Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec 18;20(1):106.
doi: 10.1186/s13002-024-00747-z.

The influence of urbanization on local ecological knowledge: a systematic review

Juliana Melo Linhares Rangel  1   2 , André Luiz Borba do Nascimento  3 , Marcelo Alves Ramos  4
Affiliations

The influence of urbanization on local ecological knowledge: a systematic review

Juliana Melo Linhares Rangel et al. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. .

Abstract

Urbanization is a complex and multifaceted process studied across various scientific disciplines. However, in ethnobiology, research on the impacts of urbanization on local ecological knowledge (LEK) often lacks standardization and tends to focus primarily on local scales. This study aims to systematically characterize how researchers address urbanization in ethnobiology and assess its effects on LEK globally. We conducted a systematic review using the PRISMA protocol and selected 66 studies from the Web of Science and Scopus databases for analysis. Our findings reveal that researchers often do not adopt a consistent definition of urbanization, frequently framing their study areas within a simplistic urban-rural dichotomy. Although some studies used urbanization indicators, our qualitative analyses, including a correlation matrix, showed that these indicators were largely independent of each other. Additionally, principal component analysis (PCA) with clustering identified four groupings among the indicators, yet with low correlations between them. A t test analysis of the 66 papers shows that urbanization generally has a negative impact on LEK. Based on these findings, we emphasize the critical need for standardized urbanization indicators in ethnobiological studies and propose a new approach for characterizing urbanization, which will enhance the precision and relevance of future research in this field.

Keywords: Ethnobiology; Local ecological knowledge; Urbanicity; Urban–rural dichotomy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent toparticipate: Not applicabe Consent for publication: Not applicabe Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart summarizing the selection of ethnobiological studies on urbanization and Local Ecological Knowledge. Format proposed in the PRISMA protocol
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Countries in which the studies analyzed in this review were carried out
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Bar chart showing the percentages at which aspects of local ecological knowledge were assessed in the analyzed studies. EP stands for Environmental Perception. LEK is local ecological knowledge
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Histogram with the frequencies of indicator usage in the analyzed articles
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
PCA scatterplot with clustering
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Seto KC, Parnell S, Elmqvist T (2013) A Global Outlook on Urbanization. In: Elmqvist T, Fragkias M, Goodness J, et al (eds) Urban. Biodivers. Ecosyst. Serv. Chall. Oppor. Glob. Assess. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, pp 1–12
    1. Seto KC, Sánchez-Rodríguez R, Fragkias M. The new geography of contemporary urbanization and the environment. Annu Rev Environ Resour. 2010;35:167–94.
    1. Henderson JV. Urbanization and Growth. In: Aghion P, Durlauf SN, editors. Handb. Econ. Growth: Elsevier; 2005. p. 1543–91.
    1. Pacione M (2009) Urban Geography: A Global Perspective, 3rd ed 10.4324/9780203881927
    1. Tisdale H. The process of urbanization*. Soc Forces. 1942;20:311–6.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources