Our perceptions of wildlife and nature are shaped by the media which highlights. The mold has been set by great figures like David Attenborough, with his memorable narrative voice. However, these documentaries only explored 'pristine' landscapes in far away lands, while ignoring the creatures that must contend with the Urban Jungle. In my first (and... Continue Reading →
Urban Eastern Red-Backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) and a New Kind of Leaf Litter
Lurking beneath the trash laden leaf litter of the 5 boroughs lurks a secretive little amphibian that exemplifies the struggle between the forces of urbanization and the biological need to adapt or face extinction. The Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) is a unique kind of caudate with numerous traits that make it well equipped to... Continue Reading →
Contribute to the New York Canid Project!
The New York Canid Project is a community science study led by Isabella Vinces, a Science research student at Ossining High School. The goal for this study is to determine the effects of coyote populations on previously residing red fox populations in urban and suburban areas throughout New York. To participate, you simply have to... Continue Reading →
From Isolation to Collaboration: How COVID-19 Lockdowns Inspired a Citizen Science Project Illuminating the Wonders of Urban Plant Diversity
By Veerle Langezaal During the Covid-19 lockdowns, a grassroots movement emerged where botanists in France, the UK, and the Netherlands began chalking plant species names on sidewalks. This initiative aimed to educate communities about the ecological importance of these plants, challenging the perception of them as mere weeds. This movement has since evolved into a... Continue Reading →
Urban Environments – A Hidden Insect Biodiversity Hotspot?
Walid-Dani Kaki “In none of his works did Nature show her originality more than in insects”(Pliny the Elder) In recent years we have seen a steady decline in biodiversity, with devastating consequences for the natural world and human populations. The tendency of people to migrate to urban areas has led to their chaotic development at... Continue Reading →
City Nature Challenge
The City Nature Challenge is an annual competition among hundreds of international cities to increase awareness of urban biodiversity. Last year’s challenge totaled 1,694,877 observations, 50,176+ species, and 67,220 participants across 450+ cities worldwide. Check if your city is participating in this year’s challenge! If not, join the global project this year and sign-up your city to participate in 2024’s challenge! This year’s challenge is active starting tomorrow, April 28, to... Continue Reading →
Urban Wildlife in Albuquerque
Check out this video of Zoë Rossman discussing the vibrant and diverse wildlife in Albuquerque, New Mexico! https://twitter.com/ABQcitynature/status/1635393208393023488 Zoë is a wildlife photographer and Ph.D. candidate studying urban coyotes (Canis latrans), and other large mammals, at the University of New Mexico. In 2021, she sat down with Laura Paskus of New Mexico PBS to discuss... Continue Reading →
How the GLUE Animation Came About
“How life adapts to cities around the world” is a 5 minute educational animated film created by Sherry An (myself), a science and medical illuHow the GLUE Animation Came Aboutstrator and designer from Mississauga, Canada. The film uses 3D animation and visual storytelling to share the goals and results of the first GLUE study in... Continue Reading →
What is an urban pest?
Earlier this week I showed you the pair of turkeys lurking in my neighbourhood. I was quite annoyed with them, they blocked my car from getting to my driveway when I really needed to get inside ASAP. These birds yelled at me after I parked, rude. I considered them a pest, a major annoyance to... Continue Reading →
Natural Selection Favors Black Morph of Eastern Gray Squirrel in Cities
Eastern Gray Squirrels, Sciurus carolinensis, are some of the most visible and well-known urban animals in the Northeastern United States. Prior to European settlement of the region, the black morph of S. carolinensis ("melanistic") was much more abundant. Scientists have hypothesized that the dark pelt was advantageous in the old growth forests that used to cover the region.... Continue Reading →
Entomology Conference 2019
Entomology 2019 I recently attended the Entomology Conference in St. Louis, Missouri and here are some of the highlights. I was part of the special symposium "What Everyone Ought to Know about Insect Biodiversity in the Urban Environment" where a number of scientists gave talks and posters about their research related to this topic. Biodiversity... Continue Reading →
Migrating Monarchs in Manhattan
The field of urban evolution is relatively young, but researchers have been fascinated by animal movement through cities for quite some time. Recently, I was perusing the archives of the Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society and came across a note by Sidney Hessel detailing the movements of monarch butterflies through Manhattan. He observed 82 monarchs... Continue Reading →
City Snails Wear Yellow: Urban Heat Island Drives the Evolution of Shell Colour
(I’m writing this the night of the September 20, 2019 Climate Strike. This is merely the consequence of literal months of procrastinating—the paper I am writing about got published in July, and was online as a preprint even before—but it seems sadly appropriate as I am going to talk about adaptation to hotter environments.) If... Continue Reading →
Urban Observation of the Week: Stick Insect in San Diego
A few weeks ago I was in San Diego, California for #ComSciCon19 and walking back to the dorms late in the evening when a friend grabbed me just before I stepped on something. I bent down to get a closer look and found this stick insect. After doing a bit of searching and posting a... Continue Reading →
IUWC 2019: Community Science
This session included three very different community science projects--from otters in Singapore to cats around the world! Otters! Philip Johns, of Yale-NUS College, studies the foraging behaviors in urban smooth-coated otters in Singapore. Singapore is very urban, and all of its waterways are highly modified--similar to those in Los Angeles. Despite this, about 18 families... Continue Reading →