Burns Home

Research Projects

Curriculum Vitae

Recent Publications

Back to Faculty

Mammal, bird, amphibian and plant response to urbanization in New York

Urbanization is swiftly occurring around the world, and will continue to increase steadily in the coming decades.  Recent research has shown that the regional-scale diversity of native species is positively correlated with both human population density and agriculture.  Human population centers, then, often occur within natural areas with greater than average levels of biodiversity.  Because of these overlaps in human and wildlife distributions, it has become critical to the conservation of biodiversity on the planet that we work towards its protection in urban regions.

In collaboration with colleagues at the City University of New York (Dr. Jason Munshi-South, Baruch College), WildMetro, and Yale University, I lead Earthwatch-funded expeditions of citizen scientists, student interns and project staff in conducting surveys of mammals, birds, amphibians and plants within the metropolitan New York area.  Our main goal is to identify factors that influence the distribution and abundance of animals and plants along an urbanization gradient ranging from protected areas in downtown Manhattan to those up to 100 miles from Manhattan in pristine northeastern hardwood forests. We will also assess threshold levels of urbanization beyond which particular species cannot persist, and hope to identify common rules that govern patterns of biodiversity across taxonomic groups living in urban regions.  The results of this project will assist in developing strategies for biodiversity protection in the New York region and in other urban areas.

Data collection for this project began in the spring of 2008 and will continue through fall 2010.  For more information on this project, or to participate in one of our research teams, visit the project’s Earthwatch website.

Relevant publications:

L.M. Puth and C.E. Burns. 2008. New York’s nature: A review of the status and trends in species richness across the metropolitan region.  Diversity & Distributions. In press.