GGRA03H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: West Nile Fever, Urban Ecosystem, Urban Ecology
Document Summary
Ggra03h3 week 8 urban political ecology. A new way of understanding and seeing cities and urban processes. Ecology is the study of the relations of living organisms to each other and to their surroundings. Ecology studies flows within particular ecosystems, of nutrients, energy, waste, and the subsystems that structure those flaws. Cities are a special kind of ecosystem. Lots of research still to do on what kinds of ecosystem cities are. Some urban ecologists study cities as biotic systems. Examine the ways in which cities create new ecological niches for certain species (plants and animals) City ecosystems selectively breed animals like raccoons, squirrels, pigeons, etc. by eliminating predators, and providing sources of food: very few predators for those animals, thus higher population, large amount of food. Urban monocultures represent a radical simplification of ecological systems, through design, chemical warfare, impermeable surfaces, and flamethrowers.
