The Experts below are selected from a list of 28923 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jianguo Wu - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a hierarchical analysis of the relationship between Urban impervious surfaces and land surface temperatures spatial scale dependence temporal variations and bioclimatic modulation
Landscape Ecology, 2016Co-Authors: Jianguo Wu, Chunyang HeAbstract:Context Understanding how Urban impervious surfaces (UIS) affect land surface temperatures (LST) on different scales in space and time is important for Urban Ecology and sustainability.
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Urban Ecology and sustainability the state of the science and future directions
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2014Co-Authors: Jianguo WuAbstract:Ecosystems and landscapes around the world have become increasingly domesticated through Urbanization. Cities have been the engines of socioeconomic development but also the centers of major environmental problems since the industrial revolution. Numerous studies have shown that our Urban ecosystems and landscapes are on an unsustainable trajectory. Global sustainability depends critically on cities, and Urban Ecology can – and needs to – play a key role in the transition toward sustainability. In this paper, I review different definitions and perspectives of Urban Ecology, discuss major advances and key issues, and propose a framework to help move the field forward. After almost 90 years of development, Urban Ecology has evolved into a truly transdisciplinary enterprise that integrates ecological, geographical, planning, and social sciences. The most salient thrust of current research activities in the field is the emerging Urban sustainability paradigm which focuses on Urban ecosystem services and their relations to human well-being. While Urbanization is complex in many ways, we do know a lot about its patterns, processes, and effects. More specifically, we know a great deal about Urban growth patterns in space and time, the underlying drivers and mechanisms, and myriad effects of Urbanization on biodiversity, ecological processes, and ecosystem services. Compared to their ancient counterparts, contemporary cities tend to be bigger in physical size and ecological footprint, faster in growth rate in terms of both population and Urbanized land, and more irregular in landscape composition and configuration. As coevolving human-environment systems, cities are spatially heterogeneous, complex adaptive systems. As such, the dynamic trajectory of cities can never be fully predicted or controlled, but can and should be influenced or guided in more desirable directions through planning and design activities that are based on Urban ecological knowledge and sustainability principles.
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global change and the Ecology of cities
Science, 2008Co-Authors: Nancy B. Grimm, Charles L. Redman, Jianguo Wu, Stanley H. Faeth, Nancy E Golubiewski, Xuemei Bai, John M BriggsAbstract:Urban areas are hot spots that drive environmental change at multiple scales. Material demands of production and human consumption alter land use and cover, biodiversity, and hydrosystems locally to regionally, and Urban waste discharge affects local to global biogeochemical cycles and climate. For Urbanites, however, global environmental changes are swamped by dramatic changes in the local environment. Urban Ecology integrates natural and social sciences to study these radically altered local environments and their regional and global effects. Cities themselves present both the problems and solutions to sustainability challenges of an increasingly Urbanized world.
Vincent Herve - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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aquatic Urban Ecology at the scale of a capital community structure and interactions in street gutters
The ISME Journal, 2018Co-Authors: Vincent Herve, Boris Leroy, Albert Da Silva Pires, Pascal J LopezAbstract:In most cities, streets are designed for collecting and transporting dirt, litter, debris, storm water and other wastes as a municipal sanitation system. Microbial mats can develop on street surfaces and form microbial communities that have never been described. Here, we performed the first molecular inventory of the street gutter-associated eukaryotes across the entire French capital of Paris and the non-potable waters sources. We found that the 5782 OTUs (operational taxonomic units) present in the street gutters which are dominated by diatoms (photoautotrophs), fungi (heterotrophs), Alveolata and Rhizaria, includes parasites, consumers of phototrophs and epibionts that may regulate the dynamics of gutter mat microbial communities. Network analyses demonstrated that street microbiome present many species restricted to gutters, and an overlapping composition between the water sources used for street cleaning (for example, intra-Urban aquatic networks and the associated rivers) and the gutters. We propose that street gutters, which can cover a significant surface area of cities worldwide, potentially have important ecological roles in the remediation of pollutants or downstream wastewater treatments, might also be a niche for growth and dissemination of putative parasite and pathogens.
Johan Colding - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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an Urban Ecology critique on the smart city model
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2017Co-Authors: Johan Colding, Stephan BarthelAbstract:The aim of this letter is to raise some critical concerns and gaps in the booming literature on Smart Cities; concerns that we think deserve greater attention from scientists, policy makers and urb ...
