Urban Ecosystems

Urbanization is one of the most dramatic land change processes and is expected to accelerate as more of the world’s population moves to cities. Cities are carbon emission hot spots and experience altered microclimates and carbon cycling, which may foreshadow the impact of future climates on ecosystems.

Using an environmental sensor network to quantify the urban heat island effect, we found substantial seasonality and diurnal variability in the intensity of urban heating and drying effects, as well as significant phenological feedbacks with urban vegetation.

We then developed an urban carbon model to estimate biogenic carbon fluxes and improve carbon budget estimation in temperate cities like Boston and Indianapolis, filling a critical gap in carbon cycle science as most ecosystem models ignore urban areas despite their increasing importance. This research has furthered our ability to characterize urban carbon budgets, which will improve carbon emission reduction programs at city and region scales.

Selected relevant publications:

Gradients of atmospheric temperature and humidity controlled by local urban land-use intensity in Boston. (Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 2017)

Accounting for urban biogenic fluxes in regional carbon budgets. (Science of The Total Environment, 2017)

Interactions between urban vegetation and surface urban heat islands: a case study in the Boston metropolitan region. (Environmental Research Letters, 2016)

Return to Research

Sensor network data showing seasonal and diurnal variability in urban heating and drying intensity. Green lines indicate timing of vegetation leaf phenology (i.e. start of spring). [Wang et al., 2017].