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Ecological homogenization of residential macrosystems

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, Article number: 0191 (2017) Cite this article

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Similarities in planning, development and culture within urban areas may lead to the convergence of ecological processes on continental scales. Transdisciplinary, multi-scale research is now needed to understand and predict the impact of human-dominated landscapes on ecosystem structure and function.

Urban, suburban and exurban land uses cover an increasingly large area of the United States1, and the consequences of human residential landscapes have received heightened attention in ecology and evolution over the past 30 years. This emergence has been driven by the recognition that human populations are increasingly concentrated in cities, where human activities and social processes, high impervious cover that creates novel climate and hydrology, and highly fragmented habitats all interact to uniquely alter ecological and evolutionary processes2,3.

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Figure 1: An example of urban homogenization of yard vegetation between Phoenix and Minneapolis–Saint Paul.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, 10031, New York, USA

    Peter M. Groffman

  2. the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, Annapolis, 21401, Maryland, USA

    Meghan Avolio

  3. University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA

    Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Sarah E. Hobbie & Kristen C. Nelson

  4. the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, 12545, New York, USA

    Neil D. Bettez

  5. USDA Forest Service, Baltimore, Maryland, 21228, USA

    J. Morgan Grove

  6. USDA Forest Service, USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, USA

    Susannah B. Lerman

  7. Arizona State University, Tempe, 85281, Arizona, USA

    Sharon J. Hall & Kelli L. Larson

  8. Clark University, Worcester, 01610, Massachusetts, USA

    Dexter H. Locke & Rinku Roy Chowdhury

  9. Duke University, Durham, 27708, North Carolina, USA

    James B. Heffernan

  10. Environmental Science and Management, Portland State University, Portland, 97201, Oregon, USA

    Jennifer L. Morse

  11. Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, 02540, Massachusetts, USA

    Christopher Neill

  12. University of Vermont, Burlington, 05405, Vermont, USA

    Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne

  13. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 84112, Utah, USA

    Diane E. Pataki

  14. Florida Atlantic University, Davie, 33314, Florida, USA

    Colin Polsky

  15. University of Delaware, Delaware, 19716, USA

    Tara L. E. Trammell

Authors
  1. Peter M. Groffman
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  2. Meghan Avolio
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  6. Sharon J. Hall
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  7. Sarah E. Hobbie
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  11. James B. Heffernan
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  12. Jennifer L. Morse
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  14. Kristen C. Nelson
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  15. Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne
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  16. Diane E. Pataki
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  19. Tara L. E. Trammell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter M. Groffman.

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Groffman, P., Avolio, M., Cavender-Bares, J. et al. Ecological homogenization of residential macrosystems. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 0191 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0191

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0191

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