中国城市生态与经济社会协同性评估

为认识城市经济社会和生态的协同特征,本研究基于城市人均绿地面积、人均GDP和人均期望寿命等构建城市生态与经济社会功能协同性指标评价体系,建立城市生态与经济社会协同性指数评价方法。通过比较中国35个典型城市的协同性指数与功能综合得分,分析了中国城市协同性特征,并按照城市规模、行政区类型分析城市协同性差异和城市功能综合得分差异,对协同水平进行分类。结果表明: 2016年,中国35个城市生态与经济社会平均协同性指数为28.79,协同性最强城市的协同性指数为3.83,最弱的城市为63.04,表明中国城市协同性不高且城市间差异较大。协同性指数、城市经济功能、社会功能与城市人口规模、经济规模呈显著正相关。不同人口规模、经济规模、不同行政职能城市之间协同性指数差异具有显著性。中国城市化总体仍处于功能失衡的发展阶段,城市发展有利于各城市功能性提高但并未有效提升协同性,生态功能的高低显著影响城市协同性,城市生态功能不高是当前中国城市协同性高低的主要制约因素。     

基于灰水足迹的中国城市水资源可持续利用综合评价

随着城市化的快速发展,中国城市水资源面临着水资源短缺与水环境恶化等挑战,因此加强城市水资源可持续利用对于中国可持续发展具有重要意义。基于灰水足迹核算对2016年中国地级市水资源可持续利用情况进行综合评价。研究结果表明：（1）中国城市灰水足迹水平差异大,平均值为23.40×10⁸ m³,主要集中在20.00×10⁸ m³以下。中国城市农业源灰水足迹比例占比主要在70%以上,工业源比例占比主要在20%以下,而生活源比例占比在40%以下;（2）全国灰水经济生产率在12.45-857.31元/m³范围内,地区差异明显。33%城市灰水足迹荷载系数均大于1,全国地级市灰水足迹荷载系数平均值为1.16,城市水资源利用已对水环境产生污染压力,用水不可持续;（3）城市水资源开发率与灰水足迹荷载系数呈一定程度的正相关关系,说明了城市发展对水资源利用的"量"和"质"的压力作用具有一定的协同关系;（4）水资源可持续利用程度呈现大型城市 > 特大型城市 > 超大型城市 > 中小型城市,城市发展一定程度上有助于水资源的可持续利用,但发展规模过大可能会造成用水高产而护水低效的现象。因地制宜的实行水资源循环经济发展模式以及适时纳入灰水足迹核算与管理体系,是当前城市化大背景下实现水资源可持续利用的重要途径。     

1980-2015年珠三角城市群城市扩张的时空特征分析

以珠三角城市群9座城市为研究对象,基于1980-2015年3期遥感影像提取的土地利用数据,通过扩张强度、扩张速率以及景观格局指数定量分析珠三角城市群尺度上城市扩张的时空变化特征。结果表明：（1）城市群扩张数量特征：1980-2015年珠三角城市群建设用地面积扩张约3倍,1980-2000和2000-2015期间分别扩张1513.1、3043.8 km²;扩张强度不断增强,扩张速率明显加快。（2）城市群扩张空间特征：珠三角城市群中扩张迅速的城市主要分布在研究区中部的城镇密集带及沿海地区;扩张较慢的城市主要分布在靠内陆的周边地带。（3）基于时间尺度发现珠三角城市群结构的演变呈现出由单核模式（广州,1980年）-双核模式（广州、深圳,2000年）-多中心、网络化模式演化的特征（东莞、中山等相邻城市,2015年）。（4）基于景观格局特征,珠三角区域扩张快速的城市形状复杂,结构趋于分散;扩张较慢的城市形状更规则,分布更聚集。（5）天然的人文联系与优越的地理位置、社会经济、政府政策以及基础设施的建设等因素共同驱动珠三角城市群的发展。该研究对提高城市群规划管理水平具有参考价值。     

