Abstract
Most of the global human population lives in urban areas where biogeochemical cycles are controlled by complex interactions between society and the environment. Urban ecology is an emerging discipline that seeks to understand these interactions, and one of the grand challenges for urban ecologists is to develop models that encompass the myriad influences of people on biogeochemistry. We suggest here that existing models, developed primarily in unmanaged and agricultural ecosystems, work poorly in urban ecosystems because they do not include human biogeochemical controls such as impervious surface proliferation, engineered aqueous flow paths, landscaping choices, and human demographic trends. Incorporating these human controls into biogeochemical models will advance urban ecology and will require enhanced collaborations with engineers and social scientists.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 192-199 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Trends in Ecology and Evolution |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2006 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported in part by the Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER (NSF Grants no. DEB-9714833 and DEB-0423704; J.P.K., N.B.G. and L.A.B.), the Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER (NSF Grants no. DEB-9714835 and DBI-0423476; P.M.G. and R.V.P.), the NSF Ecosystem Studies Program (DEB-0514382; N.B.G., and DEB-0514379; J.P.K.), and the NSF Biocomplexity in the Environment Program (EAR-0322065; J.P.K. and L.A.B.). We thank David Lewis and four anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the article.