Skip to main content

Ecological resilience in urban ecosystems: Linking urban patterns to human and ecological functions

Urban Ecosystems volume 7, pages 241–265 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Urban ecosystems evolve over time and space as the outcome of dynamic interactions between socio-economic and biophysical processes operating over multiple scales. The ecological resilience of urban ecosystems—the degree to which they tolerate alteration before reorganizing around a new set of structures and processes—is influenced by these interactions. In cities and urbanizing areas fragmentation of natural habitats, simplification and homogenization of species composition, disruption of hydrological systems, and alteration of energy flow and nutrient cycling reduce cross-scale resilience, leaving systems increasingly vulnerable to shifts in system control and structure. Because varied urban development patterns affect the amount and interspersion of built and natural land cover, as well as the human demands on ecosystems differently, we argue that alternative urban patterns (i.e., urban form, land use distribution, and connectivity) generate varied effects on ecosystem dynamics and their ecological resilience. We build on urban economics, landscape ecology, population dynamics, and complex system science to propose a conceptual model and a set of hypotheses that explicitly link urban pattern to human and ecosystem functions in urban ecosystems. Drawing on preliminary results from an empirical study of the relationships between urban pattern and bird and aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity in the Puget Sound region, we propose that resilience in urban ecosystems is a function of the patterns of human activities and natural habitats that control and are controlled by both socio-economic and biophysical processes operating at various scales. We discuss the implications of this conceptual model for urban planning and design.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Alberti, M. (1999a) Modeling the urban ecosystem: A conceptual framework. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 26, 605–630.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alberti, M. (1999b) Urban patterns and environmental performance: What do we know? Journal of Planning Education and Research 19, 151–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alberti, M., Booth, D., Hill, K., Coburn, B., Avolio, C., Coe, S. and Spirandelli, D. (In Review) The impact of urban patterns on aquatic ecosystems: An empirical analysis in puget lowland sub-basins. Landscape and Urban Planning.

  • Alberti, M. and Susskind, L. (1996) Managing urban sustainability: Introduction to the special issue. EIA Review 16, 213–221.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alberti, M., Coe, A. and Botsford, E. (2001) Quantifying the urban gradient: linking urban planning and ecology. In Avian Ecology in an Urbanizing World Kluwer (J.M. Marzluff, R. Bowman, R. McGowan and R. Donnelly, eds.). New York.

  • Alberti, M., Marzluff, J., Shulenberger, E., Bradley, G., Ryan, C. and Zumbrunnen, C. (2003) Integrating humans into ecosystems: Opportunities and challenges for urban ecology. BioScience 53, 1169–1179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, C.L. and Gibbons, C.J. (1996) Impervious surface coverage: Emergence of a key environmental indicator. Journal of the American Planning Association 62, 243–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, W.L. (1997) The r.le programs. University of Wyoming, Laramie. Available at: http://www.baylor.edu/~grass/gdp/terrain/r le 22.html.

    Google Scholar 

  • Booth, D. and Jackson, C. (1997) Urbanization of aquatic systems—Degradation thresholds, stormwater detention, and the limits of mitigation. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 33, 1077–1090.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buechner, M. and Sauvajot, R. (1996) Conservation and zones of human activity: The spread of human disturbance across a protected landscape. In Biodiversity in managed landscapes (R.C. Szaro and D.W. Johnston, eds.), pp. 605–629. Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, S., Walker, B., Anderies, J.M. and Abel, N. (2001) From metaphor to measurement: Resilience of what to what? Ecosystems 4, 765–781.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapen, F.S. III, Walker, B.H., Hobbs, R.J., Hooper, D.U., Lawton, J.H., Sala, O.E. and Tilman, D. (1997) Biotic control over functioning of ecosystems. Science 277, 500–504.

