Category: Urban observations
Blog news (3) Books (2) Citizen Science (18) Conference Proceedings (73) Defining Urbanization (6) Guest Post (8) How To (13) Museums/Natural History Collections (3) Natural History Notes (10) New Lit Abstracts (101) New Research (180) New Research Tools (7) Notes from the field (15) Public Outreach (21) Uncategorized (38) Urban Environments (47) Urban Evolution in the Media (11) Urban observations (82) Urban Wildlife (8)
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Our cat’s cousin has returned to the Netherlands!
Our cat’s cousin has returned to the Netherlands! The Netherlands, one of the smallest countries in Europe, is getting wilder! A few days ago,…
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Dealing with relatives and concrete: how to make the city a refuge for wild bees?
Wild bees are declining at alarming rates in rural environments, but cities have the potential to provide habitat for a surprisingly high diversity of…
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Lichens versus Urban Traffic
In my previous blog post I wrote about the beauty and uses of lichens in the city, and I mentioned their use as indicators…
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From Threat to Shelter: How Birds Repurpose Anti-Bird Spikes
Cities are becoming more and more grey, with less and less living biomass. The consequence is that there is not enough natural nesting material…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Gulls are taking over our European cities
Coastal cities in Europe are swarmed with gulls, to the annoyance of many of those cities’ inhabitants. Gulls (Larus spp.) are naturally cliff-nesting species,…
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The rise of Culex molestus: True Urban Evolution or a mere eco-type?
A number of years ago there was quite a lot of media attention regarding a possible case of in situ evolution of Culex pipiens…
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Arms race in the war on raccoons
“Madrid declares war on plague of raccoon and parrot invaders” The Guardian (2013, July 22) “Toronto wages war on Raccoon Nation”The Canadian Press (2015,…
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Urban Paleontology: The Hidden Diversity in Cities
Many of the posts on this blog discuss the wide variety of life you can find in urban environments. But have you ever considered…
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Urbanization and Local History Affect the Saguaro Cactus in the Sonoran Desert
With the rapid expansion of the city, the degradation of the natural environment has gradually aroused widespread concern in society. In recent years, the…
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The fox and the bag: a modern fable
A statue of a fox, as long as 16 meters with a height of over 10 meters, with a bag between its teeth sits…
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Reptiles in the city: Should we welcome our reptilian overlords?
Think about a classic urban species. The first ones that come to mind are usually rats, pigeons and cockroaches. I’d bet that less than…