Aronson Lab (Dr. Myla Aronson, Samantha E. Fuentes-Gigliotti(PhD candidate), Hogyeum Evan Joo(PhD candidate), and Lucien Fitzpatrick (PhD candidate)) attended the 110th Ecological Society of America 2025 Annual Meeting in Baltimore.

Dr. Aronson led several special sessions, a field trip, and other talks on urban ecology and other related topics. See the abstracts below.

SS 42 – Celebrating 110 Years of Excellence in Ecology and What’s to Come

Organizer: Myla Aronson (Rutgers) + Co-Organizers : Jonathan Miller (ESA), Catherine O’Rlordan

Description:
A decade ago, ESA commemorated its centennial in Baltimore. Now, as we celebrate our 110th anniversary, back in Baltimore, we are again presented with an opportunity to reflect on the transformations that have shaped our community and the field of ecology.

This special session, hosted by ESA’s History Committee, will highlight the progress made since 2015, including a growing emphasis on equity and inclusion, broadening participation and opportunities for all ecologists, new chapters and sections reflecting modern ecology, and an incredible increase in student engagement. We will also introduce Humans of ESA, where we present real-life stories of ecologists from various backgrounds, career stages, and career trajectories, illuminating the diversity of our members. Participants will also have the opportunity to document their own story and have it highlighted on the History Committee’s website.

The session will end with a visioning workshop including all participants focused on how ESA’s members envision the future and direction of both the science and the association that supports us.

 

FT 11 – A Crosstown Walk in West Baltimore

Organizer: Charles Nilon (University of Missouri) + Co-Organizer: Myla Aronson, Olyssa Starry, Ela-sita Carpenter, George Middendorf.

Accessibility: This field trip is an easy 2.1 mile walk along through residential neighborhoods. Most of the walk will be on sidewalks, however the condition of the sidewalks and the presence of curb cutouts are unknown. Bathrooms are available at the West Cold Spring metro station and in Hanlon Park.

Equipment and Attire: Participants should plan on bringing good walking shoes, sunscreen, hat, bug repellent, water, and other personal items for outdoor walking in the summer sun. Binoculars, and field guides or phone apps for identify plants and animals may be useful.Join the Urban Ecosystem Ecology, Environmental Justice, and Human Ecology Sections on an exploration of environmental changes along a socioeconomic gradient in West Baltimore and learn how the Crosstown Walk can be applied to teaching, outreach, and community engagement efforts. The Crosstown Walk is a course module that can be used in undergraduate and graduate courses in ecology, design, urban planning, and the social sciences to help students understand how ecological and social factors can be drivers of environmental change in cities, and to illustrate key concepts about urban ecology and environmental justice. On this field trip, we will introduce the course module and describe how it can be used in different types of courses and how it can be used in collaborative studies of biodiversity in the world’s cities. Along the walk will discuss how findings from the walk might be relevant to management for biodiversity and ecosystem service in Baltimore neighborhoods. The field trip leaders are active in community-based conservation programs in Baltimore City. Our 2.1 mile walk will go through several West Baltimore neighborhoods. The northern end of the walk is middle class neighborhood with row house and yards typical of many in neighborhoods in the northern and western portions of Baltimore City and Baltimore County. The portion of the walk between Sequoia Avenue and Powhatan Avenue is an upper middle class neighborhood with large single family homes, including many that border Hanlon Park and Lake Ashburton. South of Powhatan Ave. is a neighborhood of older row houses where residents face a number of social and environmental challenges. We will collect data on temperature, tree canopy cover, birds, insects, and vegetation during the walk. At the conclusion of the walk we will review our findings from the walk and discuss how the module can be used in different courses and settings, and opportunities to participate in a comparison of route data for multiple cities. We will also discuss ongoing debates about redevelopment, gentrification, and environmental justice in West Baltimore.

WK 25 – Design and Implementation of Leaf Decomposition and Biodiversity Experiments in Urban and Suburban Environments: Opportunities for Collaboration

Organizer: Olyssa Starry (Bucknell University) + Co-Organizer: Katalin Szlavecz (Johns Hopkins University), Richard Pouyat (U.S. Forest Service), Myla Aronson (Rutgers), Max Ferlauto (Maryland DNR)

Description:
Decades of research support the importance of leaf breakdown to recycle nutrients and thus to maintain ecological function. Leaf litter also provides habitat for diverse groups of soil invertebrates and their predators. However, in urban and suburban landscapes, tree species are different, leaves are often managed, and the local environment is altered. The ecological consequences of all these scenarios are less understood.
In this workshop, we will briefly review key findings from historical and recent studies of leaf breakdown in urban environments. 1) The bulk of the workshop will explore different techniques for assaying leaf breakdown, with emphasis on how design choices can affect results. For example, litter bags can have different mesh sizes, be filled with substrates, at varying depth, etc. 2) We will discuss ways of collecting complimentary information, including soil physical and chemical properties, and soil biodiversity. 3) We will also review ways to connect with participatory science projects on this topic and connections to the classroom. Our hope is to establish a network of campuses and other locations where interested parties can conduct experiments and share data at a common platform.
Workshop participants will receive a kit to start a leaf study at their respective locations.

