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This book is about the plants and animals of urban areas, not the
urban fringe, not encapsulated countryside but those parts of towns
where man's impact is greatest. The powerful anthropogenic
influences that operate in cities have, until recently, rendered
them unattractive to ecologists who find the high proportion of
exotics and mixtures of planted and spontaneous vegetation
bewildering. They are also unused to considering fashion, taste,
mowing machines and the behaviour of dog owners as habitat factors.
I have always maintained, however, and I hope this book
demonstrates, that there are as many interrelationships to be
uncovered in a flower bed as in a field, in a cemetery as on a sand
dune; and due to the well documented history of urban sites,
together with the strong effects of management, they are frequently
easier to interpret than those operating in more natural areas. The
potential of these communities as rewarding areas for study is
revealed in the literature on the pests of stored products, urban
foxes and birds. The journals oflocal natural history societies
have also provided a rich source of material as amateurs have never
been averse to following the fortunes of their favourite groups
into the heart of our cities. It is predictable that among the few
professionals to specialize in this discipline have been those
enclosed in West Berlin, who must be regarded as among the leading
exponents of urban ecology.
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