Urban forestry & urban greening

Accurate segmentation and analysis of individual trees from 3D point clouds is a crucial yet challenging task in urbanism and environmental studies. Most existing methods for tree instance segmentation suffer from either under- or over-segmentation errors, mainly due to the complex nature of the environments and the varying tree geometries. In this paper, we propose SATree, a novel structure-awar…

Invasive forest pests represent a major threat to ecosystems and the economy. They are often first detected in urban forests, making these environments strategic for early warning and global forest protection efforts. Although early detection is crucial to the success of eradication measures, the surveillance capacity of official authorities is limited. Citizen science can help bridge this gap—pr…

Prevailing work often treats nature connectedness primarily as an individual attribute or a function of local access to nature, limiting explanation of long-term declines and regional differences. Given human–nature connectedness is recognised as important for planetary sustainability and individual well-being, it is becoming a target for policy proposals. Using an agent-based model, we reconcept…

Arthropods maintain key ecosystem functions, and yet, remarkable reductions have been documented among various arthropod groups. Urban edges refer to dynamic ecosystems that serve as refuges for huge numbers of arthropods while being strongly influenced by anthropogenic disturbance. However, understanding how different facets of habitat heterogeneity, especially anthropogenic disturbance, affect …

University students increasingly face pressures related to mental health, cognitive fatigue, and reduced nature connectedness, challenges intensified by global concerns such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Evidence shows that greenspaces can help mitigate these pressures by supporting restoration, social interaction, and everyday wellbeing. Although research highlights the importance of …

Urbanization in recent decades has led to changes in the structure of communities and ecosystem functions, including pollination and seed dispersal. Many plants rely on biotic vectors for these stages of their reproduction, while many animals depend on the plant resources acquired through these interactions. However, how these interactions overlap in urban environments is not well known. Here, we…

Schools play a central role in children’s daily lives and are well-positioned to foster direct interactions with nature and reduce inequities in residential green space access. School-related green and blue infrastructure, including green elements in schoolyards and green and blue spaces visited during school hours, offers various opportunities for children to engage with nature. However, school …