Ecological Homogenization of Urban America: residential microclimates

Urban, suburban, and exurban ecosystems are important and increasing in the U.S. As the population of cities grows, so to do areas being converted to residential housing. An untested result of urban land use change is the homogenization across cities, where neighborhoods in very different parts of the country have similar patterns of roads, aquatic features, and, especially, residential yards. We hypothesized that this homogenization also involves ecological structure and functions relevant to ecosystem carbon and nitrogen dynamics, with continental scale implications. Further, we suggested that understanding urban homogenization would provide the basis for understanding the impacts of urban land use change from local to continental scales. We collected social and ecological data ranging from household surveys to soil sampling across six metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) that cover the major climatic regions of the US (Phoenix, AZ; Miami, FL; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; St. Paul, MN; and Los Angeles, CA) to determine how household characteristics correlate with landscaping decisions, land management practices, and ecological structure and functions at local, regional, and continental scales. In this dataset, we specifically focus on the homogenization of residential yard microclimates, including air and soil temperature, and soil moisture.