| The Urban Ecology Research Learning Alliance
is the Research Learning Center for the National Capital Region.
We sponsored this web version of our booklet, which supports
our mission to synthesize and communicate research results,
promote research in the parks, and increase research-related
educational opportunities. The seven scientific studies and
projects summarized in this booklet provide examples of the
many natural resource values and challenges in the National
Park units of the National Capital Region. |
|
 |
 |
 |
Introduction
The National Capital Region's
Center for Urban Ecology, in cooperation
with park resource managers and its academic and other
partners, is striving to learn more about the natural
resources within regional parks and how threats can be
better understood and mitigated. The articles within this
booklet provide a sample of some of these endeavors. While
the focus is on the National Parks of the National Capital
Region, the resources and threats extend throughout the
mid-Atlantic area... |
|
 |
|
Impervious
Surface
National Park
areas sit within a landscape matrix made up not only of
forest, grassland, agricultural lands, but also of roadways,
buildings, and residential and commercial development.
Areas surrounding the Parks range from relatively little
development to highly developed cityscapes. The gradual
conversion of lands surrounding the National Parks into
roadways, buildings, and parking lots has increasingly
adverse impacts on water resources, according to the Water
Resources Program at the Center for Urban Ecology...
|
|
 |
|
Protection
of Rare Plant
The National
Capital Region is home to harperella (Ptilimnium nodosum),
a federally endangered plant species with only 14 populations
known worldwide. Threats to the species and its habitat
are severe due to hydrologic alterations caused by landscape
use changes, the spread of non-native invasive plant species,
and recreational use by more than million people visiting
annually... |
|
 |
|
Genetically
Distinct Trout
Big Hunting
Creek in Catoctin Mountain Park has played a prominent
role in the development of recreational trout fishing
in Maryland. The stream has long been popular among fly
fishermen, who are attracted by brook (Salvelinus fontinalis),
brown (Salmo trutta), and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus
mykiss). Maintaining the genetic integrity of native,
wild populations is very important in the conservation
biology of a species... |
|
 |
|
Urban
Trees
The parks managed
by the National Park Service, National Capital Region
within the city of Washington, D.C. play a significant
role in sustaining the visual and environmental quality
of the nation’s capital. Besides their environmental contributions,
sustaining these trees is important because many trees,
such as the American elms (Ulmus americana) of
the National Mall and the delicate Japanese cherry trees
(Prunus species) that surroundthe Tidal Basin,
have cultural significance and are major assets of Washington,
D.C... |
|
 |
|
Wetland
Restoration
In 1996, the
National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institution
began to develop a wetland mitigation and landscape restoration
project at Manassas National Battlefield Park. The Park
acquired adjacent battlefield land, called the Stuart’s
Hill tract in , where a private developer had previously
destroyed wetlands. The Park lacked funding to restore
the construction site... |
|
 |
|
Protecting
Dragonflies and Damselfies
The
story of how we came to learn about the impressive diversity
and value of our dragonflies and damselflies (the odonates)
is one of ecological connections and shared interest in
preserving bio-diversity and protecting human health.
The National Capital Region manages important wetlands,
which is habitat for the odonates. The National Capital
Region also serves more than million visitors annually,
which accounts for 20% of the total National Park Service
annual visitation... |
|
 |
|
Protection
of Subterranean habitat
For
animals that live underground and are not easily found
or seen, protecting their habitats is especially important
and difficult. In and around the nation’s capital, urban
development over the past 100 years has obliterated many
subterranean aquatic habitats by water contamination,
fill, pavement, and entombment in pipes or concrete. As
a result, development has eliminated or so disturbed many
groundwater systems that unknown numbers of interesting
and potentially significant species are lost...
|
|
 |
|
Promotiong
Science for Parks through Partnerships
Understanding
the complex working of urban ecosystems relies on multi-disciplinary
approaches. For this reason, the Center for Urban Ecology
has an interdisciplinary team of scientists to address
park and regional needs. As part of that team, the Urban
Ecology Research Learning Alliance actively supports research
on urban ecology and communicates research results to
diverse audiences... |
|
The Center for Urban Ecology (CUE) identifies
and responds to the natural resource needs of the National
Capital Region (NCR), located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan
area. The CUE staff focuses on urban ecology within the matrix
of the region's nationally significant natural and cultural
resources. Through science, service, and partnerships, CUE
assists managers in understanding, protecting, and restoring
natural resources for future generations.
With the continued development and population
growth throughout the area, natural resources are fragmented
within urban and suburban landscapes, and are often highly
impacted. CUE has the unique ability to advise, manage, and
support projects at both the national and regional level through
a professional interdisciplinary team that provides comprehensive
science and technical support to park resource managers.
The Center for Urban Ecology's mission,
as an interdisciplinary team, is to provide scientific guidance,
technical assistance and education for the preservation, conservation
and enhancement of park resources within urbanizing landscapes.
|
|
|
|
|
