Urban areas are home to more than just people. Cities are important habitats, central to meeting conservation and environmental justice challenges of the 21st century. Plant communities serve as the template for higher trophic structure and resulting ecosystem services, and are known to be influenced by human activities through time. Understanding how human actions shape plant communities can provide vital insight into the function of the urban ecosystem.
In this talk, Fulbright fellow Dr. Elsa Anderson, currently a postdoc at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, will present work from Chicago, Berlin, and Baltimore, examining how plant communities are shaped by human activities and exploring the ramifications of these patterns and dynamics on ecosystem function in cities.