Historical redlining is associated with disparities in wildlife in four California cities

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Estien, Cesar O.; Fidino, Mason; Wilkinson, Christine E.; Morello-Frosch, Rachel; Schell, Christopher J.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; California Academy of Sciences; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-12586
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2321441121
• 发表日期: 2024-06-18
• 关键词: ecosystem services; species richness; biodiversity; urbanization; INEQUALITY; FRAMEWORK; hotspots; HEALTH; plants

摘要

Legacy effects describe the persistent, long - term impacts on an ecosystem following the removal of an abiotic or biotic feature. Redlining, a policy that codified racial segregation and disinvestment in minoritized neighborhoods, has produced legacy effects with profound impacts on urban ecosystem structure and health. These legacies have detrimentally impacted public health outcomes, socioeconomic stability, and environmental health. However, the collateral impacts of redlining on wildlife communities are uncertain. Here, we investigated whether faunal biodiversity was associated with redlining. We used home - owner loan corporation (HOLC) maps [grades A (i.e., best and greenlined), B, C, and D (i.e., hazardous and redlined)] across four cities in California and contributory science data (iNaturalist) to estimate alpha and beta diversity across six clades (mammals, birds, insects, arachnids, reptiles, and amphibians) as a function of HOLC grade. We found that in greenlined neighborhoods, unique species were detected with less sampling effort, with redlined neighborhoods needing over 8,000 observations to detect the same number of unique species. Historically redlined neighborhoods had lower native and nonnative species richness compared to greenlined neighborhoods across each city, with disparities remaining at the clade level. Further, community composition (i.e., beta diversity) consistently differed among HOLC grades for all cities, including large differences in species assemblage observed between green and redlined neighborhoods. Our work spotlights the lasting effects of social injustices on the community ecology of cities, emphasizing that urban conservation and management efforts must incorporate an antiracist, justice - informed lens to improve biodiversity in urban environments.