Toward ecosystem management: Shifts in the core and the context of urban forest ecology

Abstract

The core of urban forest ecology is the body of scientific knowledge found in the literature. The formation of this core began in the 1950s and 1960s and took shape in the 1970s and 1980s with formal studies of structure and function. During the following ten years, the idea of the urban forest ecosystem was introduced, and is now the basis for further development of the scientific core. The context for this core is provided by statements of public policy and perceptions of land management needs. An important shift is occurring in context as land management organizations, ranging from urban-based alliances to state and federal agencies, embrace the ecosystem concept as an approach to understanding and governing complex mixtures of biophysical and human phenomena using a hierarchy of time and space scales. This rapid shift in context places a burden on the scientific core to articulate and test models of urban forest ecosystems. To accomplish this, an approach to research is needed that will help us understand how urban, periurban, and exurban lands interact functionally with other components of the larger landscape. Part of this approach requires scientists and managers to develop a common vocabulary and set of realistic expectations to confront problems of systems complexity and uncertainty. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.