Desert Museum Trip. Urban Ecology. Saturday Nov 4 th 10 AM COS funds for admission and lunch w/ TRAD: Origins of Human Diversity

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1 Desert Museum Trip Saturday Nov 4 th 10 AM COS funds for admission and lunch w/ TRAD: Origins of Human Diversity Tuesdays 7PM (Oct 17) UA Centennial Hall Urban Ecology I. Justification and Background II. Urban Ecology Studies: A. Ecology in the City B. Ecology of the City Urban Ecology is not necessarily a new thing

2 Ecology and the Role of Humans Tansley 1935 We cannot confine ourselves to the so called natural entities and ignore the processes and expressions of vegetation now so abundantly provided by man. Odum 1969.an ecology that considers humans as a part of, not apart from, nature Vitousek 1997 Most aspects of the structure and functioning of the earth s ecosystems cannot be understood without accounting for the strong, often dominant influence of humanity Recent Conceptual Advances Ecosystem Ecology humans are components of ecosystems Conservation Biology focus in places where people live and work Environmental Ethics what is wild? blindspot to humans in envi.philosophy United States Urban Population Urban Non-urban 100% Population 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% YEAR from United Nations, 1996

3 Urban areas impact the environment through: 1) Alterations in hydrology 2) Inputs of pollutants 3) Modification of local climate 4) Landscape fragmentation 5) Habitat transformation 6) Species introductions Approaches to Urban Ecology: Ecology in the City Ecological structure and function of habitats or organisms in the city Focus on the physical environment, soils, plants and vegetation, and animals and wildlife Tucson Bird Count Hummingbird Project Lower native bird diversity Overall diversity increases A few natives do well in town (Thrasher, WW Dove) Many natives are rarely found in town

4 Cultural Coevolution Cultural Coevolution Humans Environment Selection Genes Culture Genes Culture Inheritance Selection Inheritance Time Genes Culture Genes Culture Foraging Innovations and Human Behavior The Gradient Paradigm - environmental variation is ordered in space - spatial environmental patterns govern the structure and function of ecological systems A Moisture G A B C D E F G Urban geography City Core Suburbs Rural Lands (Nihei and Higuchi 2001)

5 Asheville Asheville Nat l Forest 8 km = Urban Site = Suburban Site = Rural Site 8 km Nematodes Nutrient Cycling Leaf Litter Decomposition N-Mineralization

6 (A) Aspects of Urbanization Increased Density (B) Biotic and Environmental Effects Drier Soil Warmer Soil Less SOM (C) Ecosystem Effects Slower Decomp Faster N-Min Implications Ecosystem remnants don t necessarily function the same as non-urban counterparts Shift in Nematode Community Urbanization reduces soil quality ecosystem health/sustainability? Population Frequency of United States Cities Frequency Asheville Baltimore New York City Size Class (x 1000 people) Urban Environments Differ ph Annual Temperature NYC BALT Asheville NYC BALT Asheville Rural Urban NYC BALT Asheville Soil Organic Matter

7 # Asheville Tucson Baltimore Phoenix New York Comparative Urban Ecology Density Compact Size Information City Size Small Large Environmental Impact Economy Industrial Ecosystem Health Sprawling Approaches to Urban Ecology: Ecology of the City Systems oriented approaches to urban ecology Population & Income Urban Nutrient Balance, Bangkok Total nutrient inflow Area Atmospheric Deposition Focus on dynamics of urban ecosystems, fluxes and flows, interactions Food per capita Total Food Supply -Local Production + Feed & fertilizer River Collected Waste Accumulation

8 Ecological Footprints (Rees and Wackernagel 1996) Bear Brook, NH Vancouver, BC 1 m Productive land area = 20,000 km 2 The City as an Ecosystem: LTER Approach The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network ( Central Arizona-Phoenix (CAP) LTER ( Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) LTER ( City = 114 km m Long-term: 200 point survey Data: Photos Weather Built envt Cover Soil Vegetation Birds and bugs Human activity surveys CAP LTER data mining Construction of an ecosystem N budget 1) 7-8x higher inputs 2) 90% of these are human mediated Desert Ecosystem CAP Ecosystem

9 Trends in air temperature in CAP and Baltimore Baltimore Ecosystem: Peak in 1950 s Days warmer in city CAP Ecosystem: Steady increase since 1950 Days can be cooler in city Phoenix Heat Island Impacts of a warm Phoenix (~3.1 ºC since 1950) Misery hours 30 deaths/y (13x national average) Irritability, aggression (~7% of violent crimes in 1998!) Heating and cooling % rise in energy consumption Longer arthropod thermal window More disease vectors? Ag pests?

10 Human Ecosystem Model for Urban Ecosystems