Yard Ecology: The Future of Socioecological Science and Urban Biodiversity Conservation

Presenting Author: Myla Aronson (Rutgers) + Co-Author: Christopher Lepczyk

As urbanized areas steadily grow worldwide, ecologists are increasingly interested in studying how cities can function to provide for both people and wildlife. In particular, residential yards and gardens-privately-owned spaces that are planted and managed by homeowners-have emerged as a compelling place to study the interplay between human decision-making and ecological patterns and processes. Past work has established that yards can contain surprisingly high levels of biodiversity, and also serve as crucibles for positive human-nature interactions. For these reasons, yards might also facilitate community-driven conservation action (e.g. pollinator gardening), with possible benefits for biodiversity, ecosystem function, urban sustainability, and human well-being. However, much remains unknown about how urban residential lands function, particularly how ecological and social processes interact to influence both conservation efforts and human well-being. This Organized Oral Session will bring together research on the socioecology of residential yards, in order to highlight the opportunities and challenges of studying both people and nature in residential contexts, and for doing conservation in human-occupied landscapes. Specifically, this OOS will explore: patterns of biodiversity in residential spaces, factors influencing yard management decisions, a framework for grounding community-driven conservation action in science, and drivers of human-nature connection.

 

Where does urban ecology go from here? Advancing the sustainable future of urban social-ecological systems using the field’s prepositional framework

Presenting Author: Myla Aronson (Rutgers)

Co-Author: Loren Byrne (Roger Williams University)

Several influential frameworks guide the science and education of urban ecology, particularly ecology in, of, for, and with cities (where “cities” is shorthand for diverse types of urbanized environments). When considered together, these four prepositions provide for an integrated, interdisciplinary study of urban social-ecological patterns and processes. Here we discuss the frontiers of urban ecology with examples of how these four approaches can be applied to topics such as biodiversity conservation, greenspace design and management, and education. Such examples reveal how urban ecology’s prepositional framework provides a useful guide for advancing more sustainable, resilient, healthy and biodiverse urban social-ecological systems.

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Restoration Ecology>Harnessing southern oak genotypes for improving canopy restoration of northeastern forests

 

Presenting Author: Samantha Fuentes-Gigliotti, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Co-Author: Myla Aronson, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Regeneration failure of canopy trees is a critical issue defining the present and future of forest ecosystems. Consequently, land managers are motivated to identify strategies that can mitigate the impacts of climate change. An emerging technique for building climate resilience is the use of southern genotypes in northern landscape restorations. The objective of our study was to compare survival and height growth of local (southern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania) and southern genotypes (Northcentral Kentucky) of native canopy trees (Quercus alba and Quercus rubra) in canopy gap restoration. We hypothesize that southern genotypes will have greater success in northern sites because they are adapted to warmer and drier conditions. We conducted our study at Hutcheson Memorial Forest, a suburban old-growth forest located in Somerset, NJ. We planted 1-2 yr old saplings in 10 small, naturally occurring canopy gaps (20-m diameter): 5 gaps planted with local genotypes and 5 gaps planted with southern genotypes. Prior to planting, we mechanically removed invasive plants to establish suitable site conditions for restoration. We measured success by using survival and height growth and found that southern genotypes had greater success from 2021 to 2024. Southern Q. alba had a higher probability of surviving to the next year compared to local oak genotypes (year 1=3.3x, p<0.01; year 2=4.4x, p<0.0001; and year 3=3.0x, p<0.01). Southern Q. rubra also had higher probability of surviving to the next year (year 1=50.7x higher, p<0.0001; year 2=15.3x higher, p<0.0001). Growth data suggests similar results, with highest growth occurring in southern oak genotypes particularly in years 1 and 2. Southern Q. alba had higher growth compared to local genotypes (year 1=11.2±10.4cm and 6.77±16.9cm, Z=-2.555, p<0.05; year 2=6.47±15.9cm and -1.04±17.0cm, Z=-3.812; p<0.01). Southern Q. rubra also showed higher growth than local genotypes (year 1=20.0±14.6cm and 3.78±10.8cm, Z=-8.186, p<0.001; year 2=8.10±21.cm and 0.502±5.76cm, Z=-4.149, p<0.001). Our data suggests that regeneration of northeastern forests may be enhanced by introducing southern genotypes. Future measurements will inform how long-term success varies by genotype, supporting land managers looking for adaptive approaches to climate resiliency in restoration work.

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