Multimedia Gallery
Pacific Northwest Surburban Development
A late twentieth century Pacific Northwest surburban development in second growth Douglas fir forest.
More About this Image
Building new roads and housing impacts ecosystem structures and functions through the conversion of land, fragmentation of natural habitat, disruption of hydrologic systems and modification of energy flow and nutrient cycles. Researchers who study urban development have very different emphases, scale, methodology and objectives from ecological scientists, thus simulation models for the two areas have evolved in separate knowledge domains. By building on model traditions in urban economics, landscape ecology, wildlife population dynamics and complex system science, each of which offers different perspectives on modeling urban ecological interactions, scientists at the University of Washington have developed a framework to simulate dynamics interactions between urban development and ecological processes. The result is a new and deeper understanding of urban growth and its impacts on bird habitat than previously possible using simulation from a single research field. Such assessments of ecological impacts of urban growth that are timely, accurate and transparent are crucial to making sound policy and management decisions. Figures courtesy of Marina Alberti, Paul Waddell, John M. Marzluff and Mark S. Handcock, University of Washington. This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant BCS 01-20024, from June 2002 through June 2005. (Date of Image June 1999)
Credit: John Marzluff, College of Forest Resources, University of Washington
Special Restrictions: The owner has restricted use of this image to personal use only. Any other use is strictly forbidden wihout permission.
Images and other media in the National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery are available for use in print and electronic material by NSF employees, members of the media, university staff, teachers and the general public. All media in the gallery are intended for personal, educational and nonprofit/non-commercial use only.
Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.
Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.
Also Available:
Download the high-resolution TIF version of the image. (4.5 MB)
Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.