Collaborative Research: Ecological Homogenization of Urban America

城市、郊区和郊区环境是重要的生态系统，在美国，它们的范围正在增加。野生或受管理的生态系统向城市生态系统的转变正在导致城市之间的生态系统同质化，美国不同地区的社区在道路、住宅地块、商业区和水生要素方面具有相似的模式。提供资金来检验这一假设，即这种同质化改变了与生态系统碳和氮动态相关的生态结构和功能，具有大陆尺度的影响。这项研究将为理解从地方尺度到大陆尺度的城市土地利用变化的影响提供一个框架。这项研究涵盖了从家庭调查到区域尺度遥感的数据集，覆盖了美国主要气候区域的六个大都市统计区(MSA)(凤凰城、亚利桑那州、迈阿密、佛罗里达州、巴尔的摩、马里兰州、波士顿、马萨诸塞州、圣保罗、明尼苏达州和加利福尼亚州洛杉矶)，以确定家庭特征与地方、区域和大陆尺度上的园林绿化决策、土地管理做法和生态结构和功能的相关性。这项研究将改变人们对一种重要且日益常见的生态系统类型(郊区)的科学认识。以及在多个尺度上对碳储存和氮污染的影响。此外，它还将促进对人类如何感知、重视和管理周围环境的理解。该奖项将利用与正在进行的LTER和/或ULTEX项目相关的广泛、多规模的教育和推广计划。活动包括对社区团体、城市/区域规划者、自然历史博物馆、州和地方机构以及非政府组织进行K-12教育和外联。研究生将参加由NCEAS和明尼苏达大学环境研究所发起的可持续发展科学(DGSS)分布式研究生研讨会。

Urban, suburban and exurban environments are important ecosystems and their extent is increasing in the U.S. The conversion of wild or managed ecosystems to urban ecosystems is resulting in ecosystem homogenization across cities, where neighborhoods in very different parts of the country have similar patterns of roads, residential lots, commercial areas and aquatic features. Funds are provided to test the hypothesis that this homogenization alters ecological structure and functions relevant to ecosystem carbon and nitrogen dynamics, with continental scale implications. The research will provide a framework for understanding the impacts of urban land use change from local to continental scales. The research encompasses datasets ranging from household surveys to regional-scale remote sensing across six metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) that cover the major climatic regions of the US (Phoenix, AZ, Miami, FL, Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, St. Paul, MN and Los Angeles, CA) to determine how household characteristics correlate with landscaping decisions, land management practices and ecological structure and functions at local, regional and continental scales. This research will transform scientific understanding of an important and increasingly common ecosystem type (?suburbia?) and the consequences to carbon storage and nitrogen pollution at multiple scales. In addition, it will advance understanding of how humans perceive, value and manage their surroundings. The award will leverage an extensive, multi-scale program of education and outreach associated with ongoing LTER and/or ULTRA-EX projects. Activities include K-12 education and outreach to community groups, city/regional planners, natural history museums, state and local agencies and non-governmental organizations. Graduate students will participate in a Distributed Graduate Seminar in Sustainability Science (DGSS) initiated by NCEAS and the University of Minnesota Institute on Environment.