The effects of urbanisation on ecological interactions

作者：Panagiotis Theodorou · 发表于：Current Opinion in Insect Science · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1016/j.cois.2022.100922 · 被引用次数：203 · 研究领域：Plant and animal studies、Animal and Plant Science Education、Plant Parasitism and Resistance

Cities are expanding worldwide and urbanisation is considered a global threat to biodiversity. Urban ecology has provided important insights on how urban environmental changes might affect individuals, populations, and species; however, we know little about how the ecological impacts of urbanisation alter species interactions. Species interactions are the backbone of ecological communities and play a crucial role in population and community dynamics and in the generation, maintenance and structure of biodiversity. Here, I review urban ecological studies to identify key mechanistic pathways through which urban environmental processes could alter antagonistic and mutualistic interactions among species. More specifically, I focus on insect predation, parasitoidism and herbivory, competition, insect host-pathogen interactions, and pollination. I furthermore identify important knowledge gaps that require additional research attention and I suggest future research directions that may help to shed light on the mechanisms that affect species interactions and structure insect communities and will thus aid conservation management in cities.