京津冀城市群能源供需与城市化的关系模式

城镇化发展加剧了城市对能源的消耗,进而加剧了能源供需不平衡,这种不平衡已经成为限制城镇化发展的重要因素。目前,城市群作为我国城镇化发展的重要形式,充分发挥城市群的协同效应以减缓能源供需矛盾,对实现区域可持续发展具有重要意义。研究以京津冀城市群为例,从地级市尺度系统地核算了2001—2015年能源供应和需求量,并采用ward聚类方法划分3种不同类型的能源供求特征,并分析了每种类型的能源供需特征差异。同时,以能源供需比值表示供需差异并进行了比较。在此基础上,采用多指标综合分析方法进一步探讨了能源供需与城市化的关系模式。结果表明:(1)京津冀城市群不同城市能源的供求特征及变化存在明显的时空差异。一方面,从能源供给特征来看,年平均能源生产量较高的城市(天津市)能源产量由上升转变为平缓变化趋势,而低产城市(石家庄市)呈不稳定的变化趋势,两类城市平均能源产量相差2497.66万t标准煤;另一方面,从能源需求特征来看,北京、天津市等能源高耗城市能源消费近年来趋于下降趋势,而低耗型城市(沧州市)近年来呈波动变化,二者平均差值为4752.49万t标准煤;(2)基于能源供需比值,京津冀城市群所有城市均表现为能源供不应求,且不同城市能源供需缺口差异明显。其中,天津市能源供给能力最强,但其生产量却不及自身消费量的65%,而供给能力相对最弱的城市保定市,其能源需求几乎完全依赖外部能源供给;(3)城市能源供需与城市化水平之间关系不完全一致。研究对能源供需模式与城市化模式不一致的城市,划分了先进型和滞后型两种关系模式。对于先进型的城市,主要有北京市、沧州市和廊坊市,它们的城市化水平相对较高,分析认为其能源开发利用相对集约;而属于滞后型的城市,包括唐山市、邯郸市和邢台市,其城市化水平偏低,分析认为这类城市能源开发利用效率低、发展方式相对粗放,是城市群能源效率提升的重点。本研究旨在为今后的城市群能源规划提供科学依据,建议北京市等能源相对集约型城市带动唐山市等发展方式粗放、落后的城市,以提高京津冀城市群整体的能源效率。     

城市生态系统适宜度的时空对比分析

本文将生态位适宜度理论引入城市生态系统的研究,在前人研究的基础上改进了城市生态位适宜度的数学模型,考虑了权重的影响。选取GDP增长率、人均住房使用面积、每平方千米SO₂排放量、每万人拥有医生数、每万人拥有高等学校在校学生数等21项经济、社会、环境、生态、健康、教育因子构建城市生态适宜度的指标体系,并以我国35个省级和副省级城市为例,计算出各个从1996年到2000年5种生态位适宜度值,分析探讨其时空变化规律,得出以下结论;(1)城市生态位适宜度既有空间差异、时间差异,又有因侧重的生态因子不同而导致的差异。(2)在五种生态位适宜度中,32个城市的基础设施生态位最低,27个城市的环境生态位最高。经济和收入、生态环境、基础设施、健康和教育、平均生态位最高的城市均是深圳,环境生态位最低的是石家庄,基础设施生态位最低的是银川,经济和收入生态位、健康和教育生态位、平均生态位最低的都是贵阳。     

Genomic evidence for parallel adaptation to cities

Urban evolutionary biology is the study of rapid evolutionary change in response to humans and our uses of land to support city dwellers. Because cities are relatively modern additions to the natural world, research on urban evolution tends to focus on microevolutionary change that has happened across a few to many hundreds of generations. These questions still fall under the broad purview of evolutionary ecology. However, the severity, rapidity and replication of environmental changes that drive evolution in this context make it worthy of specific attention. Urban evolution provides the opportunity to study the earliest stages of evolution in a context that is scientifically interesting and societally important. The newness of urban populations and their proximity to natural populations also creates challenges when trying to detect population genetic change. In a From the Cover article in this issue of Molecular Ecology, Mueller et al. use whole genome resequencing data to address some of these challenges while exploring genetic changes associated with urbanization in three replicate urban‐rural burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) populations. Combining multiple approaches across these sample sites Mueller et al. find evidence for selection on genes whose function is related to synapses, neuron projections, brain connectivity and cognitive function in general. That selection was parallel suggests that phenotypes related to brain processes were probably particularly important for urban adaptation.     

