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

How the Rose-Ringed Parakeet Conquered the Western World

https://mforamsterdam.com/the-green-invaders/

“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 cacophony of sounds. I had never seen or heard them before, but suddenly there they... Continue Reading →

April 4, 2025 0

Domestic cats in Urban Environments: Should an Invasive Apex Predator be allowed to stay on the hunt?

Domestic Cats (Felis silvestris catus; Felis catus) are a human commensal, said to have started their relationship with us during the era of the first settled farmers (approx. 12.000 years ago) within the Fertile Crescent region of the middle east.1 We took them into our homes and slowly transformed them into the royalty that a lot... Continue Reading →

April 29, 2024 0

Is urban plant phenology and physiology understudied when it comes to artificial light at night?

Increasing artificial light In recent decades, the urban population has grown exponentially worldwide, with the expectation that the urban population will continue to increase the next decades. As cities expand, so does the reliance on artificial light sources to illuminate the night. This increases the visibility for humans when it is dark, but it can... Continue Reading →

April 24, 2024 0

The many consequences of urbanization on an endemic Cuban lizard

As urbanization continues to reshape landscapes, its effects on wildlife have become a subject of growing concern. In the unique context of Cuba, a recent study focused on an endemic lizard species, Anolis homolechis, found in both natural and suburban environments. This in-depth study relied on adapted tracking methods deployed over several years and explored... Continue Reading →

February 8, 2024 0

Student Media Highlight: Life in the City mini-documentary

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 →

January 16, 2024 0

Behavioral Differences Among Individuals of Rural and Urban Shrews

In response to human impact on the environment—from increased light, sound, air, and water pollution, to higher levels of interaction with humans—organisms must adapt to novel conditions in order to survive. One area in which organisms adapt is behavior. von Merton et. al. (2022) explores how the behavior and personality of two shrew species (Crocidura... Continue Reading →

September 6, 2023 0

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 →

June 23, 2023 1

New Lit Alert: Influence of habitat type and distance from source area on bird taxonomic and functional diversity in a Neotropical megacity

Influence of habitat type and distance from source area on bird taxonomic and functional diversity in a Neotropical megacity Marcos Antônio Melo, Patrícia Mara Sanches, Demóstenes F. Silva Filho & Augusto João Piratelli Abstract The Neotropical region has been subjected to massive urbanization, which poses high risks for some global biodiversity hotspots and losses of... Continue Reading →

January 30, 2023 0

Urban Observation: Clash of the Titans

a red-tailed hawk and peregrine falcon clash in the sky

While huddled up in a nook on my apartment's rooftop, camera set up and aimed at the skies above, I briefly witnessed a skirmish between a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus). I was able to document the interaction above my head with the featured image above. I feel so honored... Continue Reading →

January 12, 2023 0

New Lit Alert: Skyscrapers as Ecological Traps of the Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae): Preliminary Observations

the side of a building, with many Spotted Lanternfly corpses scattered on the sidewalk

Skyscrapers as Ecological Traps of the Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae): Preliminary Observations Kenneth D. Frank & Gregory W. Cowper Abstract Since its introduction to North America from Asia in 2014, the spotted lanternfly has emerged as a pest in rural and suburban settings. In downtown Philadelphia we found adults of the spotted lanternfly... Continue Reading →

December 28, 2022 0

New Lit Alert: Cryptic eco-evolutionary feedback in the city: Urban evolution of prey dampens the effect of urban evolution of the predator

Cryptic eco-evolutionary feedback in the city: Urban evolution of prey dampens the effect of urban evolution of the predator Kristien I. Brans, Nedim Tüzün, Arnaud Sentis, Luc De Meester, Robby Stoks Abstract Most research on eco-evolutionary feedbacks focuses on ecological consequences of evolution in a single species. This ignores the fact that evolution in response... Continue Reading →

December 6, 2022 0

New Lit Alert: Unexpected dispersal of Australian brush-turkeys (Alectura lathami) in an urban landscape

Unexpected dispersal of Australian brush-turkeys (Alectura lathami) in an urban landscape MATTHEW J. HALL, JOHN M. MARTIN, ALICIA L. BURNS, AND DIETER F. HOCHULI Abstract Australian brush-turkeys (Alectura lathami) are atypical urban colonising birds due to their poor flight and dispersal ability, ground foraging and nesting behaviour, and lack of parental care for their chicks.... Continue Reading →

November 24, 2022 0

Urbanization and the Avian Endocrine System

In a previous post titled Meta-analysis of Urban Bird Phenology, we discussed how urban conditions have affected the average value of phenology and reproductive phenotypes in bird species. Capilla-Lasheras et al. found that urban bird populations had lower values than their non-urban conspecifics for three life-history traits, indicating earlier lay dates, smaller clutch sizes, and... Continue Reading →

November 18, 2022 0

Tag: Urban ecology