Anthropologist’s dream reading list

Posted: May 22, 2022 in Washington, DC

Biodiversity cries for TLC!

There is current interest in the concept that biodiversity in cities (amid sprawling development) needs space — biodiversity needs green space. More green-space.

https://e360.yale.edu/digest/flying-insects-have-declined-by-60-percent-in-the-uk-survey-finds

Half of the turtle species on Earth are threatened with extinction. On #WorldTurtleDay, let's recognize these special animals and the vital role they play in our planet's ecosystems pic.twitter.com/cCw7bTgedv
— National Geographic (@NatGeo) May 23, 2022

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/25/butterfly-species-uk-vulnerable-extinction-conservation-red-list

So we must ask, “What are the influences determining the spacial relationships between humans and nature in cities” (e.g. special interests behind a substantial highway expansion, rationales for clear-cutting for a townhouse development, even tree-cutting to make way way for cycle paths or something as ‘innocent’ as walkers carving out an off-trail pedestrian paths where wildlife lives and was once abundant). Many examples can be cited. These are but a few.

Habitat networks for nature and animals is shrinking worldwide.

In anthropology and the environmental humanities, scholars are studying shrinking trends and answering questions about ”What is inter-urban biodiversity variation” and “What is ecological reflexivity”.

Learn more here

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Axel-Hochkirch/publication/274731383_Biodiversity_in_cities_needs_space_A_meta-analysis_of_factors_determining_intra-urban_biodiversity_variation/links/59e5b324aca272390edfe2ca/Biodiversity-in-cities-needs-space-A-meta-analysis-of-factors-determining-intra-urban-biodiversity-variation.pdf?origin=publication_detail

Can biodiversity be more varied and more plentiful if green-space was strategically and deliberately expanded in bigger ways if as a society we lend ourselves to protecting it?