While numerous studies over the past several decades have described the impairment of ecological integrity associated with urbanization, few attempts have been made to clearly define and quantify the ecological functions and services of urban green-space. Couched in terms of ecological resilience they generally prescribe to the theory that species richness can be positively correlated with ecosystem stability and to lesser degree function. Our lab seeks to further define ecological function as a product of assembly theory, focused on urban novel communities. We establish new references, associated with the urban environment that focus on ecological functions such as, carbon and nitrogen cycling, hydrology and the mitigation of those contaminants typically associated with the urban soils of novel urban assemblages. Our data suggests that such Novel assemblages appear to function in spite of the environmental stress of the urban environment. They developed unique patterns of species diversity/distribution; models of primary productivity and carbon sequestration that are driven by threshold tolerances, and develop along nontraditional guild trajectories. In addition, the ecological risk associated with uptake and transfer of various contaminants appears not to follow traditional paths. Our research seeks address current knowledge gaps and develop correlations between ecological function and the post-industrial character of the urban environment.
