In urban forest patches, human social dynamics are intertwined with plant community dynamics. Our research examines how human-ecosystem interactions influence forest communities at multiple spatial scales. At the regional level, we have convened a collaborative project to integrate and synthesize long-term ecological and social data including fine-scale land use and land cover data, long-term forest studies, and management records from four metropolitan areas. At the municipal scale, a remote reanalysis of the Urban-Rural Gradient Experiment revisits and expands upon the landmark project initiated in the late 1980s. Using open data sources from the nearly 30 years from the establishment of the study, we reexamined the parameters of the initial study, including population density, urban land cover, and number and size of forest patches. At the neighborhood scale, we explore how the perceptions, preferences, and priorities of residents of properties near riparian forests influence fine-scale land management decisions, and in turn the health of streamside forests. We identified neighborhoods containing riparian forest patches in three Maryland communities where residents will be surveyed about their perception of local forests and their decision-making regarding yard maintenance via mailed questionnaires; we will conduct field assessments to quantify riparian forest patch health within these neighborhoods.
Results/Conclusions
The collaborative project, Social and Ecological Drivers of Change over Time in Urban Forest Patches, has produced a conceptual model of urban forest patches as social-ecological systems. The neighborhood-scale project, Weaving the Green Ribbon: Understanding Neighbor Attitudes and Actions to Improve Health and Function of Urban Streamside Forests, has identified neighborhoods of interest in three Maryland communities differing in governance structures. Preliminary results from the urban-rural gradient reanalysis illustrate that the heterogeneity of urban ecosystems is characteristic of their temporal, as well as spatial, dynamics, with variability in rates and patterns of change along the urban-rural gradient.