  • Christoferson, L.L. and Morrison, M.L. (2001) Integrating methods to determine breeding and nesting status of 3 western songbirds. Wildlife Society Bulletin 29, 688–696.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collinge, S. (1996) Ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation: Implications for landscape architecture and planning. Landscape and Urban Planning 36, 50–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, J.P., Kinzig, A., Grimm, N.B., Fagan, W.F., Hope, D., Wu, Jianguo and Borer, E.T. (2000) A new urban ecology. Am Sci 88, 416–425.

  • Costanza, R., Voinov, A., Roumans, R., Maxwell, T., Villa, F., Wainger, L. and Voinov, H. (2002) Integrated ecological economic modeling of the Patuxent river watershed, Maryland. Ecological Monographs 72, 203–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costanza, R., d'Arge, R., deGroot, R., Farber, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., Limburg, K., Naeem, S., O'Neill, R.V., Paruelo, J., Raskin, R.G., Sutton, P. and van den Belt, M. (1997) The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387, 253–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Czech, B. and Krausman, P.R. (1997) Distribution and causation of endangerment in the United States. Science 277, 1116–1117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daily, G.C. ed. (1997) Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems.Island Press, Washington, D.C.

  • Dobson, A.P., Rodriguez, J. P. and Roberts, W.M. (2001) Synoptic tinkering: Integrating strategies for large-scale conservation. Ecological Applications 11, 1019–1026.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donnelly, R. (2002) Design of habitat reserves and settlement for bird conservation in the Seattle metropolitan area. Dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donnelly, R. and Marzluff, J.M. (2004) Importance of reserve size and landscape context to urban bird conservation. Conservation Biology 18, 733–745.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donnelly, R. and Marzluff, J.M. (In review) Importance of forest quantity, quality, and spatial pattern to bird conservation in an urbanizing area. The Condor.

  • Ehrlich, P. R. and Mooney, H.A. (1983) Extinction, substitution, and ecosystem services. Bioscience 33, 248–254.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewing, R. (1997) Is Los Angeles-style sprawl desirable. Journal of the American Planning Association 63, 107–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forman, R. (1995) Land Mosaics: The Ecology of Landscapes and Region. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.

  • Forman, R. and Godron, M. (1986) Landscape Ecology. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, J.E. (1989) The Cost of Alternative Development Patterns: A Review of the Literature. Urban Land Institute, Washington, DC, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, M. and Forman, R. (1982) Landscape modification and changing ecological characteristics. In Disturbance and Ecosystems: Components of Response (H. Mooney and M. Gordon, eds.). Springer-Verlag, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • GRASS Development Team (1999–2003) http://grass.baylor.edu/gdp/online.html.

  • Grimm, N.B., Grove, J.M., Pickett, S.T.A. and Redman, C.L. (2000) Integrated approaches to long-term studies of urban ecological systems. BioScience 50, 571–584.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunderson, L. and Holling, C., eds. (2002) Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. Island Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunderson et al. (1995) Barriers and Bridges to the Renewal of Ecosystems and Institutions.Columbia University Press, New York, NY.

  • Hansen, A.J., Rasker, R., Maxwell, B., Rotella, J.J., Johnson, J.D., Parmenter, A.W., Langner, U., Cohen, W.B., Lawrence, R.L. and Kraska, M.P.V. (2002) Ecological causes and consequences of demographic change in the new west. BioScience 52, 151–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Howarth, R.B. and Farber, S. (2002) Accounting for the value of ecosystem services. Ecological Economics 41, 421–429.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holling, C.S. (2001) Understanding the complexity of economic, ecological, and social systems. Ecosystems 4, 390–405.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holling, C.S. (1996) Surprise for science, resilience for ecosystems, and incentives for people. Ecological Appli-cations 6, 733–735.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holling, C.S. (1973) Resilience and stability of ecological systems. International institute for applied systems analysis. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics1–23.

  • Holling, C.S., Gunderson L.H. and G.D. Peterson. (2002) Sustainability and Panarchies. In Panarchy: Under-standing Transformations in Human and Natural Systems (L.H. Gunderson and C.S. Holling, eds.), pp. 63–102. Island Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Imhoff, M.L., Lawrence, W.T., Stutzer, D. and Elvidge, C. (1998) Assessing the impact of urban sprawl on soil resources in the united states using nighttime "city lights" satellite images and digital soils maps. In Perspectives on the land-use history of North America: A Context for Understanding our Changing Environment (T.D. Sisk, ed.) U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Biological Science Report USGS/BRD/BSR1998–0003 (Revised Sept. 1999).