基于景感生态学的工业遗弃地景感营造综合体系研究——以景德镇市为例

资源枯竭带来的城市问题,已经成为影响资源枯竭型城市建设和经济社会发展的紧迫问题,现有资源枯竭型城市在产业转型、城市发展上所采用的策略,缺乏将生态系统可持续发展与城市自身文化的挖掘和经济社会发展需求满足相结合。景感生态学以实现生态系统和人类社会可持续发展为愿景,以"人"为核心,以"感"为途径和手段,以土地利用及其物质空间要素的改变最大化的增进人类福祉,其理论与方法对资源枯竭型城市转型发展具有较高的适用性。梳理了资源枯竭型城市研究进展及问题,同时对景感生态学理论基础及适用性进行分析阐述。经研究发现,以景感生态学理论为指导,对资源枯竭城市进行景感营造,对资源枯竭城市的未来发展具有重要意义。为实现工业遗弃地的景感营造,首先系统化对工业遗弃地综合体系构成进行梳理,并对工业遗弃地景感营造趋善化模型进行构建,将社会、经济、生态环境要素与土地利用紧密结合,是景感生态学在城市土地利用及物质空间改造上的创新性运用,具有很强的可操作性。并以景德镇为例,研究了景德镇在传统工业体系造成的景感失调情况下,如何遵循景感营造的方位顺脉性、物理感知系统性、不同文化差异性、时空组合的多尺度性和营造过程渐进性等基本原则,对...     

中国超大城市土地利用状况及其生态系统服务动态演变

随着城市的快速发展,城市用地及其生态服务功能也在不断发生变化。近十几年间,中国城市发展迅速,超大规模城市的土地利用以及生态系统服务动态演变的一般特征以及差异值得关注。研究以中国1995年非农业人口超过200万的9个超大城市为研究对象(包括上海、北京、天津、重庆、南京、西安、哈尔滨、武汉和广州),对各城市不同用地类型在1995年至2008年这一阶段的利用动态度进行分析。然后以用地结构和谢高地等^[1]提出的大陆生态系统服务价值当量表为基础估算了城市土地生态系统服务价值,并且对城市土地利用结构与生态系统服务之间的关系进行了分析。最后为证明研究结果可信,对每种用地类型对单位面积生态系统服务价值系数的依赖性进行了敏感性分析。结果表明,9个超大城市用地结构变化趋势总体一致, 主要缩减地类为农田和水体,增长地类为建设用地、林地和城市绿地。单位面积生态系统服务价值量1995年总体范围为4996-8854元/hm²,排序为广州>武汉>哈尔滨>南京>西安>天津>北京>上海>重庆,2008年范围为4746-8777元/hm²,排序为广州>哈尔滨>西安>上海>重庆>北京>武汉>南京>天津,各城市均值由1995年的7189元/hm²降到2008年的6987元/hm²。人均享有生态系统服务价值量1995年总体范围为284-7983元/人,排序为哈尔滨>西安>北京>广州>武汉>南京>天津>重庆>上海,2008年范围为305-4538元/人,排序为哈尔滨>重庆>西安>广州>武汉>北京>南京>天津>上海,各城市平均值由1995年的1677元/人降到2008年的1230元/人。超大城市土地生态系统服务动态演变的一致特征是人均享有生态系统服务价值下降,主要减弱的生态系统服务为水文调节和粮食生产,增强的服务为娱乐文化和废物处理,而单位面积生态系统服务价值与生态系统服务结构9个城市之间存在差异。敏感性分析结果显示所有土地类型的敏感度指数皆小于1,证明研究结果可信。研究结果说明城市可持续发展主要面临的问题之一是建设用地无序扩张和各类生态用地的配置不均衡,可为中国迅速城市化的新兴大型城市的生态建设提供参考和指导。     

北京市4种城市功能区森林植被涵养水源功能评价及价值估算

本研究对北京市首都功能核心区、城市功能拓展区、城市发展新区和生态涵养发展区进行林分涵养水源功能评价及价值估算,旨在探究提升城市功能区森林水源涵养功能较优林分配置模式。结果表明：（1）北京市森林植被面积2009年为4.00×10⁵ hm²,2014年为4.59×10⁵ hm²,北京市NDVI平均值2009年为0.331,2014年为0.708,北京市森林植被面积总体呈增加趋势。北京市2014年林地绿化调节水量较2009年降低了近1/3,2014年水源涵养功能价值量较2009年分别减少了22.08%和8.24%。（2）生态涵养发展区水源涵养功能年平均能力最强（2.88×10⁸ m³/a）,城市发展新区水源涵养功能年平均能力次之（1.72×10⁸ m³/a）,而首都功能核心区水源涵养功能年平均能力相对最弱,仅1.05×10⁶ m³/a。在针叶林、阔叶林和混交林三种林分类型中,2014年混交林水源涵养功能价值量较2009年增加5.13%,而阔叶林和针叶林分别减少34.93%和55.55%。（3）培育纯林,提高森林覆盖率,对于调节水土资源和保护生态环境具有非常重要的生态意义,而从森林水源涵养功能实物量和价值量考虑,认为混交林比纯林具有更强的水源涵养功能和较优的经济价值。在城市特定的条件下,建立生态与景观相协调的人工植物群落使城市土地资源的利用达到生态、社会、经济三大效益的最佳结合,是提高城市绿地质量的关键所在。     

