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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…
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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…
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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…
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Hidden Biodiversity: Lichens in the city
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…
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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.…
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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…
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Relaxing Chipmunks in Urban Areas
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…
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How the Rose-Ringed Parakeet Conquered the Western World
“Dad, what are those birds? I’ve never seen them before” I remember asking my dad when I was younger. We were outside having a barbecue and for the first time, I noticed several green birds flying overhead accompanied by a…
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