Evaluating wetlands within an urban context

Coastal regions are among the most rapidly urbanizing places on earth. The numerous effects of urbanization on hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology make wetlands in urban regions function differently from wetlands in non-urban lands. Furthermore, wetlands ill urban regions may take on human-related values that they lack in non-urban areas, as they provide some contact with nature, and some opportunities for recreations that an otherwise rare in the urban landscape. Evaluations of the success of restorations in urban regions require criteria first to determine the kinds, and intensities of urban influence on the site, and secondly to assess functional performance. The development of success criteria, at both the levels of assessment, depends on the proper definition of a reference domain (the set of wetlands to which success criteria will apply), and the documentation of a set of reference sites within the domain; both must be based within the urban context appropriate for the region of interest. An example is presented from a study of urban wetlands in New Jersey of a procedure for establishing the reference domain, the reference set of wetlands, and criteria for the assessment of urban influence. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.