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ecological land use complementation for building resilience in Urban ecosystems
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2007Co-Authors: Johan ColdingAbstract:Abstract Few scientific analyses exist on how different land uses can be configured for greater support of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Based on ecological premises, and through a synthesis of information derived from the literature related to Urban Ecology, this paper elaborates on the potential biodiversity benefits of ‘ecological land-use complementation’ (ELC). The approach builds on the idea that land uses in Urban green areas could synergistically interact to support biodiversity when clustered together in different combinations. As proposed, ELC may not only provide for increased habitat availability for species, but also promote landscape complementation/supplementation functions and other critical ecosystem processes; hence, realize ‘emergent’ ecological functions of land use. Planners and Urban designers could adopt ELC to promote ecosystem resilience when planning new Urban areas, such as in the support of ‘response diversity’ among functional species groups, and in the support of ecosystem services. ELC-structures in Urban landscapes could also be used as arenas to promote participatory management approaches and Local Agenda 21. The paper concludes by summarizing some guiding principles for Urban planning and design.
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ecological land use complementation for building resilience in Urban ecosystems
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2007Co-Authors: Johan ColdingAbstract:Abstract Few scientific analyses exist on how different land uses can be configured for greater support of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Based on ecological premises, and through a synthesis of information derived from the literature related to Urban Ecology, this paper elaborates on the potential biodiversity benefits of ‘ecological land-use complementation’ (ELC). The approach builds on the idea that land uses in Urban green areas could synergistically interact to support biodiversity when clustered together in different combinations. As proposed, ELC may not only provide for increased habitat availability for species, but also promote landscape complementation/supplementation functions and other critical ecosystem processes; hence, realize ‘emergent’ ecological functions of land use. Planners and Urban designers could adopt ELC to promote ecosystem resilience when planning new Urban areas, such as in the support of ‘response diversity’ among functional species groups, and in the support of ecosystem services. ELC-structures in Urban landscapes could also be used as arenas to promote participatory management approaches and Local Agenda 21. The paper concludes by summarizing some guiding principles for Urban planning and design.
Steward T A Pickett - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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theoretical perspectives of the baltimore ecosystem study conceptual evolution in a social ecological research project
BioScience, 2020Co-Authors: Steward T A Pickett, Mary L Cadenasso, Peter M Groffman, Morgan J Grove, Matthew E Baker, Lawrence E Band, Christopher G Boone, Geoffrey L Buckley, Elena G Irwin, Sujay S KaushalAbstract:The Earth's population will become more than 80% Urban during this century. This threshold is often regarded as sufficient justification for pursuing Urban Ecology. However, pursuit has primarily focused on building empirical richness, and Urban Ecology theory is rarely discussed. The Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) has been grounded in theory since its inception and its two decades of data collection have stimulated progress toward comprehensive Urban theory. Emerging Urban Ecology theory integrates biology, physical sciences, social sciences, and Urban design, probes interdisciplinary frontiers while being founded on textbook disciplinary theories, and accommodates surprising empirical results. Theoretical growth in Urban Ecology has relied on refined frameworks, increased disciplinary scope, and longevity of interdisciplinary interactions. We describe the theories used by BES initially, and trace ongoing theoretical development that increasingly reflects the hybrid biological-physical-social nature of the Baltimore ecosystem. The specific mix of theories used in Baltimore likely will require modification when applied to other Urban areas, but the developmental process, and the key results, will continue to benefit other Urban social-ecological research projects.
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does the ecological concept of distUrbance have utility in Urban social ecological technological systems
Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 2017Co-Authors: Nancy B. Grimm, Rebecca L. Hale, Steward T A Pickett, Mary L CadenassoAbstract:The ecological concept of distUrbance has scarcely been applied in Urban systems except in the erroneous but commonplace assumption that Urbanization itself is a distUrbance and cities are therefore perennially disturbed systems. We evaluate the usefulness of the concept in Urban Ecology by exploring how a recent conceptual framework for distUrbance (Peters et al. 2011, Ecosphere, 2, art 81) applies to these social–ecological–technological systems (SETS). Case studies, especially from the Long-Term Ecological Research sites of Baltimore and Phoenix, are presented to show the applicability of the framework for distUrbances to different elements of these systems at different scales. We find that the framework is easily adapted to Urban SETS and that incorporating social and technological drivers and responders can contribute additional insights to distUrbance research beyond Urban systems.
