Studying the Urban Jungle to Build Healthier Cities
[Music]
i’m an ecologist
which is really just another way of
saying that i’m a nature nerd
i’ve always been fascinated by the
creatures we share this planet with
so much so that i study the interactions
between these species and their
environments
and often when people find out that i’m
an ecologist they always want to know
what sorts of cool animals i get to work
with or where i adventure to do my field
work
do i spend my winters down in south
america studying tree dwelling primates
or perhaps my summers in the canadian
arctic studying nesting seabirds
and while i would love to hike through a
rainforest in the name of science
i’ve never actually had to travel that
far to do my work
in fact for me it’s usually a 10 minute
walk down the street
because i do all my field work in the
city of toronto i’m an
urban ecologist i study the interactions
between species living in cities
now i know what you’re probably thinking
there’s no nature in cities
or at least not enough to warrant
studying it
after all in the process of building our
cities we have to alter and destroy
natural landscapes
as a result we do see less biodiversity
in urban areas
but while there are fewer species in our
cities cities aren’t devoid of nature
think about the last time you took a
walk through an urban area
chances are you encountered nature in
some form or another maybe it was
weeds growing through cracks in the
sidewalk a bird flying down to grab some
leftover food
perhaps you’ve had more frustrating
encounters with urban nature
had your dog sprayed by a skunk you know
woken up to find your green bin turned
over by raccoons or
my personal favorite filled up your bird
feeder only to watch the squirrels empty
it and then ask
for more although we don’t always pay
attention to it
there is nature in cities and this
presence of biodiversity has led many
ecologists to turn their focus away from
more pristine environments
to study the nature that exists in close
association with humans
these urban ecologists want to
understand what species persistent
cities
which behaviors change and how we can
use this ecological knowledge
to design cities that are good for both
biodiversity and humans alike
and now more than ever it’s critical
that we think about the design of our
cities
because our cities are growing rapidly
currently over half of the 7.8 billion
people on this planet live in a city
the un predicts that by 2050 68
of the global population will reside in
an urban area
now this growth is going to present us
with some challenges
not all species can survive in cities
but as humans we rely on these species
and the healthy functioning ecosystems
they create for a variety of services
storm protection water filtration
pollination of our crops
these are all services that we get from
nature and depend on even in urban areas
nature also just makes us happier and
healthier it boosts mood
improves focus and productivity and so
as we grow our cities
we need to find ways to make space for
and incorporate nature into them
but as our current circumstance
highlights we have to be careful about
how we mix humans and wildlife in urban
areas
you know we’re currently in the middle
of a global pandemic i’m giving this
talk remotely because covet 19 has made
it unsafe for us to gather
now covet 19 although now transmitting
between humans originated as a zoonotic
disease
zonoses are diseases that leap from
animals into humans
things like ebola rabies coronaviruses
like sars and covid are
all examples of zoonotic diseases
and while the transmission of zenoses is
rare our cities are these interconnected
hubs that bring together many species
that might not otherwise mix
and so our cities as our cities grow we
have more opportunity for
sonatic transmission and emergence of
these diseases in the future
now as an ecologist i spent a lot of
time thinking about zoonotic diseases
in my phd i actually studied bats as
carriers as an oceans
i used statistics and machine learning
to predict which species were undetected
carriers of viruses to help us inform
where we hunted for new emerging
diseases in the future
but i also studied bats in cities to
understand how their behaviors changed
and what that might mean for disease
emergence
and after five years of working with
these animals i may be a little bit
biased but my
opinion they are simply the dopest group
of animals in existence
but they get a really bad rep you know
among other things bats have been
imp are implicated as a potential animal
source for our current pandemic
there are also lots of myths and
misconceptions that exist about this
group
but the truth is the world of bats is
incredible and wonderful
you know bats are the only mammals so
they’re like you and i
warm-blooded fuzzy things that give
birth to live babies but they are the
only
mammals that have the ability to fly
and to give you an idea of how special
that is flight has only ever evolved
four times
bats do it insects birds and pterosaurs
the now extinct group of flying reptiles
bats are also the second most
species-rich group of mammal
there are over 1400 different species
worldwide and just
look at that variation
you know the world’s smallest bat is the
size of my thumb while the biggest has a
wingspan of over two meters
some bats eat birds some feed on insects
and there are three species that fleed
exclusively on blood
and you know if you’re kind of on the
fence about how you feel about this
group i i get it
okay but i have one word for you
tequila no seriously if you like tequila
you should thank bats because the
species that feed on nectar pollinate
things like
wild agave they pollinate things like
cocoa which we use to make chocolate and
durian
the species who feed on fruit distribute
seeds in our landscapes making sure our
forests grow up big and healthy
and the species who feed on insects like
the ones we have here in toronto
are really important for pest control
which our crops benefit from
so just like the rest of nature bats do
a lot of good for humans
so as an ecologist i thought a lot about
disease but as an urban ecologist i was
actually doing boots to the ground field
work
i was trapping tagging and following
bats around toronto’s largest fully
urban park high park
i was trying to understand how bats were
using space in the city
where were they going at night to feed
where were they going during the day to
sleep
and while not directly related to
disease transmission this work helped to
