Introduction

Urbanization has become the globally prevailing source of land-use change (Fig. 7.1; United Nations Centre for Human Settlements 1996). Unlike other kinds of habitat disturbance, such as commercial logging, urbanization often irreversibly replaces natural habitats (e.g. primary forests) with persistent artificial ones (e.g. human cities), resulting in long-lasting negative impacts (e.g. species extinctions) on the native biodiversity (Stein et al. 2000). Due to the traditional focus of conservation research on ‘natural’ ecosystems (e.g. undisturbed forests), urban ecology has received relatively little emphasis from conservation biologists (Miller & Hobbs 2002). Recently, some authors have argued that conservation planning should include reconciliatory measures that enable human activities to proceed with minimum displacement of the native species (Dale et al. 2000; Miller & Hobbs 2002; Daily 2003; Rosenzweig 2003). An example of such a conservation strategy is the creation and maintenance of artificially revegetated habitats (e.g. urban parks), where certain native species can persist (Kendle & Forbes 1997).

As many countries in Southeast Asia are rapidly developing, urban areas will likely be a common feature of the regional landscape. Therefore, a current challenge is to understand the individualistic responses of species to urbanization in Southeast Asia, including the mechanisms underlying such responses, in order to identify vulnerable species and to develop effective measures for their conservation. Furthermore, it is critical to evaluate the effectiveness of different habitats, including artificially revegetated urban parks, in maintaining the diversity of native species in urban landscapes.