This session will feature a combination of speakers representing the growing field of urban ecology and conservation science research in the USA. Following brief introductory remarks by the moderator (c. 5 min), we envision a series of talks (15 min each), showcasing cutting-edge ecological research spanning levels of organization from molecules to entire ecosystems, as well as social research aimed at integrating human and natural systems in urban regions. The session will be divided into two sections, with earlier speakers focusing on the conservation, research and educational/outreach opportunities that urban ecosystems provide, and featuring a variety of new research approaches. Later talks will discuss the potential for linking these ecological components of urban landscapes with social systems to facilitate sustainability in human-dominated landscapes. The first speaker (Katti) will illustrate the potential for using behavioral and evolutionary approaches in urban ecological research and biodiversity conservation. The second talk (Munshi-South) will present new molecular genetics approaches to mammalian conservation in urban regions, and will highlight the unique opportunities available in these areas for merging ecological research with education/outreach. The third talk (Gormezano) will introduce new methods in urban carnivore research, including the use of scat detection dogs. Following these molecular, individual and population-level perspectives on urban ecological research will be a synthetic talk describing past efforts and recent advances in our ability to understand and predict the community-level responses of natural systems to increasing urbanization (Blair). The second section of the session will focus on the potential of human-dominated systems for integrating ecological and social issues to achieve sustainability. This section will open with our fifth speaker (Machlis), who will introduce the Human-Ecosystem Model and its application for environmental and social problem-solving in urban regions. This talk will be followed by a case-study approach to merging ecological research with education and outreach, featuring urban carnivore research in New York (Weckel). The final speaker (Morse) will highlight new perspectives on integrating ecological and social systems to achieve global sustainability.