Urban ecology: Retrospective and study prospects
aInstitute of Ecology and Evolution, RAS
Leninsky prosp., 33, Moscow, 119071 Russia
bMoscow State Pedagogical University
Kibalchicha str., 6, Moscow, 129164 Russia
*e-mail: karmanovs95@mail.ru
**e-mail: feoktistovanyu@gmail.com
***e-mail: e3004e@gmail.com
****e-mail: rallus@yandex.ru
*****e-mail: surov@sevin.ru
In the first decade of the XXI century, the world’s population has become predominantly urban, and it is assumed that by 2050 it will account for 68% of the total world population. In Russia to date, 74% of the country’s population already lives in cities. However, the high concentration of the population is only an outward manifestation of urbanization. Many global environmental problems accompany it: disruption of biogeochemical cycles, climate change, loss of biodiversity, biological invasions, etc. This means, therefore, the special importance of cities in the formation of living conditions not only for most of humanity but also for all creatures on the planet. One day, urban ecosystems might be the dominant form of nature on our urbanized planet. So, as the urban environment expands its reach, it will become more and more an ecosystem in its own right, with its own evolutionary rules and running at its own evolutionary pace. Although for a long time the urban environment was considered unworthy of scientific research due to its “artificiality”, scientists now believe cities to be natural laboratories, where applied purely urban planning and fundamental environmental problems not only can, but must be solved. In the early 1990s, urban ecology has acquired an independent status. In Russia, scientists have drawn attention to the urgency of urban ecology problems since 1960–70s, but so far, only a few researchers are engaged in it. The review is devoted to the history of the formation of urban ecology as a science, the adaptations of animals of different taxa to urban conditions: a) to pollution by heavy metals, noise, light, etc.; b) defragmentation of habitats; c) to forage of anthropogenic origin. Fundamental problems are formulated that need to be addressed in the study of urban communities, including assessing the rate of evolution of animals and plants in urban conditions.