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advancing Urban Ecology toward a science of cities
BioScience, 2016Co-Authors: Timon Mcphearson, Nancy B. Grimm, Steward T A Pickett, Jari Niemelä, Jürgen Breuste, Thomas Elmqvist, Marina Alberti, Christiane Weber, Dagmar Haase, Salman QureshiAbstract:Urban Ecology is a field encompassing multiple disciplines and practical applications and has grown rapidly. However, the field is heterogeneous as a global inquiry with multiple theoretical and conceptual frameworks, variable research approaches, and a lack of coordination among multiple schools of thought and research foci. Here, we present an international consensus on how Urban Ecology can advance along multiple research directions. There is potential for the field to mature as a holistic, integrated science of Urban systems. Such an integrated science could better inform decisionmakers who need increased understanding of complex relationships among social, ecological, economic, and built infrastructure systems. To advance the field requires conceptual synthesis, knowledge and data sharing, cross-city comparative research, new intellectual networks, and engagement with additional disciplines. We consider challenges and opportunities for understanding dynamics of Urban systems. We suggest pathways for advancing Urban Ecology research to support the goals of improving Urban sustainability and resilience, conserving Urban biodiversity, and promoting human well-being on an Urbanizing planet.
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Urban Ecology in a developing world why advanced socioecological theory needs africa
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2013Co-Authors: Melissa R Mchale, Steward T A Pickett, David Bunn, Wayne TwineAbstract:Socioecological theory, developed through the study of Urban environments, has recently led to a proliferation of research focusing on comparative analyses of cities. This research emphasis has been concentrated in the more developed countries of the Northern Hemisphere (often referred to as the “Global North”), yet Urbanization is now occurring mostly in the developing world, with the fastest rates of growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Countries like South Africa are experiencing a variety of land-cover changes that may challenge current assumptions about the differences between Urban and rural environments and about the connectivity of these dynamic socioecological systems. Furthermore, questions concerning ecosystem services, landscape preferences, and conservation – when analyzed through rural livelihood frameworks – may provide insights into the social and ecological resilience of human settlements. Increasing research on Urban development processes occurring in Africa, and on patterns of kinship and migration in the less developed countries of the “Global South”, will advance a more comprehensive worldview of how future Urbanization will influence the progress of sustainable societies.
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beyond Urban legends an emerging framework of Urban Ecology as illustrated by the baltimore ecosystem study
BioScience, 2008Co-Authors: Steward T A Pickett, Mary L Cadenasso, Peter M Groffman, Morgan J Grove, Lawrence E Band, Christopher G Boone, William R Burch, Susan C B Grimmond, John HomAbstract:The emerging discipline of Urban Ecology is shifting focus from ecological processes embedded within cities to integrative studies of large Urban areas as biophysical-social complexes. Yet this discipline lacks a theory. Results from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, part of the Long Term Ecological Research Network, expose new assumptions and test existing assumptions about Urban ecosystems. The findings suggest a broader range of structural and functional relationships than is often assumed for Urban ecological systems. We address the relationships between social status and awareness of environmental problems, and between race and environmental hazard. We present patterns of species diversity, riparian function, and stream nitrate loading. In addition, we probe the suitability of land-use models, the diversity of soils, and the potential for Urban carbon sequestration. Finally, we illustrate lags between social patterns and vegetation, the biogeochemistry of lawns, ecosystem nutrient retention, and social-biophysical feedbacks. These results suggest a framework for a theory of Urban ecosystems.
