Urban Ecology - History of Urban Ecology

History of Urban Ecology

Ecology has historically focused on pristine, natural environments, however, by the 1970’s many ecologists began to turn their interest towards the ecological interactions taking place in, and caused by urban environments. Brian Davis’s 1978 publication, “Urbanization and the diversity of insects” as well as Sukopp et al.’s 1979 article, “The soil, flora and vegetation of Berlin’s wastelands” are some of the first publications to recognize the importance of urban ecology as a separate and distinct form of ecology the same way one might see landscape ecology as different from population ecology. Forman and Godron’s 1986 book, Landscape Ecology, first distinguished urban settings and landscapes from other landscapes by dividing all landscapes into five broad types. These types were divided by the intensity of human influence ranging from pristine natural environments to urban centers.

Urban ecology is recognized as a diverse and complex concept which differs in application between North America and Europe. The European concept of urban ecology examines the biota of urban areas while to the North American concept which has traditionally examined the social sciences of the urban landscape. as well as the ecosystem fluxes and processes.