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Urban ecology and biological studies in Brazilian cities: a systematic review

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Abstract

The number of papers focusing on ecological interactions in urban environments has increased in recent years. This review aimed to address the panorama of urban ecology and biological surveys in Brazil. A systematic search was carried out using the Web of Science and Scopus platforms for papers on urban ecology to understand which institutions, authors, themes, cities, biomes, states, and regions have addressed the theme in Brazil to date. A total of 932 articles were found, in 196 scientific journals. Most papers were published between 2010 and 2019. This involved 350 municipalities in the five Brazilian regions, with Curitiba, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro being the municipalities with the most papers. São Paulo was the state that presented the most papers, with 23.7% of the total, and the Southeast region was the most representative with 36.6%. The biome with the highest concentration of papers (61.2%) was the Atlantic Forest. A total of 2537 authors were registered, affiliated with a total of 413 institutions from 19 countries. The institutions with the most papers were the Federal University of Paraná and University of São Paulo. The most discussed topic was related to botany (69%), and the most used keyword was “urban afforestation”. The number of papers published was greater in municipalities with higher human development index, number of inhabitants and relative urbanized area. This review revealed the scarcity of studies in low-income areas, and the need for greater incorporation of the social aspect, landscape ecology and ecological interactions in urban ecology.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the biology students who helped us with data collection, as well as Marcelo Hermosilla, Gabriel Borja, and the biologist Renata Bella Vieira for their help and enthusiasm in the progress of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Marquês de São Vicente St. 225, Building Luiz Cyrillo Fernandes, 5 Floor, RJ, 22451-900, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Richieri Antonio Sartori, Abraão Gomes, Anna Thereza Cárcamo, Ângelo Antônio Corrêa, Mariana Henriques Santana, Maura Andrade Vieira & Henrique Rajão

  2. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Institute of Biology, University City/Ilha do Fundão, Carlos Chagas Filho Avenue 373, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-971, Brazil

    Amanda Narcizo

  3. National School of Tropical Botany of the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro (ENBT/JBRJ), Directorate of Scientific Research (DIPEQ), JBRJ, Pacheco Leão Street 915, Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22460-030, Brazil

    Stella Mata & Rayanne Moreira Andrade Matos

  4. National Institute of Atlantic Forest (INMA), José Ruschi, Avenue n. 4 - Downtown, Santa Teresa City, Espirito Santo State, 29650-000, Brazil

    Stella Mata

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  1. Richieri Antonio Sartori
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The idea for this article came from Richieri A. Sartori. All other authors were responsible for data collection, classification, and analysis. All the authors participated in writing this article.

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Sartori, R.A., Gomes, A., Narcizo, A. et al. Urban ecology and biological studies in Brazilian cities: a systematic review. Urban Ecosyst 26, 547–558 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-022-01324-6

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