Computer programs for modeling mammalian cell batch and fed-batch cultures using logistic equations

A MATLAB^® toolbox was developed for applying the logistic modeling approach to mammalian cell batch and fed-batch cultures. The programs in the toolbox encompass sensitivity analyses and simulations of the logistic equations in addition to cell specific rate estimation. The toolbox was first used to generate time courses of the sensitivity equations for characterizing the relationship between the logistic variable and the model parameters. Subsequently, the toolbox was used to describe CHO cell data from batch and fed-batch mammalian cell cultures. Cell density, product, glucose, lactate, glutamine, and ammonia data were analyzed for the batch culture while fed-batch analysis included cell density and product concentration. In all instances, experimental data were well described by the logistic equations and the resulting specific rate profiles were representative of the underlying cell physiology. The 6-variable batch culture data set was also used to compare the logistic specific rates with those from polynomial fitting and discrete derivative methods. The polynomial specific rates grossly misrepresented cell behavior in the initial and final stages of culture while those based on discrete derivatives had high variability due to computational artifacts. The utility of logistic specific rates to guide process development activities was demonstrated using specific protein productivity versus growth rate trajectories for the 3 cultures examined in this study. Overall, the computer programs developed in this study enable rapid and robust analysis of data from mammalian cell batch and fed-batch cultures which can help process development and metabolic flux estimation.     

生态保护红线区干扰退化风险评价——以安徽省为例

评估生态保护红线斑块受人类干扰的潜在退化风险,可为差异化、精细化的红线监管方案拟定提供科学依据。以安徽省域为例,基于InVEST模型,定量分析了2017年农田、城镇、矿区、交通干线等风险源对红线内各生境受体的干扰退化风险度。结论如下:全省和红线内受人类干扰退化风险由高到低的生境类型依次是农田、草地、湿地和林地。生态保护红线内人类干扰退化风险较全省平均水平更低。全省整体干扰退化风险指数呈现"北高南低"的格局。高风险区集中在合肥城区、芜马城区、淮蚌城区周边,两淮矿区及周边,低风险区则主要分布在皖西和皖南山区、巢湖湖区、沿江沿淮湖区等。干扰退化风险较高的红线斑块主要为合肥北部淠河——滁河干渠和董大水库水源地红线,铜陵市郊区棋盘山红线,长江干流芜马段自然岸线红线,淮河干流淮蚌段水体及岸线红线,阜阳城区颍河及周边湿地红线,皇藏峪西部宿淮交界处山体红线,宿州市砀山县城区东南部红线等,建议重点监管,防控人类干扰导致的生态风险。     

Tree Productivity Enhanced with Conversion from Forest to Urban Land Covers

Urban areas are expanding, changing the structure and productivity of landscapes. While some urban areas have been shown to hold substantial biomass, the productivity of these systems is largely unknown. We assessed how conversion from forest to urban land uses affected both biomass structure and productivity across eastern Massachusetts. We found that urban land uses held less than half the biomass of adjacent forest expanses with a plot level mean biomass density of 33.5 ± 8.0 Mg C ha^-1. As the intensity of urban development increased, the canopy cover, stem density, and biomass decreased. Analysis of Quercus rubra tree cores showed that tree-level basal area increment nearly doubled following development, increasing from 17.1 ± 3.0 to 35.8 ± 4.7 cm² yr^-1. Scaling the observed stem densities and growth rates within developed areas suggests an aboveground biomass growth rate of 1.8 ± 0.4 Mg C ha^-1 yr^-1, a growth rate comparable to nearby, intact forests. The contrasting high growth rates and lower biomass pools within urban areas suggest a highly dynamic ecosystem with rapid turnover. As global urban extent continues to grow, cities consider climate mitigation options, and as the verification of net greenhouse gas emissions emerges as critical for policy, quantifying the role of urban vegetation in regional-to-global carbon budgets will become ever more important.     

