Social-ecological networks in urban ecology research

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 2 of this Preprint. You must log in to post a comment. There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article. This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 2 of this Preprint. Add a Comment You must log in to post a comment. Comments There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article. Urban ecosystems are complex and dynamic, shaped by feedback loops between social and ecological components. However, urban ecology requires tools to unravel this complexity. Social-ecological networks (SENs) offer a conceptual and analytical framework by integrating network theory to understand the relationships between and within social-ecological systems. Here, we integrate perspectives from urban ecology and SEN research to introduce SENs as a promising, yet underexplored, framework for advancing urban ecology research. With an example from Melbourne, Australia, we demonstrate how SENs can advance our understanding of urban biodiversity conservation. Lastly, we propose nine key themes for future urban biodiversity research that will benefit from exploration through an SEN approach. By adopting and further developing the SEN framework for urban ecology, researchers can gain structural and relational insights into urban social-ecological systems. Importantly, an SEN framework may not only bridge the inter- but also transdisciplinary gap between research and practice. https://doi.org/10.32942/X2N06S Biodiversity, Environmental Studies, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Urban Studies and Planning Comparative urban ecology, Urban biodviersity, Human-Nature Interactions, network analysis, Social-ecological fit, resilience, transdisciplinary research Published: 2025-07-22 18:17 Last Updated: 2025-07-22 18:17 CC BY Attribution 4.0 International Conflict of interest statement: None Data and Code Availability Statement: Not applicable Language: English