Urban EcologyWhat Is Urban Ecology?The science of ecology is the study of the relationships between living creatures and communities as well as their relationship to their environment. Within the natural sciences, the term "urban ecology" is used to refer to biological and ecological studies conducted in areas with high densities of humans. Scientist studying the ecology of cities and towns use the same theoretical foundations, methods and tools as ecologists studying unpopulated areas. For a short selection of references on this topic click here.
What Is Urban?
One of the problems with the term “urban ecology” is that urban has many different meanings. Ecologists, geographers, economists and social scientists have used different the term “urban” to define a variety of situations. Currently, the United States Bureau of Census defines “urban” as comprising all territory, population and housing units in urbanised areas and in places of 2500 or more persons outside urbanised areas. The United Nations defines “urban” as an area with more than 20,000 people. For a discussion of the term "urban" see McIntyre, N. E., Knowles-Yanez, K. and Hope, D. (2001) Urban ecology as an interdisciplinary field: differences in the use of "urban" between the social and natural sciences. Urban Ecosystems 4, 5-24.
Gradients of Urbanization
Because it is difficult to strictly define areas as “urban” is useful to think of gradients of urbanzation. Environmental gradients are an important concept in the field of ecology. Urban gradients are just a newly human created gradient in environmental conditions. See the following references for additional information on this concept: McDonnell, M. J. and Hahs, A. K. (2008) The use of gradient analysis studies in advancing our understanding of the ecology of urbanizing landscapes: current status and future directions. Landscape Ecology 23: 1143 - 1155. McDonnell, M. J., S. T. A. Pickett and R. V. Pouyat. (1993). The application of the ecological gradient paradigm to the study of urban effects. In: McDonnell, M. J. and S. T. A. Pickett. Editors. Humans as Components of Ecosystems: Subtle Human Effects and the Ecology of Populated Areas. pp. 175-189. Springer-Verlag. New York. McDonnell, M.J. and S.T.A. Pickett. (1990). The study of ecosystem structure and function along urban-rural gradients: an unexploited opportunity for ecology. Ecology 71:1231-1237. What are Green Cities? The term urban ecology is also applied to another area of study related to the creation of green cities. Used in this context, planners, architects, economists and ecologists focus on creating socially, economically and ecologically sustaining human settlements. This field typically includes topics on planning, building design, recycling and community programs.
Web Sites related to this topic include: Urban Ecology Australia (external website) Low, N., Gleeson, B., Green, R. and Radovic, D. (2005) The Green City: Sustainable Homes, Sustainable Suburbs. UNSW Press. Selected Urban Ecology References
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