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Urban ecosystem
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Aerial view of Central Park in Manhattan, New York, showing the large green park surrounded by dense city buildings and skyscrapers. A scatter plot graph shows that as population density increases, annual per capita petroleum use decreases. Cities in the United States have low density and high petroleum use, while cities in Europe and Asia, such as Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, have higher density and lower petroleum use. The graph is divided into colored regions representing the United States, Australia and Canada, Europe, and the Far East and Russia. Aerial view of a suburban cul-de-sac in Quebec, Canada, showing houses with red and brown roofs arranged around a circular street with green lawns and backyard pools.
Understand how plants, animals, and other organisms adapt to the urban ecosystem with a slight change in their behavior and genes
A tall apartment building in downtown Guangzhou, China, with green plants covering its balconies and rooftop, surrounded by other high-rise buildings. View of downtown Houston, Texas, showing a city park with green trees in the foreground and modern high-rise buildings under a partly cloudy sky.
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Chutes d'Ekom - a waterfall on the Nkam river in the rainforest near Melong, in the western highlands of Cameroon in Africa.
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Aerial view of Central Park in Manhattan, New York, showing the large green park surrounded by dense city buildings and skyscrapers.
New York's Central Park The iconic urban park in the center of New York City represents an urban ecosystem incorporating human construction and a natural landscape.

Urban ecosystem

ecology
Written by
S.T.A. Pickett
Distinguished Senior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
S.T.A. Pickett
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
Last updated
•History

Urban ecosystem, any ecological system located within a city or other densely settled area or, in a broader sense, the greater ecological system that makes up an entire metropolitan area. The largest urban ecosystems are currently concentrated in Europe, India, Japan, eastern China, South America, and the United States, primarily on coasts with harbours, along rivers, and at intersections of transportation routes. Large urban areas have been features of the industrialized countries of Europe and...

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