Is urban green space per capita a valuable target to achieve cities’ sustainability goals? Romania as a case study

Urban green infrastructure is considered to be a key element in improving quality of life and creating an appropriate framework for sustainable cities. The most used quantitative indicator to assess urban green infrastructure is urban green space (UGS) per capita. This papeŕs aim is to analyze whether UGS is a valuable target to achieve cities’ sustainability goals. We used Romania as a case study, which should meet the target of 26 m² of UGS per inhabitants in all cities. Aerial images were used to extract the surface of the UGS categories for a sample of 38 cities in Romania. We compared our data with three other databases (National Institute of Statistics, Environmental Protection Agencies and Urban Atlas) to check for differences. To understand the contribution of geographic and socio-economic factors to the dynamic of the UGS per capita in Romania’s cities, we used a multiple linear regression. To identify differences between cities in terms of their proportions of UGS, multiple correspondence analysis was performed. We found significant differences between the surface of UGS reported by the administrative offices and that resulting from the spatial analysis. The process of reporting UGS data currently has methodological and perspective shortcomings. Moreover, the density of the built-up space, the proximity to major transport infrastructure, the cities’ founding period and the geomorphology criteria are important predictors for the UGS. The target of 26 m² of green area per inhabitant in all Romanian cities is not feasible and it should consider the cities’ characteristics, if you want to achieve sustainability goals. Urban green planning should focus more on the development of urban green infrastructure models that are adapted to each type of urban area.     

中国城市低碳发展水平评估方法研究

城市低碳发展水平评估对推动城市可持续发展,提高城市应对气候变化能力具有重要意义。基于低碳城市理念和内涵,构建了由6类(碳排放、经济发展、社会进步、交通、人居环境和自然环境)、13个具体指标组成的城市低碳发展评价指标体系及综合评价指数,并结合中国35个城市2010—2015年社会经济发展数据,对参评城市的低碳发展水平及趋势进行评价与分析。结果表明:多数参评城市的低碳发展水平呈现上升的趋势,其中,城市低碳发展水平最高和最低城市名单无明显变化,且深圳市在2010年和2015年均为低碳发展水平最高的城市。与2010年相比,杭州市、银川市、郑州市、石家庄市和昆明市的城市低碳发展指数相对持平,而成都市、长沙市、合肥市和大连市有所下降。城市低碳发展水平较低可能是由于城市碳排放、经济、社会、交通、人居环境和自然环境等方面之间协调发展程度不够造成的。最后,对如何提高我国城市低碳发展水平给出了对策和建议。     

城市可持续规划中的生态敏感区避让分析——以丽江市为例

为促进城市可持续发展,在科学合理规划城市空间格局的基础上,应突出强调保护原有特色生态环境要素,保育生态系统服务功能和原住民人居环境。作为世界文化遗产,丽江城市面貌在过去数十年发生了深刻变化,城市用地显著扩张,同时严峻的环境问题对城市可持续发展提出挑战。以丽江市为例,选取对其发展影响深远的水系元素、噪声环境因子和森林火灾3个关键生态敏感因子,提出通过分析这类生态敏感区在城市规划过程中的避让方法、程度,区划城市规划基本空间格局,以避免城市未来因生态环境问题突出而制约其发展的规划用地思路。结果表明,丽江城区周边湖泊水系、古城内部及周边原住民人口密集区都是保障城市可持续发展的生态保护重点地区,在城市用地规划中必须予以避让;该区域面积为147.2 km2,占研究区面积的11.1%。同时,明确给出了规划用地的具体空间控制范围和相应的避让原则。     

Female meiosis in wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana and in two meiotic mutants

Female meiosis in Arabidopsis has been analysed cytogenetically using an adaptation of a technique previously applied to male meiosis. Meiotic progression was closely correlated with stages of floral development, including the length and morphology of the gynoecium. Meiosis in embryo sac mother cells (EMCs) occurs later in development than male meiosis, in gynoecia that range in size between 0.3 and 0.8 mm. The earliest stages in EMCs coincide with the second division to tetrad stages in pollen mother cells. However, the details of meiotic chromosome behaviour in EMCs correspond closely to the observations we have previously made in male meiosis. In addition, BrdU labelling coupled with an immunolocalisation detection system was used to mark the S phase in cells preceding their entry into prophase I. These techniques allow female meiotic stages of Arabidopsis to be analysed in detail, from the S-phase through to the tetrad stage, and are shown to be equally applicable to the analysis of female meiosis in meiotic mutants. Received: 3 April 2000 / Revision accepted: 2 August 2000     

Profiling urban vulnerabilities to climate change: An indicator-based vulnerability assessment for European cities

Governing climate change in cities entails a good understanding of urban vulnerabilities. This research presents an Indicator-based Vulnerability Assessment for 571 European cities. Basing on panel data from Urban Audit database and a set of newly developed indicators, we assessed urban vulnerabilities for the following impact chains: (i) heatwaves on human health; (ii) drought on water planning, and; (iii) flooding (sub-divided into pluvial, fluvial and coastal) on the socio-economic tissue and the urban fabric. Results shed light on the key challenges that specific groups of European cities face in order to better deal with the expected impacts of climate change. This knowledge is a necessary step to advance in the understanding of urban risks to climate change and the development of effective EU policies for urban adaptation.     