tell us more about what type of habitat
bats need to survive in cities moving
forward this is information that we can
use to
both conserve bats in landscapes in our
cities but also minimize contact between
them
and humans you know but i’m only one
person in a city and
just like i’m not the only person living
in my city i’m not the only scientist
interested in this type of work
all over the world there are urban
ecologists asking questions about the
species
living in our cities urban ecologists
like dr carly zeder
now carly feels the same way about trees
as i do about bats which is to say she
likes them
a lot carly rode her bike equipped with
a mobile weather station around madison
wisconsin
she showed that urban trees cool the air
down more in the summer than the
pavement heats it up
but roughly 40 percent of our
neighborhoods need to be covered by tree
canopy for us to reap these cooling
benefits
carly’s work is already being used to
inform how trees are planted in cities
moving forward to combat extreme heat
so work like carly shows how valuable
urban nature can be
but let’s not forget about the value of
one of the most abundant species living
in cities
you you and other humans are critical to
the success of a lot of urban ecology
projects
many of us depend on our local
communities to help us get our science
done
take for example charlotte de kaiser
charlotte actually began her career
studying the effects of climate change
on bees in the rocky mountains of
colorado
but she quickly realized there was no
way she could collect the data she
needed on her own
so charlotte switched to an environment
where she could crowdsource some of that
data collection
a city charlotte started the urban
redbud community science program
every summer hundreds of regular
everyday people help her by tracking
when the redbud trees on their
properties begin flowering
this is data that charlotte’s using to
understand how flowering time changes in
cities and what this means for our
communities of native bees
so you have a role to play in urban
ecology as well
and for the most part while our
communities can be incredibly helpful to
us as scientists
sometimes the people living in cities
and their pre-existing biases can
actually prevent us from doing our work
this is particularly true for many urban
ecologists of color
people like myself who’ve had racist
encounters while trying to do their
science
have had the police called on them have
been racially profiled have been
perceived as a threat
black brown and indigenous urban
ecologists have to deal with the racism
that exists in our cities and elsewhere
and because this prejudice affects both
them and their communities many don’t
view it as separate from their science
but instead look to understand how it
shapes the biodiversity that they study
dr krishel and deja perkins are two such
urban ecologists
both chris and deja study how racist
practices like redlining
where black and brown people were
prevented from buying homes in certain
areas
influence where we find nature to take
today in cities
think about it economic discrepancies
between neighborhoods influence who has
access to the best and biggest
maintained public parks
it influences whose homes back onto
ravines and so it fundamentally
influences who gets to reap the most
benefits from urban nature
that’s not right and for that reason and
i really
can’t say it any better than chris does
you know economic
and and social inequality are not just
social justice issues
these are ecological ones too and
knowing this will help us do our science
better
i feel very fortunate a couple of months
ago i was on a skype call with chris
i’m currently writing my first
children’s book for anik press
all about urban ecology of course and
chris is one of eight scientists whose
stories and work i’m featuring in this
book
chris and i talked for nearly two hours
it was the first time i talked to
another urban ecologist of color it was
the first time that i’ve learned about
how you could integrate
you know social justice with ecological
research
and as chris explained his ongoing work
quantifying the legacy of racial and
class imbalances on biodiversity in
cities
something finally clicked for me
but as much as i think i became an
ecologist to study the cool exotic
species i grew up watching on naked
nature documentaries
as a scientist i’ve come to find
studying the nature in our cities far
more alluring
now don’t get me wrong if given the
opportunity i will totally go down to
south america to catch me some little
mohawk having bats
but there’s something really special
about studying the nature in cities
you know as an urban ecologist i get to
do science in my own community
i have this opportunity to unite the
social and racial justice issues that
i’m passionate about with the ecological
ones i also care for
as an urban ecologist i get to talk to
everyday people
i get to show them how science is being
done
and for that reason while a city may not
be the first place that comes to mind
when we think of nature
i think with the right energy cities can
be the kind of places where we can
foster the local
stewardship we need to motivate global
conservation
hear me out what if we could open
everyone’s eyes to the nature that
surrounds them in cities
what if we could design cities and make
sure that nature was distributed equally
regardless of race or class
can you imagine a world in which all
children have access to natural spaces
and
people who encourage their love and
respect for them
this might just help a generation go up
understanding why it’s important to
conserve nature at a global scale
because they learned how to see protect
and care for it locally first
now in saying this my goal is not to
have everyone feel like i do about bats
or carly does about trees
but as a minimum after listening to this
i want all of you to go out there and
see some of that nature that exists in
cities
maybe it’s rabbit tracks in the mud a
red tail hawk gliding
above a thermal on a downtown core
or perhaps you’ll notice that the tree
at the end of your street is different
from the one at the beginning
and maybe you’ll even care enough to
learn their names
i want all of you to see some of that
nature
because when we see nature we begin to
understand its value
and could you imagine the change we
could create if every one
of the over 4 billion people on this
planet living in a city
saw just enough nature that they decided
they wanted to make a small change
to protect it thank you