Urban Ecosystems Humans in the Environment. The Human Element Until the 19th century, American Bison...

Urban EcosystemsHumans in the Environment

The Human Element Until the 19th century, American Bison

roamed the Great Plains by the millions, providing invaluable resources for Native Americans.

Europeans exploited the resource in an unsustainable manner, seeing Bison as a source of income.

Bison reduced to a fraction of one percent of their prior numbers.

Values, knowledge, technology and social systems of Europeans were inappropriate for sustainable interaction with the Great Plains ecosystem.

Interesting Urban Ecosystems• Centralia PA is a ghost town due to an

underground coal fire that has smoldered since 1962 and produces carbon monoxide, etc.

• 500 dogs live in the subways of Moscow begging for scraps from passengers. They’ve learned to ride the subway on their own.

• Kansas City’s subtropolis has 90 percent of the world’s underground office space.

• Dharavi is a slum of Mumbai where there is a toilet for every 60 people and everybody uses the local creek.

Characteristics of Urban Ecosystems

• Basis for human civilization• Organized by humans

• traffic

• parks and natural areas

• community activity areas

• Many domesticated plants and animals• Dominated by human-made structures

• housing (single family, high-rise, apartments)

• shopping centers and commercial

• offices and industrial

• parks and recreational facilities

• Cities of the industrial age are very difficult to sustain

Inputs and Outputs

people

materials

technology

services

food

energy

water

air

people

goods

technology

services

noise

waste water

air pollution

solid waste

Abiotic Elements of the U.E.

buildings (industrial, residential, commercial)

streets, roads & parking lots

streams & sewage systems

energy & communication distribution systems

artificial light

noise

Biotic Elements of the U.E.

people

domesticated animals

“wild” animals

native plants

non-native plants

microorganisms

What is Nature worth?

•The Natural Capital Project

Key QuestionHow should we live in the watershed so that it can continue to provide essential resources and services?

Water usage calculator