Approaches to the study of urban ecosystems

"In this large-scale project, biological, physical, and social scientists are working together to study the structure and function of the urban ecosystem, to assess the effects of urban development on surrounding agricultural and desert lands, and to study the relationship and feedbacks between human decisions and ecological processes.Our interdisciplinary investigations into the relationship between land-use decisions and ecological conse-quences in the rapidly growing urban environment of Phoenix are of broad relevance for the study of socialecological systems and cites in particular."