Welcome to the exciting world of urban ecological research!

The research conducted in the Urban Ecology Research Group is diverse focusing on structure and functioning of urban ecosystems, such as urban forests, parks, semi-natural grasslands, and urban streams. Also issues of the interaction between human-social and ecological systems are examined. For more information visit the most recent research project dealing with multidisciplinary issues in urban ecology, the GREENENHANCE project.

International collaboration and comparison is important in urban ecology. The GLOBENET project is a global initiative to study the effects of urbanization on carabid beetles using a standard methodology across the world.

Other issues tackled by the Urban Ecology Research Group include vegetation regeneration, trampling, edge effect, decaying wood, connectivity issues in urban forests, effects of urbanization on Carabid beetles, ecosystem services provided by urban nature, and use of ecological information in urban planning. Many of the these issues have been studied in completed projects, see former projects: Ecolink, Ecoplan, Developing UGS, Greendecision and Retree.

For ongoing research visit the Urban Nature project to find out more about the exciting world of integrating ecology, aesthetics, ethics and recreation in studies of urban urban greenspace. Ecosystem services are in urban areas are being studied in the Vaccia project.

The Urban Ecology Research Group also includes researchers that study socio-ecological issues in Madagascar (Ecomada) and sustainable forest management (Forests and good life, in Finnish).