Marina Alberti - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a roadmap for Urban evolutionary Ecology
Evolutionary Applications, 2019Co-Authors: Ruth L Rivkin, Marina Alberti, Sarah E. Diamond, James S Santangelo, Myla F J Aronson, Charlotte W De Keyzer, Mariejosee Fortin, Lauren J Frazee, Amanda J Gorton, Andrew P HendryAbstract:Urban ecosystems are rapidly expanding throughout the world, but how Urban growth affects the evolutionary Ecology of species living in Urban areas remains largely unknown. Urban Ecology has advanced our understanding of how the development of cities and towns change environmental conditions and alter ecological processes and patterns. However, despite decades of research in Urban Ecology, the extent to which Urbanization influences evolutionary and eco-evolutionary change has received little attention. The nascent field of Urban evolutionary Ecology seeks to understand how Urbanization affects the evolution of populations, and how those evolutionary changes in turn influence the ecological dynamics of populations, communities, and ecosystems. Following a brief history of this emerging field, this Perspective article provides a research agenda and roadmap for future research aimed at advancing our understanding of the interplay between Ecology and evolution of Urban-dwelling organisms. We identify six key questions that, if addressed, would significantly increase our understanding of how Urbanization influences evolutionary processes. These questions consider how Urbanization affects nonadaptive evolution, natural selection, and convergent evolution, in addition to the role of Urban environmental heterogeneity on species evolution, and the roles of phenotypic plasticity versus adaptation on species' abundance in cities. Our final question examines the impact of Urbanization on evolutionary diversification. For each of these six questions, we suggest avenues for future research that will help advance the field of Urban evolutionary Ecology. Lastly, we highlight the importance of integrating Urban evolutionary Ecology into Urban planning, conservation practice, pest management, and public engagement.
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advancing Urban Ecology toward a science of cities
BioScience, 2016Co-Authors: Timon Mcphearson, Nancy B. Grimm, Steward T A Pickett, Jari Niemelä, Jürgen Breuste, Thomas Elmqvist, Marina Alberti, Christiane Weber, Dagmar Haase, Salman QureshiAbstract:Urban Ecology is a field encompassing multiple disciplines and practical applications and has grown rapidly. However, the field is heterogeneous as a global inquiry with multiple theoretical and conceptual frameworks, variable research approaches, and a lack of coordination among multiple schools of thought and research foci. Here, we present an international consensus on how Urban Ecology can advance along multiple research directions. There is potential for the field to mature as a holistic, integrated science of Urban systems. Such an integrated science could better inform decisionmakers who need increased understanding of complex relationships among social, ecological, economic, and built infrastructure systems. To advance the field requires conceptual synthesis, knowledge and data sharing, cross-city comparative research, new intellectual networks, and engagement with additional disciplines. We consider challenges and opportunities for understanding dynamics of Urban systems. We suggest pathways for advancing Urban Ecology research to support the goals of improving Urban sustainability and resilience, conserving Urban biodiversity, and promoting human well-being on an Urbanizing planet.
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maintaining ecological integrity and sustaining ecosystem function in Urban areas
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2010Co-Authors: Marina AlbertiAbstract:Urbanizing regions increasing challenge the ecosystem's capacity to deliver important ecological services to the human population and support human well-being. Scholars of Urban Ecology have hypothesized that the patterns of Urbanization control ecosystem dynamics through complex interactions and feedback mechanisms linking Urban activities and their spatial organization to land cover and environmental change. However, empirical studies of the underlying processes and mechanisms linking Urbanization patterns and ecosystem dynamics are still extremely limited. In this paper, I present a framework linking Urban patterns to ecosystem functions and discuss a set of hypotheses based on the empirical evidence established in the literature.
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advances in Urban Ecology integrating humans and ecological processes in Urban ecosystems
2008Co-Authors: Marina AlbertiAbstract:The Urban Ecosystem.- Humans as a Component of Ecosystems.- Urban Patterns and Ecosystem Function.- Landscape Signatures.- Hydrological Processes.- Biogeochemical Processes.- Atmospheric Processes.- Population and Community Dynamics.- Futures of Urban Ecosystems.- Urban Ecology: A Synthesis.
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integrating humans into Ecology opportunities and challenges for studying Urban ecosystems
BioScience, 2003Co-Authors: Marina Alberti, John M Marzluff, Eric Shulenberger, Gordon Bradley, Clare M Ryan, Craig ZumbrunnenAbstract:Our central paradigm for Urban Ecology is that cities are emergent phenomena of local-scale, dynamic interactions among socioeconomic and biophysical forces. These complex interactions give rise to a distinctive Ecology and to distinctive ecological forcing functions. Separately, both the natural and the social sciences have adopted complex system theory to study emergent phenomena, but attempts to integrate the natural and social sciences to understand human-dominated systems remain reductionist—these disciplines generally study humans and ecological processes as separate phenomena. Here we argue that if the natural and social sciences remain within their separate domains, they cannot explain how human-dominated ecosystems emerge from interactions between humans and ecological processes. We propose an integrated framework to test formal hypotheses about how human-dominated ecosystems evolve from those interactions.
