habitat turnover times, and different lot sizes. Our simulations demonstrated that dynamic land use supports urban biodiversity in terms of species richness and rarity. Setting aside brownfields before redevelopment for a period of on average 15 years supported the highest conservation value. Consequently, we recommend integrating the concept of ‘temporary conservation’ into urban planning for industrial and business areas. This concept requires habitat to be destroyed by redeveloping brownfield sites to built-up sites, but simultaneously creating new open spaces due to abandonment of urban land uses at other locations. This maintains a spatio-temporal mosaic of different successional stages ranging from pioneer to pre-forest communities.

► We analyse the occurrences of 81 plant and insect species on urban brownfields.
► Using species distribution models we investigate different spatio-temporal settings.
► Dynamic land use increases urban biodiversity regarding species richness and rarity.
► Temporary conservation supports the conservation value of urban areas.
► We show how to integrate our findings into urban planning for business areas.