Ecological Homogenization of Urban America

Urban, suburban and exurban ecosystems are important and increasing in the U.S.  An apparent, but functionally untested result of urban land use change is homogenization across cities, where neighborhoods in very different parts of the country have similar patterns of roads, residential lots, commercial areas and aquatic features.  We hypothesize that this homogenization also involves ecological structure and functions relevant to ecosystem carbon and nitrogen dynamics, with continental scale implications.  Further, we suggest that understanding urban homogenization will provide the basis for understanding the impacts of urban land use change from local to continental scales.  We will use datasets ranging from household surveys to soil and vegetation sampling 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 has the potential to transform both understanding of an important and increasingly common ecosystem type (“suburbia”) and the capacity to scale the effects of local land use change to regional and continental extents.  We will determine how urban land use change has affected carbon storage and nitrogen pollution at multiple scales, and further understanding of how humans perceive, value and manage their surroundings.

Related Materials and Graphics: 

Urban homogenization poster.pdf