Urbanisation is a global issue, and rapidly gaining attention from researchers as a major cause of biodiversity loss. Gardens represent a considerable proportion of the urban landscape in the UK and have significant potential to promote urban biodiversity and reduce species loss providing they can be designed and managed appropriately. This research focused on gardens in St Andrews, Scotland, and investigated the influence of environmental variables such as age and area on arachnid and beetle biodiversity with the aim of identifying key predictors of arthropod species richness in urban environments. The key result of this research was that the age and area of individual gardens was not a strong predictor of ground active arthropod biodiversity. This suggests that more recently developed or smaller gardens can contribute to the overall urban region species richness pool as well as larger or more ancient gardens. The most important predictor of ground active arachnid and beetle species richness was the proportion of porous (or 'green') habitat surrounding each garden, and suggested that urban density and habitat connectivity at the regional scale are of key importance. In general, variables measured within gardens (e.g. the provision of microhabitats such as leaf litter, non-managed vegetation, etc.) did not exert any measurable effect on the biodiversity of arachnids or beetles. The findings of this research suggest that the regional availability of heterogeneous greenspace habitat is of high importance for promoting and maintaining urban arthropod biodiversity.

As cities grew throughout the past century, the availability of locally grown food declined, mostly because urban expansion occurred at the expense of adjacent agricultural land. As a result, city dwellers turned to commercial food market systems that import food from distant production areas. Private greenspace, which is one of the largest land cover types in cities, offers the potential for substantial agricultural production. Because urban food production on private land, such as backyards, requires the willing participation of landowners, resident's feelings about and experience with food growing are important to understand. The demographic groups that were most likely to food garden were those in long-term relationships, higher income brackets, those with college education and residents over 50 years old. Incentives and programs focused on producing more from existing gardens may be most appropriate for people in these demographic groups, while other groups will most require basic food growing information. Study participants highly valued intangible benefits of food gardening (e.g., relaxation, feelings of happiness and satisfaction), often more than the provision of food. Most barriers and problems with backyard food growing, such as a lack of space and the need for gardening information, were similar for those who food garden and those who do not. Results from this study indicate that traditional agricultural incentives and perspectives must be rethought if they are to be applied in urban settings. By creating incentives and initiatives that reflect the needs and challenges faced by urban growers, urban agriculture will become an integrated part of the community, improving food quantity and quality while enriching residents' lives. / by John G. Zahina-Ramos. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.