Urban EcologyUrban EcologyEST/EFB 220

An interdisciplinary study of the urban ecosystem

Origin of Cities

• Through most of history, the human population has lived a rural lifestyle.

• Settled communities of people became possible with the advent of agriculture (10,000 to 4,000 BC).

CityYearBecame #1

Population Information

Memphis, Egypt 3100 BCE Well over 30,000

Akkad, Babylonia (Iraq)

2240

Lagash, Babylonia (Iraq)

2075

Ur, Babylonia (Iraq)

2030 65,000

Thebes, Egypt 1980

Babylon, Babylonia (Iraq)

1770

Avaris, Egypt 1670

Memphis, Egypt 1557

Thebes, Egypt 1400

Nineveh, Assyria (Iraq)

668

Babylon, Babylonia (Iraq)

612First above 200,000

Origin of Cities

•……?•……?•……?

WHY should we study Urban Ecology ???

Understanding how urban ecosystems function is integral to mitigating their negative effects on ecosystem services, assessing their impact on neighboring environments, and considering them in decision-making dialogue.

Institute for Ecosystem Studieshttp://www.ecostudies.org/IES_urban_ecology.html

Engaging urban dwellers is critical; their activities directly impact the way urban ecosystems function and they have a vested interest in maintaining the environmental integrity of the area they live in.

What is “Urbanization?”

• Often related to industrialization• Up until very recently -- about 200

years ago -- the proportion of the world’s urban population was limited to about 5%

Speed of Urbanization

• In 18003%• By 190014 %• In 1950 30%• In 2000 47 % (about 2.8 billion)

Human Numbers Through Time

  Name Population1 London, United Kingdom 6,480,0002 New York, United States 4,242,0003 Paris, France 3,330,0004 Berlin, Germany 2,707,0005 Chicago, United States 1,717,0006 Vienna, Austria 1,698,0007 Tokyo, Japan 1,497,0008 St. Petersburg, Russia 1,439,0009

Manchester, United Kingdom

1,435,00010 Philadelphia, United States 1,418,000

http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201f.htm

Ten Largest Cities of 1900

  Name Population1 Shanghai, China 13,278,5002 Mumbai (Bombay), India 12,622,5003 Buenos Aires, Argentina 11,928,4004 Moscow, Russia 11,273,4005 Karachi, Pakistan 10,889,1006 Delhi, India 10,400,9007 Manila, Phillipines 10,330,1008 São Paolo, Brazil 10,260,1009 Seoul, South Korea 10,165,40010 Istanbul, Turkey 9,631,700

Source: © Stefan Helders, World Gazetteer, 2004. Reprinted with permission. Web: www.world-gazetteer.com .

Ten Largest Cities of 2004

Global Urbanization Trends (cont’d)

Size of Urban Population in the World

(Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects, The 1999 Revision)

Earth at Night 2000 November 27

Credit: C. Mayhew & R. Simmon (NASA/GSFC), NOAA/ NGDC, DMSP Digital Archive

Global Urbanization Trends (cont’d)

(Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects, The 1999 Revision)

Comparison of Urban Population in Developed Countries and Developing Countries

What is Urban ???

1990 and before Census Definition of Urban

1. Places of 2,500 or more persons incorporated as cities, villages, boroughs (except in Alaska and New York), and towns (except in the six New England States, New York, and Wisconsin), but excluding the rural portions of "extended cities.”

2. Census designated places of 2,500 or more persons.

3. Other territory, incorporated or unincorporated, included in urbanized areas.

2000 Census Definition of Urban

• For Census 2000, the Census Bureau classifies as "urban" all territory, population, and housing units located within an urbanized area (UA) or an urban cluster (UC). It delineates UA and UC boundaries to encompass densely settled territory, which consists of:

• core census block groups or blocks that have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile and

• surrounding census blocks that have an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile

Impacts of Urbanization

By concentrating humans and the resources they consume, metropolitan areas alter

• soil drainage, • water flow, and • light availability.

Furthermore they concentrate:• waste• energy demand

01

disturbed cells in mid-70's

01

cumulative disturbance up to mid-80's

01

cumulative disturbance up to mid-90's

Progression of Urban Growth

1975, 1985,1995

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

Consequences of Urbanization:

Food Import Trends in Puerto Rico

Eugene P. Odum

“I prefer to define ecology as:

The study of the structure and function of ecosystems or …..

What is Ecology ???

The study of the structure and function of nature.”

Odum, E. P. 1971. Fundamentals of Ecology. Third Edition. Saunders.

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~franz/top_ecosystem/documents/page3.2.html

"Living organisms ( biotic) and their nonliving ( abioticabiotic) environment are inseparably interrelated and interact upon each other.

Any unit that includes all of the organisms (i.e., the "community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic trophic structurestructure, biotic diversitybiotic diversity, and material material cyclescycles (i.e., exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecological system or ecosystemecosystem."

Ecosystem ???

Urban Ecology ???

What makes “urban ecology” unique or different from just “ecology?”

HOW should we study

Urban Ecology ???

1) The composition of the biological community including species, numbers, biomass, life history and distribution in space of populations.

2) The quantity and distribution of the abiotic (non-living) materials such as nutrients, water, etc.

3) The range, or gradient, of conditions of existence such as temperature, light, etc.

Structure ???

1. The rate of biological energy flow through the ecosystem, that is, the rates of production and the rates of respiration of the populations and the community.

2. The rate of material or nutrient cycling, that is, the biogeochemical cycles.

3. The biological or ecological regulation including both regulation of organisms by environment and regulation of environment by organisms.

Function ???

One way to assess impacts of urbanization is through:

Biomonitoring of Water Quality along a

Rural to Urban Gradient

Gradient Analysis

http://kywater.org/ww/bugs/intro.htmhttp://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dow/stream/

BIOMONITORING

             Key This page was constructed by Allyson Via-Norton, Amy Maher, and Diane Hoffman

All images are copyrighted - Jones & Bartlett Publishers

Comments?

3 minutes of kicking

100 bugs per sample

Water Chemistry

Dissolved Oxygen

Turbidity

Conductivity

Temperature

The Effects of Urbanization on Stream Water Quality Along an Urban-Rural Gradient

Alexis Schoppe, Dickinson College