Authors: Weisser, Wolfgang;

Urban ecology is a relatively young field of research, as biologists have long ignored the city as a proper habitat that is worthwhile to study. Much of current urban ecology research is still descriptive and focusses on explaining what species occur within the city, and on the conditions that allow plants and animals to live within the urban environment. Urbanisation is a form of human land use and different places within the city differ in land use intensity. As a result of these differences in land use intensity, different places within the city differ in species richness and composition. I propose that urban environments do not fundamentally differ from other habitats modified by humans, hence urban ecology can benefit from the progress made by research on land use effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in these other habitats. I give examples where urban ecology can learn from the progress that has been made by agro-ecology and functional biodiversity research, with respect to a) how land use effects on biodiversity can be investigated, b) what biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships may be expected, and c) ways to find more sustainable land use strategies. Conversely, with its focus on extreme cases of human land use, urban ecology can also contribute to a better understanding of land use- biodiversity –ecosystem function relationships in other habitats.