Explicit characterisation of the complexity of urban landscapes is critical for understanding patterns of biodiversity and for detecting the underlying social and ecological processes that shape them. Urban environments exhibit variable heterogeneity and connectivity, influenced by different historical contingencies, that affect community assembly across scales. The multidimensional nature of urban disturbance and co‐occurrence of multiple stressors can cause synergistic effects leading to nonlinear responses in populations and communities. Yet, current research design of urban ecology and evolutionary studies typically relies on simple representation of the parameter space that can be observed. Sampling approaches apply simple urban gradients such as linear transects in space or comparisons of urban sites across the urban mosaic accounting for a few variables. This rarely considers multiple dimensions and scales of biodiversity, and proves to be inadequate to explain observed patterns. We apply a multidimensional approach that integrates distinctive social, ecological and built characteristics of urban landscapes, representing variations along dimensions of heterogeneity, connectivity and historical contingency. Measuring species richness and beta diversity across 100 US metropolitan areas at the city and 1‐km scales, we show that distinctive signatures of urban biodiversity can result from interactions between socioecological heterogeneity and connectivity, mediated by historical contingency.
Urban areas are dynamic ecological systems defined by interdependent biological, physical, and social components. The emergent structure and heterogeneity of urban landscapes drives biotic outcomes in these areas, and such spatial patterns are often attributed to the unequal stratification of wealth and power in human societies. Despite these patterns, few studies have effectively considered structural inequalities as drivers of ecological and evolutionary outcomes and have instead focused on indicator variables such as neighborhood wealth. In this analysis, we explicitly integrate ecology, evolution, and social processes to emphasize the relationships that bind social inequities—specifically racism—and biological change in urbanized landscapes. We draw on existing research to link racist practices, including residential segregation, to the heterogeneous patterns of flora and fauna observed by urban ecologists. In the future, urban ecology and evolution researchers must consider how systems of racial oppression affect the environmental factors that drive biological change in cities. Conceptual integration of the social and ecological sciences has amassed considerable scholarship in urban ecology over the past few decades, providing a solid foundation for incorporating environmental justice scholarship into urban ecological and evolutionary research. Such an undertaking is necessary to deconstruct urbanization’s biophysical patterns and processes, inform equitable and anti-racist initiatives promoting justice in urban conservation, and strengthen community resilience to global environmental change.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1840663
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10192926
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science
- Volume:
- 369
- Issue:
- 6510
- ISSN:
- 0036-8075
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- Article No. eaay4497
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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