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Organized Oral Session

Session: : Toward Sustainable and Just Cities: Developing and Applying a Mechanistic Understanding of Urban Ecosystems

OOS 4-3 - Integrating data on human values, birds, trees, and climate to advance urban socio-ecological justice

Monday, August 7, 2023
2:00 PM – 2:15 PM PDT
Location: 257

    Presenting Author(s)

  • HE

    Harold N. Eyster, PhD

    Gund Postdoctoral Fellow
    University of Vermont, United States

    • Co-author(s)

  • RG

    Rachelle K. Gould

    University of Vermont

  • Daniel L. Forrest, B.S.

    PhD student
    University of British Columbia
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

  • KC

    Kai M. A. Chan

    Professor and Canada Research Chair
    IRES, University of British Columbia
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

  • BB

    Brian Beckage

    Professor of Plant Biology and Computer Science
    University of Vermont
    Burlington, Vermont, United States

Ecologists tend to use information about organisms and their surroundings to understand ecological patterns and processes. But human relational values about non-human nature, the urban environment, and each other play an equally important role in environmental (in)justice and decision-making. For example, trees may ameliorate anthropogenic urban heat waves and green spaces may enable recreation and well-being during pandemic lockdowns. Here we seek this more holistic understanding of urban nature by combining ecological data on birds and trees with microclimate data, physical climate models, and surveys on people’s relational values about urban nature in Vancouver, BC, Canada. To analyze and incorporate these data, we leverage system dynamics, deep learning, and Bayesian multilevel models within a socio-ecological justice framework. Our results show the feedbacks among trees, climate, human values, and birds, and suggest that conifer afforestation may be particularly effective in enabling everyone to flourish in Vancouver. We suggest that integrating a broader array of disciplines and data may help cities navigate today’s biodiversity, public health, and inequality crises.