The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environments

Christopher J. Schell; Karen Dyson; Tracy L. Fuentes; Simone Des Roches; Nyeema C. Harris; Danica Sterud Miller; Cleo A. Woelfle-Erskine; Max R. Lambert

doi:10.1126/science.aay4497

journal article Sep 18, 2020

The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environments

Christopher J. Schell

Cleo A. Woelfle-Erskine

Max R. Lambert

Science Vol. 369 No. 6510 · American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

View at Publisher Save 10.1126/science.aay4497

Abstract

Imprints of racism

Cities create challenging environments for many nonhuman species, and the presence of nonhumans in cities influences the health and well-being of the humans with which they share the environment. Distinct urban conditions are created by landscape modification, but the history of this transformation is not equal across urban environments. Schell
et al.
review how systematic racist practices such as residential segregation, enacted in part through redlining, have led to an unequal distribution of “nature” within cities. These inequities continue to play out in both the ecological processes of cities and the welfare of their residents.

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References

Details

Published: Sep 18, 2020
Vol/Issue: 369(6510)

Authors

C

Christopher J. Schell

School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington, Tacoma, WA 98402, USA.

K

Karen Dyson

College of Built Environments, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.; Dendrolytics, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

T

Tracy L. Fuentes

College of Built Environments, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

S

Simone Des Roches

College of Built Environments, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.; School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

N

Nyeema C. Harris

Applied Wildlife Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.

D

Danica Sterud Miller

School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington, Tacoma, WA 98402, USA.

C

Cleo A. Woelfle-Erskine

School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, College of the Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

M

Max R. Lambert

Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

Funding

National Science Foundation

University of Washington

University of California Berkeley

David H. Smith Fellows

Cite This Article

Christopher J. Schell, Karen Dyson, Tracy L. Fuentes, et al. (2020). The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environments. Science, 369(6510). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay4497

The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environments

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