  • Karr, J.R. (1991) Biological integrity: A long-neglected aspect of water resource management. Ecological Appli-cations 1, 66–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karr, J.R. and Thomas, T. (1996) Economics, ecology, and environmental quality. Ecological Applications 6, 31–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Konrad, C.P., Booth, D.B., Burges, S.J. and Montgomery, D.R. (2002) Partial entrainment of gravel bars during floods Water Resources Research 38, 9-1–9-16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin, S.A. (1998) Ecosystems and the biosphere as complex adaptive systems. Ecosystems 1, 431–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loreau, M. (2000) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: Recent theoretical advances. Oikos 91, 3–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, K. (1960) The Image of the City.MIT Press, Cambridge MA.

  • Machlis, G.E., Force J.E. and Burch, Jr, W.6R. (1997) The human ecosystem part I: The human ecosystem as an organising concept in ecosystem management. Society and Natural Resources 10, 347–368.

  • Marzluff, J.M. (2001) Worldwide urbanization and its effects on birds. In: Avian Ecology and Conservation in an Urbanizing World (J.M. Marzluff, R. Bowman and R. Donnelly, eds.), pp. 19–47. Kluwer, Academic Publishers.

  • Marzluff, J.M., Bowman, R. and Donnelly, R.E. (2001) A historical perspective on urban bird research: Trends, Terms, and Approaches. In Avian Conservation and Ecology in an Urbanizing World (Marzluff, Bowman, and Donnelly, eds.), pp. 1–17. Kluwer, Norwell, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonnell, M.J. and Pickett, S.T.A. (1990) Ecosystem structure and function along urban-rural gradients: An unexploited opportunity for ecology. Ecology 71, 1232–1237.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonnell, M.J., Pickett, S.T.A., Groffman, P., Bohlen, P. Pouyat, R.V., Zipperer, W.C., Parmelee, R.W., Car-riero, M.M. and Medley, K. (1997) Ecosystem processes along an urban-to-rural gradient. Urban Ecosys 1, 21–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGarigal, K., Cushman, S.A., Neel, M.C. and Ene, E. (2002) Spatial Pattern Analysis Program for Categorical Maps, FRAGSTATS 3.1. [Online, URL: <www.umass.edu/landeco/research/fragstats/fragstats.html]

  • Medley, K.E., McDonnell, M.J. and Pickett, S.T.A. (1995) Forest-landscape structure along an urban-to-rural gradient. Prof. Geog. 47, 159–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, W.B. and Turner II, B.L. (1992) Human population growth and global land-use/cover change. A Rev.of Ecol. and Syst. 23, 39–61.

  • Naeem, S. (2002) Ecosystem consequences of biodiversity loss: The evolution of contemporary approaches. Special Features of Ecology concerning role of paradigms in ecology. Ecology 83, 1537–1552.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council. The Cost of Sprawl (2000) NRC Washington.

  • Ottensmann, J.R. (1977) Urban Sprawl, Land Values and the Density of Development. Land Economics 53, 389–400.

  • Pearce, D.W. (1993) Economic Values and the Natural World.MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

  • Pearce, D.W. (1995) Auditing the earth. Environment 40, 23–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickett, S.T.A., Cadenasso, M.L., Grove J.M., Nilon, C.H., Pouyat, R.V., Zipperer, W.C. and Costanza, R. (2001) Urban Ecological Systems: Linking Terrestrial Ecological, Physical, and Socioeconomic Components of Metropolitan Areas. A Rev.ofEcol. and Syst. 32, 127–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickett, S.T.A., Cadenasso, M.L. and Jones, C.G. (2001) Generation of heterogeneity by organisms: Creation, maintenance, and transformation. In Ecological Consequences of Habitat Heterogeneity, the Annual Symposium of the British Ecological Society (M.L. Hutchins, E.A. John and A.J.A. Stewart, eds.), pp. 33–52. Blackwell.

