Collaborative landscape-scale ecological research: Emerging trends in urban and regional ecology

Long-term environmental changes in urban ecosystems in the United States such as habitatloss and fragmentation, drastic modifications of local and regional climate, and contam-ination and depletion of water resources have raised concerns among researchers acrossmany disciplines, such as ecology, geography, anthropology, sociology, planning, and de-sign. Certain disciplines, such as landscape architecture, urban planning, and urban design,can help determine how policies, plans, designs, and management strategies respond tothe long-term environmental changes in urban environments. New research initiatives inurban and regional ecology in the United States represent an unprecedented opportunityfor a broader dialogue between ecologists, social scientists, planners, and designers aboutthe future of cities worldwide. However, the integration of ecological research into urbanpolicy, planning, design, and management strategies is complex, but it is one of the keyissues and research priorities in landscape ecology (Musacchio and Wu, 2002; Wu andHobbs, 2002). In order to address this challenge, ecologists, social scientists, planners,and designers will need to work collaboratively to develop interdisciplinary approaches forunderstandingtheeffectsoflong-termchangesinurbanspatialpatterns,landscapes,anden-vironmental quality. Landscape architects, urban planners, and urban designers will need tobeabletoutilizesuchinterdisciplinaryinformationinthedevelopmentofsustainablehumansettlements.In the United States, important examples of interdisciplinary approaches are occurringat emerging centers of urban ecological research and application such as Baltimore (MD),Detroit (MI), Phoenix (AZ), Seattle (WA), and Willamette Valley (OR). These groupsare performing large-scale ecological studies of urbanized and urbanizing regions and arefundedbyrecentinitiativesoftheNationalScienceFoundation(e.g.,Long-TermEcologicalResearch and Biocomplexity), Environmental Protection Agency (e.g., Science To AchieveResults),NASA(e.g.,LandUseandLandCoverChangeresearch),UnitedStatesGeologicalSurvey, and United States Department of Agriculture. The researchers include ecologists,geologists,socialscientists,planners,anddesignerswhoinvestigatehowecologicalresearch