The ecological significance of urban fringe belts

Abstract

Fringe belts form at the edge of urban areas during periods of slow urban growth. They become embedded within the urban fabric when expansion resumes. One of their characteristics is the co-location of a number of different, low-intensity land uses (for example, parks, cemeteries and institutions). This paper investigates the ecological characteristics of fringe belts. Focusing on the Edwardian fringe belt of Birmingham, UK, research shows that habitat patches within the fringe belt are different from those elsewhere in the city in at least two respects: first, in the demographic structure of their tree population, which suggests that many of the habitats have been subject to less major disturbance than those elsewhere in the city; and secondly, in their much larger average number of species recorded per patch, even after taking patch size into account.