Edge habitat of urban green spaces: A case study in London (UK)

Urban green space has particular importance for both the ecology and residents of cities. They have been shown to provide a range of ecosystem services including supporting biodiversity, regulating urban climates, limiting pollution and improving human health (e.g. Gaston 2010). The main anthropogenic use of such areas is for recreation, and local governments often maintain public green spaces primarily for that purpose (Gaston 2010). Therefore, the urban social environment shows a high degree of reciprocal interaction with the biological, social and built environment, though this still remains a poorly studied topic (Pickett et al. 2011). Since the aim of many European cities is to increase the biodiversity of their green spaces and thereby make them more resilient over time, more studies on the ecological characteristics and functions of green space are recommended (Forman 2008; Grimm et al. 2008; Pickett et al. 2011; Francis and Chadwick 2011).