About

Myla F. J. Aronson is a faculty member in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at Rutgers University. Her area of expertise includes patterns, drivers, and management of biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes, urban ecology, plant ecology, and restoration ecology. She is located at 93 Lipman Drive, New Brunswick, NJ, and can be contacted via email at myla.aronson@rutgers.edu or by phone at 848-932-4275. Her work focuses on understanding and managing biodiversity within landscapes heavily influenced by human activity, contributing to the fields of urban ecology and ecological restoration.

Research topics

• Geography
• Ecology
• Biology
• Environmental science
• Environmental planning
• Environmental resource management
• Social Science
• Sociology
• Epistemology
• Philosophy

Selected publications

• Homogenization and differentiation of urban tree assemblages globally

  Nature Cities · 2026-02-23

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Promoting avian diversity in cities requires multiple parks with variable features

  Nature Cities · 2026-02-20 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The effects of urbanization on species interactions

  Nature Cities · 2025-07-29 · 7 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• <scp>GUBIC</scp>: The global urban biological invasions compendium for plants

  Ecological Solutions and Evidence · 2025-01-01 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Urban areas are foci for the introduction of non‐native plant species, and they often act as launching sites for invasions into the wider environment. Although interest in biological invasions in urban areas is growing rapidly, and the extent and complexity of problems associated with invasions in these systems have increased, data on the composition and numbers of non‐native plants in urbanized areas remain scattered and idiosyncratic. We assembled data from multiple sources to create the Global Urban Biological Invasions Compendium (GUBIC) for vascular plants representing 553 urban centres from 61 countries across every continent except Antarctica. The GUBIC repository includes 8140 non‐native plant species from 253 families. The number of urban centres in which these non‐native species occurred had a log‐normal distribution, with 65.2% of non‐native species occurring in fewer than 10 urban centres. Practical implications : The dataset has wider applications for urban ecology, invasion biology, macroecology, conservation, urban planning and sustainability. We hope this dataset will stimulate future research in invasion ecology related to the diversity and distributional patterns of non‐native flora across urban centres worldwide. Further, this information should aid the early detection and risk assessment of potential invasive species, inform policy development and assist in setting management priorities.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Resilience of coastal upland vegetation post-Hurricane Sandy

  Coastal Management · 2025-02-07 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• The effects of pre-planting treatment strategies on understory vegetation in an urban forest patch

  Urban forestry & urban greening · 2025-11-18 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Urban forest patches experience a wide variety of anthropogenic and environmental stressors, including recurrent canopy gap-creating events, herbivory pressure, and invasive species. Forest restoration strategies to overcome these stressors frequently rely on enhancing tree regeneration, including tree-planting. Pre-planting treatment strategies are a crucial preparatory step in establishing appropriate site conditions to ensure successful long-term tree regeneration. However, many pre-planting treatments rely on synthetic herbicide, which can be associated with adverse environmental outcomes. Due to the negative perceptions and effects of synthetic herbicides, which are a common tool in forest restoration, many cities, towns, and parks have begun to ban the use of these chemicals. Our objective was to compare mechanical removal with synthetic and organic herbicide applications to determine which pre-planting strategy most effectively reduces non-native plants and enhances native plant cover. We conducted this study within a 16-hectare Liriodendron-Quercus forest located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, over a two-year period. Organic herbicide demonstrated the lowest efficacy at reducing non-native plants (14.2% reduction), followed by mechanical removal (-18.6%). Synthetic herbicide application had the highest efficacy (-46.1%). Although organic herbicide had the lowest efficacy, it did reduce non-native cover. Species-specific responses showed similar trends among pre-planting treatments. Additionally, we found that the timing and frequency of herbicide application may support higher efficacy in organic herbicide use. Our study supports species-specific management focused on above- and below-ground control mechanisms. This study provides best-management practices for pre-planting treatments and highlights the impacts these treatments have on diversity, composition, and restoration success. • Organic herbicide reduced non-native cover, but the effect was modest. • Synthetic herbicide was most effective, followed by mechanical removal. • Species-specific management is a valuable tool in managing non-native species.

  PublisherDOI

• Asphalted parking lots are environmental filters for multiple propagule dispersal and pollination strategies

  Nordic Journal of Botany · 2025-12-02 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Understanding community assembly for wild species in anthropogenic settings has become increasingly important as biodiversity and ecosystem services are threatened by development pressures. Urban hardscape habitats such as parking lots are widespread, extreme, terrestrial anthropogenic environments that influence plant community assembly by way of altered biotic and abiotic conditions. In this study we ask if the environmental characteristics of parking lots filter for certain propagule dispersal and pollination mechanisms in plants. We surveyed the vascular plant communities using 17 urban asphalt parking lots in New Jersey, USA, as model hardscape habitats. We compared the modes of propagule dispersal and pollinators of parking‐lot plant communities to those characteristics present in the total regional species pool. The plant species assemblages of parking lots were characterized by multiple, generalist dispersal modes. They were also characterized by species with generalist pollination vectors and/or utilize multiple strategies for pollination, including biotic and abiotic vectors, as well as self‐ and unassisted pollination, when compared to the regional species pool. The parking‐lot communities show a shift towards a higher number of dispersal modes per species compared with the regional flora, indicating that hardscape habitats environmentally filter in plant species that utilize multiple dispersal options. These contrasts to the regional species pool highlight multimodal dispersal and pollination processes as important drivers of species success and community assembly in such novel and urban environments. Synthesis: plant species that establish populations in cracks and along edges of hardscape habitats likely persist due to their capacity for propagule dispersal and pollination through diverse vectors, rather than being limited to a single vector type. This difference compared to the regional flora indicates that the composition of hardscape plant communities is highly driven by dispersal and pollination success in these novel habitats.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The influence of urban and agricultural landscape contexts on forest diversity and structure across ecoregions

