Shifting forward: Urban ecology in perspective.

The world has become urban; cities increasingly shape our worldviews, relation to other species, and the large-scale, long-term decisions we make. Cities are nature, but they need to align better with other ecosystems to avoid accelerating climate change and loss of biodiversity. We need a science to guide urban development across the diverse realities of global cities. This need can be met, in part, by shifts in urban ecology and its linkages to related sciences. This perspective is a "synthesis of syntheses", consolidating ideas from the other articles in the Special Section. It re-examines the role of urban ecology, and explores its integration with other disciplines that study cities. We conclude by summarizing the next steps in the ongoing shift in urban ecology, which is fast becoming an integral part of urban studies.

The relational shift in urban ecology: From place and structures to multiple modes of coproduction for positive urban futures.

This perspective emerged from ongoing dialogue among ecologists initiated by a virtual workshop in 2021. A transdisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners conclude that urban ecology as a science can better contribute to positive futures by focusing on relationships, rather than prioritizing urban structures. Insights from other relational disciplines, such as political ecology, governance, urban design, and conservation also contribute. Relationality is especially powerful given the need to rapidly adapt to the changing social and biophysical drivers of global urban systems. These unprecedented dynamics are better understood through a relational lens than traditional structural questions. We use three kinds of coproduction-of the social-ecological world, of science, and of actionable knowledge-to identify key processes of coproduction within urban places. Connectivity is crucial to relational urban ecology. Eight themes emerge from the joint explorations of the paper and point toward social action for improving life and environment in urban futures.

A transformative shift in urban ecology toward a more active and relevant future for the field and for cities.

This paper builds on the expansion of urban ecology from a biologically based discipline-ecology in the city-to an increasingly interdisciplinary field-ecology of the city-to a transdisciplinary, knowledge to action endeavor-an ecology for and with the city. We build on this "prepositional journey" by proposing a transformative shift in urban ecology, and we present a framework for how the field may continue this shift. We conceptualize that urban ecology is in a state of flux, and that this shift is needed to transform urban ecology into a more engaged and action based field, and one that includes a diversity of actors willing to participate in the future of their cities. In this transformative shift, these actors will engage, collaborate, and participate in a continuous spiral of knowledge → action → knowledge spiral and back to knowledge loop, with the goal of co producing sustainable and resilient solutions to myriad urban challenges. Our framework for this transformative shift includes three pathways: (1) a repeating knowledge → action → knowledge spiral of ideas, information, and solutions produced by a diverse community of agents of urban change working together in an "urban sandbox"; (2) incorporation of a social-ecological-technological systems framework in this spiral and expanding the spiral temporally to include the "deep future," where future scenarios are based on a visioning of seemingly unimaginable or plausible future states of cities that are sustainable and resilient; and (3) the expansion of the spiral in space, to include rural areas and places that are not yet cities. The three interrelated pathways that define the transformative shift demonstrate the power of an urban ecology that has moved beyond urban systems science and into a realm where collaborations among diverse knowledges and voices are working together to understand cities and what is urban while producing sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges and envisioning futures of socially, ecologically, and technologically resilient cities. We present case study examples of each of the three pathways that make up this transformative shift in urban ecology and discuss both limitations and opportunities for future research and action with this transdisciplinary broadening of the field.

Dealer-customer partnership in rice production demonstration: Assessment of private extension system in Bangladesh.

Traditional public extension worker-farmer cooperation in rice production demonstration is not working efficiently, therefore, private partnership-based demonstration has been attempted to introduce as its alternative very recently involving dealer-customer farmer. The study evaluated the private extension services rendered through dealer-customer farmer cooperation in Bangladesh. Thirty-three rice seed dealers and ninety-two customer farmers formed the samples for the study. Face-to-face interviews were employed as a quantitative method while focus group discussion was used as a qualitative method in the present study. Involving in the private rice production demonstration approach, customer farmers indicated high profit, greater involvement in decision-making, and improved marketing skills as the major advantages; while the dealers stressed the benefit received by the small farmers, improvement in their decision-making capacity and increased local rice production. However, the slow distribution of inputs during the production period was a weakness in the arrangement, which was mostly because of the dealers' lack of understanding of the customer farmers' needs. The private extension system being a new concept in the country may be observed over a period and gradually extended to the nooks and crannies of the country.

Impact of industrial effluent on water, soil and Rice production in Bangladesh: a case of Turag River Bank.

PURPOSE: It is almost a common practice in Bangladesh to indiscriminately discharge effluent into the nearby wetlands, crop fields and water bodies. So, contamination occurs from water to food chain through soil and field crops. This study therefore assesses the impact of industrial effluent on water, soil and rice production taking Turag river bank as a case study, which located in the most thickly industrialized area of Bangladesh. METHODS: The descriptive and diagnostic research design was used in the present study. Eighty farmers were selected as respondents using proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The data were collected using an interview schedule. Impact of industrial effluent contamination was measured based on the extent of change that occurred in soil and water quality, level of insect infestation and, quantity and quality of rice before and after the establishment of industries. Similarly, water samples were collected to examine water quality parameters. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percent, mean and standard deviation were used to describe and interpret the data, while paired t-test was used to test significant difference. RESULTS: The results revealed that the quality of water and soil, and quality and quantity of rice have differed significantly after the establishment of industries. Surface water was mostly affected (t-value 90.25). Almost all of the respondents (97.5%) stated that there was high insect infestation after the establishment of industries which negatively affects rice production. The water quality parameters test revealed that temperature, total dissolved salts, pH and salinity were within the acceptable limits, while electrical conductivity and heavy metals (Cd, Pb and Ni) were above the acceptable limits. The majority of respondents (77.6%) had favourable to highly favourable perception on the negative impact of industrial effluent contamination on rice production. The major problems faced due to the industrial effluent contamination were pollution, low fertility, increase attack of insect, dermal diseases and low yield. CONCLUSIONS: The establishment of industries has quiet negatively altered soil, water and rice production as buttressed by the evidence based viewpoints of the respondents. Proper treatment of industrial effluent and implementation of environmental act would certainly help overcome the problem.