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From ancient city builders to city adapters
Around 100 million years ago, long before humans evolved, the first cities were built on earth [1]. Although these cities were not visible from space, they did already influence the world around them. These infrastructures were built by a small…
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When roads split species: Are urban newts evolving apart?
In cities, nature rarely disappears completely, it simply gets rearranged. For the great crested newt (Triturus cristatus), urban landscapes form networks of breeding ponds separated by roads, buildings, and other barriers. At first glance, these ponds may seem like isolated…
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Urban corals are following in the footsteps of pigeons
When you think of animals that thrive in the city, the first thing that comes to mind might be pigeons and raccoons, but certainly not corals. These are the organisms that are widely known to be sensitive to the effects…
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Hitchhiking Intruders: How the Tiger Mosquito is moving into Northern Cities
Imagine returning from a summer holiday in Italy. The warm Mediterranean climate feels far removed from the cool Dutch weather you are used to. Your suitcase is unpacked, your laundry is done, but hidden somewhere inside the car is an…
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If not pet, why pet shaped?
Everyone is familiar with this image, either from popular media or maybe even from real life: you’re walking through a North American city at night and spot a masked face peering out from a dumpster. The Procyon lotor, or also…
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Sponge in the City: a nature-based solution for PFAS pollution?
There is a high likelihood that you have recently used (or at least heard about), products containing PFAS. This chemical group, which is widely used in products such as the coating of non-stick pans, waterproof clothing and firefighting foam, is…
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Bats in Leiden: The night shift nobody talks about
Every evening, about half an hour after sunset, something happens above the canals of Leiden, a city in the Netherlands, that most people miss completely. A tiny shadow darts over the water. Then another. Fast, erratic, impossibly precise. You might…
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An urban fairy-tale: saving butterflies from urbanization
Cities are expanding and the world has become increasingly urbanised in recent decades. Urbanization is a main driver of global biodiversity loss and insect declines due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation of remaining habitat patches (1–3). Butterflies are often…
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