Tenley M. Conway

PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF MORMOOPID BATS (CHIROPTERA: MORMOOPIDAE) BASED ON MORPHOLOGICAL DATA

Abstract Mormoopidae is a small family of Neotropical microchiropteran bats that includes two genera (Mormoops and Pteronotus) and ten species, two of which are known only from fossils. Mormoopidae is typically classified as a member of Noctilionoidea, a group that minimally includes two other Neotropical families (Phyllostomidae and Noctilionidae) and may also include Mystacinidae, a taxon endemic to New Zealand and Australia. Phylogenetic relationships of extant mormoopid species and one extinct taxon, Pteronotus pristinus, were investigated in a series of parsimony analyses of 209 morphological characters including features of the skull, dentition, vomeronasal organ complex and brain, trachea and hyoid apparatus, tongue, face, ears, pelage, patagia, postcranial skeleton, postcranial myology, reproductive tract, and digestive tract. Three extant phyllostomid species, two noctilionids, two mystacinids, and one emballonurid species were included as outgroups to test monophyly of Mormoopidae and to provide a context for determining the sister group of the family. Results of parsimony analyses under a variety of different assumption sets indicate that Mormoopidae is monophyletic, and that Pteronotus and Mormoops are monophyletic sister taxa. Within the genus Pteronotus, several clades were repeatedly recovered: (1) P. davyi + P. gymnonotus (= subgenus Pteronotus); (2) P. macleayi + P. quadridens; (3) P. personatus + P. macleayi + P. quadridens (= subgenus Chilonycteris); (4) P. parnellii + P. pristinus + P. personatus + P. macleayi + P. quadridens; and (5) P. parnellii + P. pristinus (= subgenus Phyllodia). These results support monophyly of all subgenera of Pteronotus previously recognized, and additionally indicate that the subgenera Pteronotus and Chilonycteris are sister taxa. Comprehensive diagnoses for each species and clade of Mormoopidae are provided based on character optimizations and ancillary morphometric data from the literature. Results of our parsimony analyses also have implications for understanding higher-level phylogeny of noctilionoid bats. Monophyly of each of the traditionally recognized families (i.e., Noctilionidae, Mystacinidae, Mormoopidae, and Phyllostomidae) was strongly supported. In congruence with recent analyses of mitochondrial gene-sequence data and DNA hybridization experiments, we found strong support for inclusion of Mystacinidae in Noctilionoidea. Using an emballonurid species to root the tree, we found the following interfamilial relationships of noctilionoids: (Noctilionidae (Mystacinidae (Phyllostomidae, Mormoopidae))). Lists of morphological synapomorphies of each of these groups are provided based on character optimizations.

Developing ecological footprint scenarios on university campuses: A case study of the University of Toronto at Mississauga

Purpose – The ecological footprint represents a simple way to assess the amount of materials consumed and waste produced by a given entity. The approach has been applied to countries, towns, households, and more recently university campuses. One of the challenges of using the ecological footprint at a university is the difficulty of determining how large the footprint should be. The authors have developed a calculator specific to the needs of a university campus, and applied it to the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM). Rather than focus on the overall size, the purpose of this paper is to instead create several scenarios to help communicate the relative impacts of alternative actions.Design/methodology/approach – An ecological footprint calculator appropriate to the campus was developed and applied to UTM. Three scenarios were then created: on‐campus electricity generation versus electricity purchased from the grid, current commuting patterns versus those expected if a student bus pass is adopted...

Determining land-use information from land cover through an object-oriented classification of IKONOS imagery

The greater availability of remotely sensed high-resolution imagery and advances in object-oriented analysis have created more opportunities for automated urban land-use classifications. To date, few studies have attempted to classify land use from satellite imagery using object-oriented approaches, and those that have tend to rely on manual digitizing or ancillary data to delineate land-use polygon boundaries. This paper explores an object-oriented land-use classification using land-cover information derived from an IKONOS image to automatically delineate and classify the land-use polygons. The study area is in Mississauga (Ontario, Canada), a diverse urban setting. The first step was to classify land cover from the IKONOS image. This then served as the basis for creating a six-class and more detailed ten-class land-use map. The overall accuracies of the six- and ten-class maps were 90% and 86%, respectively. The high accuracies of individual classes suggest that the object-oriented methodology has great potential for efficiently classifying urban land use. The paper concludes with a discussion of the successes and remaining challenges of this type of work.

The influence of land use type and municipal context on urban tree species diversity

Recent research has focused on the ways urban forest patterns vary in relation to level of urbanization and socioeconomic characteristics, with most studies limited to one urban land use type or multiple non-differentiate land uses. Additionally, the majority of studies examining urban forest patterns focus on canopy cover extent, with less attention given to patterns of species diversity. This study explores how tree species diversity varies across different urban land uses and municipal boundaries to better understand the role of land use types in shaping urban forest patterns. The goal is addressed through an exploration of plot-level tree data in the urban municipalities of Peel Region located in the Greater Toronto Area (Ontario, Canada). Species composition and standard diversity metrics are calculated for eight land use types and four municipalities. Our results show that differences in diversity metrics and species composition are greater between urban land uses than municipalities. Moreover, Peel’s urban forest has relatively high alpha diversity but many species are present on only one land use type. The results suggest that different causal processes are associated with each land use type, and that urban forest managers should adopt land use-specific strategies to meet species composition goals within the urban forest.

