Key Points
Among the species that dominate urban spacespigeons, cockroaches, rats, foxesthese are the most obvious characteristics successful city dwellers have...
By reaching out to experts who had previously published research on the traits of urban animals, and drawing together these researchers data sets, the team then built a bespoke mega-database to compare these four characteristics across more than 5,000 species found in nearly 400 cities around the world..
First, studies about animals and urbanization usually only look at the evolution of one particular species, mostly plants or birds, in one specific location, and this doesnt allow for comparisons across multiple groups of animals in multiple locations..
If you look at the traits animals are adopting to survive in urban environments, you can see how cities could be modified to become more habitable to a wider variety of species..
Armed with knowledge from research like this, these sorts of investments can become better and better at improving urban biodiversity in the futureand make city wildlife about much more than pigeons, rats, and foxes...
