Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Urban Ecology is a rapidly growing field of academic and practical significance. Urban ecologists have published several conference proceedings and regularly contribute to the ecological, architectural, planning, and geography literature. However, important papers in the field that set the foundation for the discipline and illustrate modern approaches from a variety of perspectives and regions of the world have not been collected in a single, accessible book. Foundations of Urban Ecology does this by reprinting important European and American publications, filling gaps in the published literature with a few, targeted original works, and translating key works originally published in German. This edited volume will provide students and professionals with a rich background in all facets of urban ecology.

The editors emphasize the drivers, patterns, processes and effects of human settlement. The papers they synthesize provide readers with a broad understanding of the local and global aspects of settlement through traditional natural and social science lenses. This interdisciplinary vision gives the reader a comprehensive view of the urban ecosystem by introducing drivers, patterns, processes and effects of human settlements and the relationships between humans and other animals, plants, ecosystem processes, and abiotic conditions. The reader learns how human institutions, health, and preferences influence, and are influenced by, the others members of their shared urban ecosystem.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Section I Urbanization and Human Domination of Earth
• Integrated Approaches to Long-Term Studies of Urban Ecological Systems (p. 123)
• Integrating Humans into Ecology: Opportunities and Challenges for Studying Urban Ecosystems (p. 143)
• Section III The Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Pedosphere
• Sealing of Soils (p. 161)
• Producing and Consuming Chemicals: The Moral Economy of the American Lawn (p. 181)
• Streams in the Urban Landscape (p. 207)
• The Urban Climate - Basic and Applied Aspects (p. 233)
• Global Warming and the Urban Heat Island (p. 249)
• A Retrospective Assessment of Mortality from the London Smog Episode of 1952: The Role of Influenza and Pollution (p. 263)
• Heat Waves, Urban Climate and Human Health (p. 269)
• Human Domination of Earth's Ecosystems (p. 3)
• Section IV The Biosphere
• The City as a Subject for Ecological Research (p. 281)
• Ecosystem Processes Along an Urban-to-Rural Gradient (p. 299)
• House Sparrows: Rapid Evolution of Races in North America (p. 315)
• On the Role of Alien Species in Urban Flora and Vegetation (p. 321)
• Socioeconomics Drive Urban Plant Diversity (p. 339)
• Fauna of the Big City - Estimating Species Richness and Abundance in Warsaw, Poland (p. 349)
• Island Biogeography for an Urbanizing World: How Extinction and Colonization May Determine Biological Diversity in Human-Dominated Landscapes (p. 355)
• A Long-Term Survey of the Avifauna in an Urban Park (p. 373)
• Biodiversity in the Argentinean Rolling Pampa Ecoregion: Changes Caused by Agriculture and Urbanisation (p. 377)
• Humans as the World's Greatest Evolutionary Force (p. 15)
• Does Differential Access to Protein Influence Differences in Timing of Breeding of Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) in Suburban and Wildland Habitats? (p. 391)
• Creating a Homogeneous Avifauna (p. 405)
• Towards a Mechanistic Understanding of Urbanization's Impacts on Fish (p. 425)
• Bat Activity in an Urban Landscape: Patterns at the Landscape and Microhabitat Scale (p. 437)
• Urbanization and Spider Diversity: Influences of Human Modification of Habitat Structure and Productivity (p. 455)
• Section V The Anthroposphere: Human Dimensions
• Social Science Concepts and Frameworks for Understanding Urban Ecosystems (p. 475)
• The Iceberg and the Titanic: Human Economic Behavior in Ecological Models (p. 485)
• Forecasting Demand for Urban Land (p. 493)
• Characteristics, Causes, and Effects of Sprawl: A Literature Review (p. 519)
• Urbanization (p. 25)
• Urban Ecological Footprints: Why Cities Cannot be Sustainable-and Why They are a Key to Sustainability (p. 537)
• Health, Supportive Environments, and the Reasonable Person Model (p. 557)
• Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity (p. 567)
• Megacities as Global Risk Areas (p. 583)
• Why Is Understanding Urban Ecosystems Important to People Concerned About Environmental Justice? (p. 597)
• Section VI The Anthroposphere: Planning and Policy
• The Struggle to Govern the Commons (p. 611)
• Modeling the Urban Ecosystem: A Conceptual Framework (p. 623)
• Scientific, Institutional, and Individual Constraints on Restoring Puget Sound Rivers (p. 647)
• Toward Ecosystem Management: Shifts in the Core and the Context of Urban Forest Ecology (p. 661)
• Urban Ecology as an Interdisciplinary Field: Differences in the use of "Urban" Between the Social and Natural Sciences (p. 49)
• What Is the Form of a City, and How Is It Made? (p. 677)
• What Should an Ideal City Look Like from an Ecological View? - Ecological Demands on the Future City (p. 691)
• Land Use Planning and Wildlife Maintenance: Guidelines for Conserving Wildlife in an Urban Landscape (p. 699)
• Terrestrial Nature Reserve Design at the Urban/Rural Interface (p. 715)
• Restoration of Fragmented Landscapes for the Conservation of Birds: A General Framework and Specific Recommendations for Urbanizing Landscapes (p. 739)
• Steps Involved in Designing Conservation Subdivisions: A Straightforward Approach (p. 757)
• Beyond Greenbelts and Zoning: A New Planning Concept for the Environment of Asian Mega-Cities (p. 783)
• Index (p. 797)
• Section II Conceptual Foundations of Urban Ecology
• The Growth of the City: An Introduction to a Research Project (p. 71)
• On the Early History of Urban Ecology in Europe (p. 79)
• Urban Ecological Systems: Linking Terrestrial Ecological, Physical, and Socioeconomic Components of Metropolitan Areas (p. 99)