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Using DNA sequencing, the origins of one of the world’s most common insects, the German cockroach, have been traced back to Asia. Learning more about this urban pest can help us fight it effectively.
European colonizers brought mice to the Americas, where they squeaked out a comfortable life.
Dejan Kolar/iStock Collection via Getty Images Plus
An evolutionary biologist is studying what these resilient urban pests can teach us about adaptation and evolution.
Dot-underwing moth (Eudocima materna ) found in the researchers’ yard.
Matthew Holden
An ecologist, a mathematician and a taxonomist were locked down together in a suburban house. So they counted all the species of plants and animals they could find.
A global study of urban clover reveals that it is adapting quickly to city life.
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Animals and plants living in cities are more likely to thrive when they are able to quickly adapt to urban conditions.
A coyote on a golf course in Scottsdale, Ariz., June 19, 2011.
Dru Bloomfield/Flickr
Urban coyotes prey on rodents and spread plant seeds. It’s OK to observe them from a distance, but then you should chase them off.
Litter after recent looting in Durban, South Africa. The city recently introduced a scheme that looks to protect biodiversity and associated ecosystems.
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Urban ecosystem services sustain life but aren’t well protected.
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There’s enormous value in citizen science projects that encourage urban-dwellers to learn about what is often, quite literally, on their doorsteps.
Urban green spaces are essential for the well-being of both human and and non-human residents of a city.
As we look beyond a world besieged by Covid-19, the relationship between humans and nature in our cities must be shaped and reclaimed.
Part of the answer to a more functional and sustainable city may lie in your garden.
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Cities are among the harshest habitats on Earth. But when planned properly, private gardens can help improve their liveability.
EPA-EFE/Ronald Witte
Plague-wary Londoners tolerated mischievous red kites and ravens for their services to the city’s sanitation.
Several large cities have set ambitious targets for increasing their tree canopy. The city of Montréal has adopted an action plan that aims to plant 185,000 trees by 2025.
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To protect urban trees, it’s important to reduce the impact from construction. Advance planning and close supervision can help.
Peter Byrne/PA
Greenwashing spin is often used to justify chopping down mature street trees.
Donatas Dabravolskas / shutterstock
Scientists find inequality between humans also harms the birds, the bees, the microbes and the trees.
Blue tits are regulars at the garden bird feeder.
Mark Fellowes
Domestic gardens offer an oasis for urban wildlife, and are a sight for sore eyes during lockdown.
‘Today, the pond. Tomorrow, the world!’
Patrick Robert Doyle/Unsplash
With wild boar in Barcelona and coyotes in San Francisco, the lockdown has transformed concrete jungles worldwide.
Cities around the world appear to be harboring increasing numbers of rats, including this one: the inflatable ‘Scabby the Rat.’
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Cities often embark upon drastic and expensive eradication campaigns designed to rapidly rid the city of pests like rats. But are the surviving rats stronger or weaker than before?
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A film about Cape Town’s environmental resources features a cast as diverse as breakdancers and wetland activists - and is being used as a study aid globally.
A drain carries water but does little else, but imagine how different the neighbourhood would be if the drain could be transformed into a living stream.
Zoe Myers
Drains take up precious but inaccessible open space in our cities. Converting these to living streams running through the suburbs could make for healthier places in multiple ways.
Phil Kieran / shutterstock
Formby is one of the only remaining urban areas in England where red squirrels can be found at all.
Owen Humphreys/PA
These agile and unfussy animals are well-placed to exploit all the food we leave lying around.