ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, several ecologists have recognized the need to apply the science of ecology to urban environments. “Urbanization can be characterized as an increase in human habitation, coupled with increased per capita energy and resource consumption and extensive modification of the landscape, creating a system that does not depend principally on local natural resources to persist” (McDonnell and Pickett 1990:1231). Their list of structural features, unique to urbanization, included dwellings, factories, office buildings, warehouses, roads, pipelines, power lines, railroads, channelized stream beds, reservoirs, sewage disposal facilities, landfills, and airports.