A kinetic intermediate that regulates proper folding of a group II intron RNA

The D135 group II intron ribozyme follows a unique folding pathway that is direct and appears to be devoid of kinetic traps. During the earliest stages of folding, D135 collapses slowly to a compact intermediate, and all subsequent assembly events are rapid. Collapse of intron domain 1 (D1) has been shown to limit the rate constant for D135 folding, although the specific substructure of the D1 kinetic intermediate has not yet been identified. Employing time-resolved nucleotide analog interference mapping, we have identified a cluster of atoms within the D1 main stem that control the rate constant for D135 collapse. Functional groups within the κ-ζ element are particularly important for this earliest stage of folding, which is intriguing given that this same motif also serves later as the docking site for catalytic domain 5. More important, the κ-ζ element is shown to be a divalent ion binding pocket, indicating that this region is a Mg²⁺-dependent switch that initiates the cascade of D135 folding events. By measuring the Mg²⁺ dependence of the compaction rate constant, we conclude that the actual rate-limiting step in D1 compaction involves the formation of an unstable folding intermediate that is captured by the binding of Mg²⁺. This carefully orchestrated folding pathway, in which formation of an active-site docking region is early and rate limiting, ensures proper folding of the intron core and faithful splicing. It may represent an important paradigm for the folding of large, multidomain RNA molecules.     

区域尺度城镇扩张的情景模拟与生态效应——以广西西江经济带为例

以快速城镇化的广西西江经济带为案例区,以生态重要性和开发建设适宜性为情景、利用最小累积阻力模型对城镇扩张进行模拟,进而从区域生态系统服务功能变化角度定量分析两种情景的生态效应差异。结果表明,经济带东西两翼地区生态重要性较高,中部地区开发建设适宜性较高。中小城镇在生态重要性情景中获得了较大的发展机遇,而大城市在开发建设适宜性情景下扩张更快。相同扩张强度下,生态重要性情景的区域生态系统服务功能总量下降较少,除食物生产功能外的其他各项服务功能呈现类似格局。随着扩张强度增加,两种情景下生态系统服务功能下降量之间的差异逐渐增大,从0.5%强度下的1.09亿元增大到10.0%强度下的4.05亿元。基于生态重要性的扩张情景对于保护生态环境、维持开发与保护之间的平衡更加有利,是一种相对合理的扩张方式。为开展区域层面城镇扩张情景模拟分析提供了参考,也为未来调控城镇扩展格局提供了优化情景和科学依据。     

Adaptability and vulnerability of high flying Neotropical aerial insectivorous bats to urbanization

Aim Urbanization is a dominant demographic trend throughout the world that involves massive habitat alterations. Understanding how urbanization affects biota is a crucial prerequisite for development and application of effective species conservation programmes. Our study focuses on Neotropical high flying aerial insectivorous bats, an ecologically important, but so far seriously understudied group of vertebrates. Location Panama. Methods Using acoustic monitoring, we assessed and compared species occurrence, composition and activity of aerial insectivorous bats at three site categories located on the isthmus in Panama: forest, urban areas and a forest–town interface. Results In 2 years of field work, we recorded 44,744 bat passes over the microphone and identified a total of 25 aerial insectivorous bat species. Species richness was highest in the forest, decreased towards the forest–town interface and was lowest at the urban sites, while dominance (Berger‐Parker‐Index) increased from the forest to the urban sites. Overall, general bat activity (passes min^?1) was highest at the forest–town interface and lowest at the urban sites. Multivariate analysis suggests compositional differences in species occurrence and activity among site categories with mainly molossid species occurring in urban areas. Main conclusions Our results clearly demonstrate species‐specific differences between high flying aerial insectivorous bats concerning their adaptability and vulnerability to urban areas. Our results suggest that a suite of morphological traits including species mobility determine persistence of aerial insectivorous species in cities. Our results underline the necessity for detailed assessments of species‐specific habitat requirements and dynamics of species occurrence and activity over time to develop meaningful conservation tools targeted at aerial insectivorous bats.