Averting the extinction of experience (2012-2014)
Abstract
Most people now live in cities, igniting concern that people are becoming isolated from experiences of the natural world. This 'extinction of experience' could have profound environmental consequences because people who have poor experiences of nature are less likely to value it. In this project, we will map changes in species' distributions and abundances across a major city and determine how this loss of biodiversity is distributed across different sectors of human society. We will measure how human health benefits from urban biodiversity, and whether biodiversity itself, or simply access to green spaces delivers these benefits. Using our results we will develop conservation plans enabling us to grow Australia's cities more sustainably.
