Managing aquatic environments for wildlife in urban areas

Abstract

Wetlands, streams, and riparian areas are often the center of wildlife conservation challenges in urban and suburban areas. Most aquatic environments and associated riparian zones exhibit high diversity and abundances of wildlife, yet these habitat types and the associated wildlife are among the most threatened by urbanization. In this chapter, we focus on the management of aquatic environments and their wildlife inhabitants in urban areas. Although a broad range of wildlife rely on urban aquatic environments, we focus on fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. Fishes, amphibians, and reptiles play important ecological roles, exhibit high diversity and abundances in aquatic and riparian systems, and often are useful in indicating the conditions of aquatic environments. We cover the following topics in this chapter: (1) the general importance of urban wetlands, streams, and riparian zones to wildlife; (2) aquatic habitat types that occur in urban areas; (3) the effects of urban areas and urbanization on local and regional populations of fishes, amphibians, and semiaquatic reptiles; (4) the critical elements necessary for effective management of aquatic environments for fishes, amphibians, and reptiles in urban and suburban areas.