title: Hierarchical filters determine community assembly of urban species pools.
abstract: The majority of humanity now lives in cities or towns, with this proportion expected to continue increasing for the foreseeable future. As novel ecosystems, urban areas offer an ideal opportunity to examine multi-scalar processes involved in community assembly as well as the role of human activities in modulating environmental drivers of biodiversity. Although ecologists have made great strides in recent decades at documenting ecological relationships in urban areas, much remains unknown, and we still need to identify the major ecological factors, aside from habitat loss, behind the persistence or extinction of species and guilds of species in cities. Given this paucity of knowledge, there is an immediate need to facilitate collaborative, interdisciplinary research on the patterns and drivers of biodiversity in cities at multiple spatial scales. In this review, we introduce a new conceptual framework for understanding the filtering processes that mold diversity of urban floras and faunas. We hypothesize that the following hierarchical series of filters influence species distributions in cities: (1) regional climatic and biogeographical factors; (2) human facilitation; (3) urban form and development history; (4) socioeconomic and cultural factors; and (5) species interactions. In addition to these filters, life history and functional traits of species are important in determining community assembly and act at multiple spatial scales. Using these filters as a conceptual framework can help frame future research needed to elucidate processes of community assembly in urban areas. Understanding how humans influence community structure and processes will aid in the management, design, and planning of our cities to best support biodiversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901, USA.
authors.forename: Myla F J
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Aronson
authors.affiliation: School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211, USA.
authors.forename: Charles H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Nilon
authors.affiliation: School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, 36849, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Lepczyk
authors.affiliation: Ecological Research Center, The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, 38152, USA.
authors.forename: Tommy S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, USA.
authors.forename: Paige S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.affiliation: Unit of Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa.
authors.forename: Sarel S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Cilliers
authors.affiliation: School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Goddard
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, c/o School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: Amy K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Hahs
authors.affiliation: Department of Architecture and Urbanism, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 22451-900, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.affiliation: Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, Chancellor's Faculty Excellence Program for Leadership in Public Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695, USA.
authors.forename: Madhusudan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katti
authors.affiliation: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14850, USA.
authors.forename: Frank A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: La Sorte
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, c/o School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia.|School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Richmond, Victoria, 3121, Australia.
authors.forename: Nicholas S G
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, USA.
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zipperer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002947:Cities; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification
keywords: UrBioNet; biodiversity; city; community assembly; filters; human-dominated landscapes; urban ecology