The impact of class resolution in land use change models

Abstract A recent focus of land use/land cover research is the design and validation of spatially explicit predictive models. An often overlooked aspect of model development is the role of class resolution. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the impact of changing the number and breadth of land use classes on a model’s calibration and predictions. To address the objective, three model specifications were developed representing urban development in the Barnegat Bay watershed (New Jersey, USA). The models range from one based on a single broad resolution class to one using six fine resolution classes. The results of the analysis indicated that changing the level of class resolution impacts the model’s calibration parameters and predicted outcomes, but more finely defined urban conversion classes did not uniformly improve the accuracy of the model. If fine resolution classes are identified, however, the specific types of conversions that are not well captured by the model are revealed. The paper ends with a discussion of the broader implications of class resolution decisions in land use/land cover models.

Greenbelts as an Environmental Planning Tool: A Case Study of Southern Ontario, Canada

Abstract Greenbelts are networks of managed land adopted to meet a wide array of ecological and other goals. In 2005, a greenbelt was created in southern Ontario (Canada). This paper examines the potential for success of the 2005 initiative by evaluating the greenbelt in the light of several weaknesses identified in Ontarios previous greenbelt initiative. Based on our analysis, the 2005 greenbelt is an improvement over the previous effort in the way leapfrog development and future boundary changes are addressed. However, some of the weaknesses previously identified in the literature and a prior Ontario effort are presented and may compromise the effectiveness of the 2005 initiative.

Not developed yet? Alternative ways to include locations without changes in land use change models

Biogeographers have developed a new generation of statistical models called presence-only models, which require no data concerning the absence of a species and do not assume that the absence of a species indicates habitat unsuitability. Both characteristics are especially useful when modeling a species that is actively spreading across a landscape. Although urban expansion is sometimes equated to an invading species, the applicability of presence-only models has not yet been explored when modeling urban growth. This article compares predictions of urban growth using a presence-only model (ecological niche factor analysis) and a more traditional presence–absence model (logistic regression). An additional model used pseudo-absence sites, from the presence-only model output, as input into the presence–absence model. The models were applied to New Jerseys Barnegat Bay Watershed. Overall, the traditional presence–absence model performed the best, although the presence-only model was sufficiently similar to warrant further exploration of presence-only models when no reliable absence data (i.e., locations where no conversion occurred) exists. However, due to data-formatting requirements of the presence-only model, it is difficult to accommodate data pertaining to administrative boundaries, which are inherently Boolean. Finally, the output based on the pseudo-absence approach overpredicted urban conversion when compared to the other approaches.

Local Environmental Impacts of Alternative Forms of Residential Development

New Urbanism is often presented as an improvement over conventional suburban development along economic, social, and environmental lines. While the economic and social claims of New Urbanism have been investigated, relatively little work has examined the potential environmental impacts of New Urbanism as compared with conventional forms of suburban development. One of the challenges of studying the environmental impacts of New Urbanism is that it is still too early to evaluate adequately many sites, since most New Urban development is less than a decade old but it often takes several decades for vegetation and related ecological processes to establish. This paper attempts to address the gap in our understanding of New Urban environmental conditions by examining the relationship between residential-parcel vegetation abundance and specific components of residential form across the Greater Toronto Area (Ontario, Canada). While not explicitly comparing New Urban sites with other locations, this analysis illuminates how many New Urban design principles are related to vegetation conditions by focusing on those aspects of residential form that are addressed by New Urbanism—road pattern, neighborhood land use, and site-level characteristics—across a region with heterogeneous form. The results indicate that locations aligned with New Urbanism design principles do not necessarily support more vegetation than those areas based on more conventional suburban patterns, with many design principles having no relationship to vegetation abundance. The paper concludes by examining the planning implications of the results, and outlines future research needed to understand more fully the long-term impact of New Urbanism on local environmental conditions.

Current and Future Patterns of Land-Use Change in the Coastal Zone of New Jersey

Recent urban development along the US coasts has negatively impacted the local environment, and these impacts will only increase thanks to rapid regional population growth. Empirical spatially disaggregate land-use models provide a way to explore future conditions and environmental impacts before irreversible changes occur. An assumption of many models is that access to urban-employment centers is the major factor locating urban uses within a region, the opposite of the pattern seen in most natural amenity rich areas. As a result, it is unclear whether models focusing on center accessibility can be used to predict future land-use patterns in urbanizing coastal regions. In this paper the relationship between accessibility and the location of urban development was examined for coastal New Jersey, USA. Two questions were addressed through the analysis: (1) Is accessibility to urban or employment centers correlated with the location of urban conversions? (2) If accessibility is correlated with the location of urban conversion, does the inclusion of such variables into a land-use-change model improve the ability of the model to locate future urban development? Results from the analysis indicate that traditional accessibility relationships can be used to explain the location of urban conversions in New Jerseys coastal region, but inclusion of accessibility and other locating factors does not necessarily improve the predictive ability of a model. The accessibility relationship is contrary to findings in many other high-amenity areas, because, in part, of the importance of access to the regions transportation network.

Characteristics of topography and vegetation at boundaries between the beach and dune on residential shorefront lots in two municipalities in New Jersey, USA

Abstract Natural and cultural characteristics at seaward boundaries of residential lots are examined to identify ways of making these boundaries more naturally functioning. Field data on lot size, house size, type and location of the seaward-most vertical structure, and window height are compared with topography and vegetation on the backdune, foredune, foreslope, and flat seaward of the foredune. Results indicate that intensively developed coastlines can retain natural dune features on private property if residents allow ecological boundaries to replace cultural boundaries. Appropriate management actions include: (1) discouraging planting of exotics, (2) building houses at higher elevations, so residents can retain views of the sea as dunes grow, (3) elevating boardwalks to facilitate transfers of sediment and biota, (4) discouraging use of fences to demarcate lot lines, (5) restricting use of sand-trapping fences, and (6) placing cultural features on landward sides of lots to provide space for nature to evolve.