Avian Urbanites: Which Birds Can Make it in the Urban Jungle?
Specific traits – including longevity, small size, and having a broad diet – predict whether birds will thrive in urban environments
Read moreSpecific traits – including longevity, small size, and having a broad diet – predict whether birds will thrive in urban environments
Read moreThough you may expect to only spot wildlife in natural areas such as parks, urban animal visitors are likely more common than you’d think! What kind of animals might be spotted in human-dominated areas, and how do they interact with our backyards?
Read moreIn the spring of 2020, we all dealt with lockdowns in a different way. In urban parks, animals were suddenly exposed to a world without humans, and this disrupted ongoing urban ecology experiments. But resourceful ecologists used the sudden silence near businesses and the uptick of outdoor recreation to understand how shifting human behaviors change timing and duration of chirping urban crickets.
Read moreAndersson, E. J. Langemeyer, S. Borgström, T. McPhearson, D. Haase, J. Kronenberg, D.N. Barton, M. Davis, S. Naumann, L. Röschel,
Read moreLichens are indicators of air pollution and ecosystem health. In London parks, researchers found that historical pollution may have decreased the lichen diversity. Sulfur emissions from the Industrial Revolution and modern nitrogen emissions stall the growth of lichens on urban trees hinting at larger effects on ecosystem health.
Read moreEnvironmental conditions can change quite quickly. In this case, due to the global pandemic of COVID-19 we’ve all been wearing masks when we venture outside. How might this sudden change in our appearance affect animals that frequently live amongst us? Find out how Eurasian tree sparrows responded to wearing masks in two provinces of Sichuan, China.
Read moreHow connected are our farms to our cities? If you are a flying fungus, they may be very connected! In a new study, researchers from De Paul University found fungi from the soil on the rooftops of Chicago and wondered why. It turns out, small fungal spores can travel from agricultural fields through the air into the cities and form friendships with the city-dwelling plants. Understanding how these spores move from agriculture to cities could help researchers develop new insight of the urban ecosystem.
Read moreUrban trees provide many ecosystem services to residents, but tree cover can be unequally distributed, resulting in fewer benefits for disadvantaged neighborhoods. This is true in the Bronx, where a recent study demonstrates that the distribution of services provided by trees is related to median income as well as population density. Analyzing the inequity of ecosystem services in our cities is the first step towards developing solutions to improve access to ecosystem services and make the distribution of these resources more just.
Read moreAdducci II A, Jasperse J, Riley S, Brown J, Honeycutt R, Monzón J. 2020. Urban coyotes are genetically distinct from
Read moreStudy finds more than 300 plant species growing out of the sidewalks of a single city.
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