New Lit Alert: Different traits shape winners and losers in urban bird assemblages across seasons

Different traits shape winners and losers in urban bird assemblages across seasons Riccardo Alba, Fabio Marcolin, Giacomo Assandri, Luca Ilahiane, Francesca Cochis, Mattia Brambilla, Diego Rubolini & Dan Chamberlain Abstract Urbanisation is a major driver of global biodiversity decline, profoundly affecting animal communities. While most studies on bird communities have primarily focused on the breeding season, we aimed to identify species responses and... Continue Reading →

May 30, 2025 0

Swimming through concrete: how the platypus adapts to city life

The platypus: a peculiar mix of DNA The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), a well known monotreme from Australia, is an animal that defies one’s imagination. With a bill like a duck, tail like a beaver and feet like an otter’s, this creature is a peculiar sight to see. Its life cycle is even more marvellous: the... Continue Reading →

May 28, 2025 0

The effects of noise and light pollution on Australian Black Swans (Cygnus atratus)

Urban environments, also known as concrete jungles, are the most rapidly growing type of environment of the current time. They force not only the landscape, but also its inhabitants, to adapt to the completely different rules that come with living in a human-made and human-populated area. The involvement of humans has historically been a very... Continue Reading →

May 26, 2025 0

New Lit Alert: Reduced thermoregulatory ability contributes to increased mortality in urban box turtles (Terrapene spp.)

Reduced thermoregulatory ability contributes to increased mortality in urban box turtles (Terrapene spp.) Stella F. Uiterwaal, Jamie L. Palmer, Saima Farook, Sharon L. Deem, Catherine Taylor, Stephen Blake Abstract Urban wildlife often shows pronounced differences in ecology, behavior, and survival compared to rural individuals. Given the broad impacts of temperature in ecology, thermal discrepancies between cities... Continue Reading →

May 23, 2025 0

The Effect of Feral Cats on Urban Wildlife

When people consider the causes of the decline in bird or small mammal populations most will first think of pesticides or vehicle deaths. However, one of the biggest threats to these birds and mammals may actually be our own dear pet cats. Domestic cats (Felis catus) contribute significantly to the decline in urban wildlife. Cats... Continue Reading →

May 22, 2025 0

The Superpowers of Urban Rats: How urban life transforms rodents

Our typical urban rats, mainly brown rats (Rattus norvegicus), have undergone adaptations that enable them to thrive in urban environments. These adaptations distinguish urban rats from their wild relatives and highlight the impact of urbanization on species evolution. Genetic evolution and neighborhood adaptations In cities like New York City (NYC), with a rat population estimated... Continue Reading →

May 21, 2025 0

Bees below our feet: How pavement can host a diversity of nesting bees

Pollinator decline is significant problem we are currently facing. Many studies have shown a drastic decrease of insects, including pollinators (Hallmann et al., 2017). Not only is this the loss of unique species and detrimental to ecosystem functioning, but pollination is also an ecosystem service important for production of many crops (Vanbergen et al., 2013).... Continue Reading →

May 20, 2025 0

Artificial light at night may make African mouse species vulnerable

When thinking about a city at night, chances are that you include some twinkling streetlights in your mental image. Billboards, streetlamps, and neon signs are no novel presence to city dwellers. These light sources are in technical terms called artificial lights at night, or ALAN for short. While thinking about a city at night can... Continue Reading →

May 18, 2025 0

Urban acts of defiance: Tiny flowers thriving in concrete jungles

The harsh, brutal urban environment is increasing. In Europe, the Netherlands ranks as one of the countries with the lowest forest cover (10%), with wooden forests being replaced by concrete jungles. Seas of asphalt, bricks and cement dominate as ground cover, while masoned walls provide shade. The sun's warmth, absorbed by the black asphalt, is... Continue Reading →

May 16, 2025 0

They Know Who You Are: How City Animals Recognize People

In the heart of the city, dominated by human-made material, animals face more than cars and concrete—they face humans. And to survive, some of them have developed a surprising skill: reading human behaviour and recognizing people. They learn who feeds them, who ignores them, and most importantly, who poses a threat to them. They need... Continue Reading →

May 15, 2025 0

New Lit Alert: Colourful Urban Birds: Bird Species Successful in Urban Environments Have More Elaborate Colours and Less Brown

Juan Diego Ibáñez-Álamo, Kaspar Delhey, Lucía Izquierdo, Mihai Valcu, Bart Kempenaers Juan Diego Ibáñez-Álamo and Kaspar Delhey shared first authors. Abstract Rapidly expanding urbanisation presents significant challenges to wildlife. Consequently, many studies have investigated the impact of urbanisation on diverse organisms. However, despite the ecological relevance of animal colouration, its association with urbanisation remains poorly understood. Using a global... Continue Reading →

May 2, 2025 0

Hidden Biodiversity: Lichens in the city

Physcia adscendens colony on tree bark in the middle of the city (Leiderdorp, the Netherlands)

In urban ecology, a lot of attention has been paid to groups such as birds and trees and how they adapt to life in the human hive, but an often-neglected group are the lichens. These easily overlooked species are developing in their own way in the human dominated urban habitat. All lichens are a symbiotic... Continue Reading →

April 30, 2025 0

Coyotes as Proxy for Urban Evolution

Urbanization has been ever increasing since the start of the industrial revolution and has shown no signs of slowing down. This has lead to cities growing bigger and bigger and thereby imposing new selection pressures on the animals in them. However, quantifying the effects of anthropogenic selection pressures has proven difficult for non-model species due... Continue Reading →

April 25, 2025 0

New Lit Alert! Melanic urban hedgehogs!

Published April 10, 2025 in Mammal Research: Melanin-based colouration in European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus): is it under selection in urban environments? Isabelle Defosseux, Cécile le Barzic, Pascal Arné, Grégory Jouvion & Julien Gasparini Abstract: Urbanisation is currently expanding at small and global scales, forcing several species to adapt to this new environment. In this context,... Continue Reading →

April 25, 2025 0

Relaxing Chipmunks in Urban Areas

The eastern chipmunk in urban environment.

The human population around the world keeps growing. With that growth existing cities are expanding and new ones are being built. The urban landscape is a relatively new environment with different ecological and environmental conditions compared to rural areas. Environmental pressures in cities affect humans and wild animals alike, for example artificial light at night... Continue Reading →

April 17, 2025 0

Life in the City