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Let's Not Forget the Biodiversity of the Cities
Author(s) -
Lugo Ariel E.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
biotropica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1744-7429
pISSN - 0006-3606
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2010.00673.x
Subject(s) - biodiversity , biota , thriving , geography , ecology , urbanization , adaptation (eye) , population , natural (archaeology) , urban ecology , environmental resource management , environmental science , biology , archaeology , social science , demography , neuroscience , sociology
Cities contain over half of the world's population and are the source of many anthropogenic effects on the world's biota. Close examination of San Juan, Puerto Rico, a tropical city, reveals a significant green infrastructure. The city contains natural and human‐constructed forests, urban aquatic systems with native and introduced species, and a thriving and diverse biota adapted to urban conditions. It behooves tropical ecologists to pay attention to the biodiversity of urban environments to learn lessons about ecological persistence and adaptation to novel anthropogenic environments.