The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environments

Abstract

Urban areas are dynamic ecological systems defined by interdependent biological, physical, and social components. The emergent structure and heterogeneity of the urban landscape drives the biotic outcomes observed, and such spatial patterns are often attributed to the unequal stratification of wealth and power in human societies. Despite these patterns, few studies effectively consider structural inequalities as drivers of ecological and evolutionary outcomes, instead focusing on indicator variables such as neighborhood wealth. We explicitly integrate ecology, evolution, and social processes to emphasize the relationships binding social inequities, specifically racism, and biological change in urbanized landscapes. We draw on existing research to link racist practices - including residential segregation - to the observed heterogeneous patterns of flora and fauna observed by urban ecologists. As a result, urban ecology and evolution researchers must consider how systems of racial oppression affect the environmental factors driving biological change in cities. Conceptual integration of the social and ecological sciences has amassed considerable scholarship in urban ecology over the past few decades, providing a solid foundation for incorporating environmental justice scholarship into urban ecological and evolutionary research. Such an undertaking is necessary to deconstruct urbanization’s biophysical patterns and processes, inform equitable and anti-racist initiatives promoting justice in urban conservation, and strengthen community resilience to global environmental change.

The evolutionary consequences of human–wildlife conflict in cities

“…The unequal distribution of capital and income greatly contributes to the distribution of wildlife, as well as the relative proportion of native to introduced species (Leong et al, 2018;Schell et al, 2020;Warren et al, 2013 (Grove et al, 2014;Hope et al, 2003;Leong et al, 2018), and though wealth-biodiversity relationships are not universally positive Kuras et al, 2020;, repeated evidence across the globe has supported this hypothesis (Chamberlain et al, 2020). Fewer studies have investigated whether economic inequality shapes beliefs and attitudes toward wildlife in urban environments.…”

Predicting the assembly of novel communities in urban ecosystems

“…Discriminatory development policies based on race, such as redlining, unequally stratifies urban greenspace and canopy cover (Locke et al 2020). However, racial discrimination is an important, but vastly understudied, structural driver of biological change and ecological community composition (Schell et al 2020). In additional to regional controls, bottom-up effects from individual homeowners can also influence social-ecological dynamics that spatially structure the urban environment.…”

Downtown Diet: a global meta-analysis of urbanization on consumption patterns of vertebrate predators

“…Urbanization can decrease prey species richness and genetic diversity, alter community composition, and prey body size; thus, altering resource availability and diet selection for secondary and tertiary consumers (El-Sabaawi, 2018;Chejanovski, & Kolbe, 2019;Schmidt et al, 2020). Regional species pools are further filtered by urban form and history, novel urban species interactions, and disparate distributions of natural resources in the urban landscape due to systemic racism (Aronson et al, 2016;Schell et al, 2020). Additionally, human food subsidies increase trophic niche overlap in terrestrial carnivores, potentially resulting in greater interspecific competition (Manlick, & Pauli, 2020).…”