  Ecosphere · 2025-02-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Forest patches in urban landscapes make outsized contributions to biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human health and well‐being. However, urbanization can alter environmental conditions that underpin forest health. Most studies of forest health in urban landscapes have focused on few forest patches across a single metropolitan region, and synthesis is needed to understand broader patterns. We assessed variation among measures of forest health across land cover gradients and ecoregions by determining (1) whether the degree of urban, agricultural, and forested land surrounding a forest patch was reflected in differences in tree community composition, diversity, and structure and (2) whether these differences were consistent across ecoregions. We synthesized data from 17 observational studies (3334 plots) and remotely sensed land cover (1‐km buffer) across four metropolitan regions (Baltimore–Washington DC, Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia) spanning five ecoregions of the eastern deciduous forest of North America. Land cover surrounding forest patches differed among ecoregions, and forests were surrounded by heterogeneous land cover even in the most urbanized areas. Patterns of tree species composition and forest structure reflected landscape context. Forest patches surrounded by high canopy cover had greater or equal tree species diversity, density, basal area, and diversity of tree sizes relative to patches surrounded by highly agricultural or highly impervious landscapes. In contrast, there was little difference in structure and diversity between forests in highly agricultural and impervious settings. Tree species composition varied among ecoregions, yet tree community assemblages of forests in intensively urbanized areas were consistently distinct from those of forests in other contexts. Forest patches in the most urban and most agricultural landscapes shared predominantly native species communities and were characterized by low tree species diversity, basal area, and size class diversity, as well as high non‐native tree abundance, highlighting commonalities among these intensive anthropogenic landscapes. These results point to both common challenges to forest health and common opportunities for forest stewardship in urban and agricultural landscapes.

  PublisherDOI

• Will biodiversity actions yield healthy places? A systematic review of human health outcomes associated with biodiversity‐focused urban greening

  People and Nature · 2025-09-23 · 3 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Abstract There is growing interest in using urban greening projects to support biodiversity. While there are many potential co‐benefits, the health outcomes resulting from biodiversity‐supporting activities have yet to be synthesized. We conducted a systematic review of health outcomes associated with seven biodiversity‐supporting elements, including patch size, connections, matrix quality, habitat diversity, native plants, special resources and vegetation management. We identified 1550 studies linking elements with human health. Results show that many types of biodiversity‐supporting elements are associated with a wide range of positive health outcomes. These outcomes included improved physical and mental health, increased physical activity, improved childhood development, social outcomes, and reduced exposure to harms such as sun, heat, and pollution (including light, air and noise). Other biodiversity‐supporting elements such as reducing pesticide use, native plants, and habitat diversity were associated with a smaller and more specific range of health outcomes. While most findings showed positive associations between biodiversity‐supporting elements and health, many also yielded mixed, neutral, or negative findings. Further, most identified study designs were observational, limiting our ability to uncover causality. We found that studies using a natural experimental design yielded a greater fraction of mixed, neutral, and negative findings compared to observational designs (the majority of studies) and experimental studies (largely short term in nature). These results confirm concerns about the strength of research findings built largely on correlational research designs. We also identify areas of trade‐off between biodiversity‐supporting elements and human health. These include actions that positively affect health yet negatively impact biodiversity, such as the maintenance of sports fields and trails in parks that can negatively impact habitat and disrupt wildlife behaviour. Biodiversity‐supporting elements can also negatively impact some dimensions of human health, including by increasing human–wildlife conflict, disease vectors, allergenic pollen, biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), through and green gentrification. Our review reveals a large potential for co‐benefits for human health to come from biodiversity‐focused actions in cities. Careful attention to minimizing tensions and trade‐offs could help to reduce the potential for conflict between biodiversity and human health objectives. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Ecological and developmental history impacts the equitable distribution of services

  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · 2025-03-11 · 4 citations

  reviewOpen access

  The ecological and developmental history of the Chicago, Illinois, region has affected the current distribution of forests therein. These same factors, along with systemic and long‐lasting racial segregation, have shaped the distribution of the urban populations that benefit from the ecosystem services provided by urban forests. This study demonstrates that forest patch history is related to forest attributes like tree species composition, tree density, canopy height, and structural heterogeneity—all of which are important predictors of a forest's ability to provide ecosystem services. However, this effect of forest history was only seen in forest cores, as forest edges were similar regardless of patch history. We also found that forests in minoritized communities tended to be less able to support high levels of ecosystem services. This research indicates that, when improving green equity, it is important to consider the variable capacity of forests to provide ecosystem services.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research:RCN:UrBioNet: A global network of urban biodiversity research and practice

  NSF · $213k · 2014–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Christopher A. Lepczyk

  Auburn University

  30 shared

• Charles H. Nilon

  University of Missouri

  24 shared

• Frank A. La Sorte

  Yale University

  23 shared

• Nicholas Williams

  University of Melbourne

  17 shared

• J. Scott MacIvor

  The Scarborough Hospital

  16 shared

• Mark A. Goddard

  Northumbria University

  16 shared

• Alan Vergnes

  Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive

  12 shared

• Zoltán Elek

  University of Veterinary Medicine

  12 shared

Labs

• Aronson Lab at Rutgers UniversityPI

Education

• Ph.D., Ecology and Evolution

  Rutgers The State University of New Jersey

  2007

• M.S., Ecology and Evolution

  Rutgers The State University of New Jersey

  2002

• B.S., Natural Resources

  Cornell University

  1998