  • Pickett, S.T.A., Ostfeld, R.S., Shachak M. and Likens, G.E., eds. (1997) The Ecological Basis of Conservation: Heterogeneity, Ecosystems, and Biodiversity. Chapman and Hall, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickett, S.T.A and Ostfeld, R.S. (1994) The shifting paradigm in ecology. Ecological Environment 3, 151–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickett, S.T.A., Parker, V.T. and Fiedler, P. (1992) The new paradigm in ecology: Implications for conservation biology above the species level. In Conservation Biology: The Theory and Practice of Nature Conservation, Preservation, and Management (P. Fiedler and S. Jain, eds.), pp. 65–88. Chapman & Hall, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickett, S.T.A. and Rogers. (1997) Patch dynamics: The transformation of landscape structure and function. In Wildlife and Landscape Ecology (J.A. Bissonette, ed.), pp. 101–127. Springer-Verlag. NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ralph, C.J., Geupel, G.R., Pyle, P., Martin, T.E. and DeSante, D.F. (1993) Handbook of field methods for monitoring landbirds. U.S. Forest Service. General Technical Report PSW, No. 144. 41p.

  • Rohila, C. (2002) Urbanization in the greater Seattle, Washington area: Impacts on vegetation, snags and cavity-nesting birds. Unpublished Master's thesis, University of Washington, Seattle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rohila, T. M. and Marzluff, J.M. (In Review) Landscape and local effects on snags and cavity-nesting birds in an urbanizing area. The Condor.

  • Steinitz, C. (1990) Toward a sustainable landscape where visual preference and ecological integrity are congruent: The loop road in acadia national park. Landscape Planning 19.

  • Sukkopp, H. and Starfinger, U. (1999) Disturbance in Urban Ecosystems. Ecosystem of the World 16: Ecosystems of Disturbed Ground. Chapter 16, pp. 397–412.

  • Theobald, D.M., Gosnell, H. and Riebsame, W.E. (1996) Land use and landscape change in the Colorado mountains II: A case study of the east river valley. Mountain Res and Dev 16, 407–418.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilman, D., Wedin, D. and Knops, J. (1996) Productivity and sustainability influenced by biodiversity in grasslands ecosystems. Nature 379, 718–720.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torrens, P.M. and Alberti, M. (2000) Measuring sprawl. CASA Working Paper 27. University College London, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis.

  • Turner, M. (1989) Landscape ecology: The effect of pattern on process. A Rev. Ecol. Syst. 20, 171–197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M. (1987) Spatial simulation of landscape changes in Georgia: A comparison of 3 transition models. Landscape Ecology 1, 29–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations. (1999) The State of World Population 1999—6 Billion, ATime for Choices. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director.

  • Vitousek, P.M., Mooney, H.A., Lubchenco, J. and Melillo, J.M. (1997) Human domination of earth's ecosystems. Science 277, 494–499.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westman, W. (1977) How much are nature's services worth. Science 197, 960–964.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford University.

  • Wu,J.and Loucks, O.L. (1995) From balance of nature to hierarchical patch dynamics: A paradigm shift in ecology. Q. Rev. Biol. 70, 439–466.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urban Design and Planning, University of Washington, Box 355740, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA

    Marina Alberti

  2. College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Box 352100, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA

    John M. Marzluff

Authors
  1. Marina Alberti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John M. Marzluff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Alberti, M., Marzluff, J.M. Ecological resilience in urban ecosystems: Linking urban patterns to human and ecological functions. Urban Ecosystems 7, 241–265 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:UECO.0000044038.90173.c6

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:UECO.0000044038.90173.c6

  • aquatic macroinvertebrates
  • birds
  • fragmentation
  • land cover
  • resilience
  • urban sprawl
  • urbanization