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In an era of increasing urbanization across the planet, understanding how urbanization affects biodiversity and whether or not species will be able to adapt quickly enough to urban environments is critical to conserving biodiversity. We studied the effects of urbanization on genetic diversity, genetic structure, and local adaptation in Tillandsia aeranthos , an epiphytic self-incompatible bromeliad with a high ability to colonize urban habitats. We sampled T. aeranthos along two transects comprising urbanization gradients in South Brazil. We used AFLP markers to genotype 200 individuals and we obtained 971 fragments, of which 100% were polymorphic. We found high levels of genetic diversity and a greater proportion of genetic variation found within populations. We did not find a decrease in genetic diversity with increasing urbanization, as expected if the effects of genetic drift were greater in those urbanized habitats. In each transect, the urban populations were genetically clustered with the non-urban populations, indicating that dispersion by pollen or seed may occur between urban and non-urban populations. The lack of correlation between the outlier loci detected and the index of urbanization found in our study corroborates with other indices of genetic diversity not being affected by urbanization. Our results suggest that gene flow via pollen and seed, combined with high rates of outcrossing, are major determinants of the maintenance of genetic diversity in urban populations of T. aeranthos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we analyzed the variation in cognitive flexibility in the Chimango Caracara (Milvago chimango), across areas with different levels of urbanization. To assess this, we utilized the reversal learning assay which measures the ability to adapt behavior in response to changes in environmental contingencies. We also investigated the impact of neophobia on this variation. All chimangos studied succeeded in acquiring a color-reward association and reverting this learned association when the contingencies changed. Urban chimangos were faster than their rural and suburban counterparts during the initial discrimination and reversal phases. The reversal phase proved to be the most challenging task. The analysis of the errors made during this phase revealed that acquiring a new association (i.e. regressive errors) was challenging for the individuals studied, in comparison to inhibiting a previously learned one (i.e. perseverative errors). Neophobia was found to be lower in urban individuals compared to suburban and rural raptors. Moreover, neophobia showed a correlation with regressive errors during the reversal phase among rural and suburban chimangos, while no such correlation was observed among city-dwelling chimangos. We suggest that neophobia acted as a regulating factor of cognitive flexibility, mainly for individuals expressing relatively high levels of this personality trait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the relative role of different indoor environments in respiratory infections transmission remains unclear, which is crucial for developing targeted nonpharmaceutical interventions. In this study, a total of 2,583,441 influenza-like illness cases tested from 2010 to 2017 in China were identified. An agent-based model was built and calibrated with the surveillance data, to assess the roles of 3 age groups (children <19 years, younger adults 19–60 years, older adults >60 years) and 4 types of indoor environments (home, schools, workplaces, and community areas) in influenza transmission by province with varying urbanization rates. When the urbanization rates increased from 35% to 90%, the proportion of children aged <19 years among influenza cases decreased from 76% to 45%. Additionally, we estimated that infections originating from children decreased from 95.1% (95% confidence interval (CI): 92.7, 97.5) to 59.3% (95% CI: 49.8, 68.7). Influenza transmission in schools decreased from 80.4% (95% CI: 76.5, 84.3) to 36.6% (95% CI: 20.6, 52.5), while transmission in the community increased from 2.4% (95% CI: 1.9, 2.8) to 45.4% (95% CI: 35.9, 54.8). With increasing urbanization rates, community areas and younger adults contributed more to infection transmission. These findings could help the development of targeted public health policies. This article is part of a Special Collection on Environmental Epidemiology. This article is part of a Special Collection on Environmental Epidemiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization often results in biodiversity loss and homogenization, but this result is not universal and there is substantial variability in the spatiotemporal effects of urbanization on wildlife across cities and taxa. Areas with lower population and housing density are some of the fastest-growing regions in the western United States; thus, more research in these areas could offer additional insight into the effects of urbanization on wildlife and the potential importance of wild spaces in maintaining a diverse biotic community surrounding developed areas. To address this need, we conducted a study to identify the effects of urbanization (i.e. housing density) on mammals along a housing density gradient from wilderness to suburbia in Missoula, Montana. We deployed 178 motion-activated trail cameras at random sites within urban/suburban, exurban, rural, and wild regions from May to October 2019 to 2020. We identified all mammals >150 g, then evaluated how housing density influenced: (i) occupancy and (ii) species richness using multispecies occupancy models; (iii) relative abundance using Poisson models; and (iv) diel activity patterns using kernel density estimation and logistic regression. Urbanization was the strongest driver of mammal distribution, with a linear decline in mammal species richness as housing density increased. Urbanization also had strong effects on occupancy and detection rates, with larger-bodied mammals generally having stronger negative associations. Overall, mammal relative abundance was highest in suburban regions; however, this effect was largely driven by White-tailed Deer. Natural environmental factors explained most changes in mammal nocturnal activity; however, urbanization strongly affected nocturnality in some species, with Black Bear and White-tailed Deer becoming more nocturnal and Red Fox and Northern Raccoon becoming less nocturnal as housing density increased. While our study confirms that some mammals can live and thrive in developed areas, it emphasizes the importance of maintaining wild areas for those species that cannot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Low fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in low- and middle-income countries, which is associated with noncommunicable diseases and micronutrient deficiencies, requires food system interventions addressing FV accessibility, affordability, and acceptability. Periodic FV intake monitoring during interventions informs progress toward achieving increased intakes and contributes to understanding the effectiveness of these interventions. Objectives: This study evaluates the trend in FV intake before, during, and after implementation of a set of nutrition-sensitive food system interventions addressing accessibility, affordability, and acceptability to increase FV consumption over a 1-y period in Vietnamese and Nigerian low-income urban and periurban females. Methods: We used the Diet Quality Questionnaire to assess FV food group consumption among 600 Vietnamese (Hanoi) and 610 Nigerian (Ibadan) females before, during, and after the interventions (Vietnam: July 2020-September 2021; Nigeria: November 2020-December 2021). A FV score was compared between exposure groups with (mixed) count modeling. The trend in consumption of individual FV groups was analyzed with mixed logistic regression. Results: The FV score was stable over time, and a small increase was observed after the intervention period especially in Nigeria and in urban Vietnam. A decrease in the total score was observed in periurban Vietnam. Fluctuations were detected in the probability of consumption of individual FV groups over time especially within the fruit groups, probably due to seasonal availability. The degree of exposure could not explain differences in FV intake. Conclusions: We found a marginal increase in the proportion of females consuming FV during the interventions in both countries. The FV score appeared to be a simple, quick, and easy-to-use indicator for monitoring diversity, variety, and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Country- and region-specific estimates of hepatitis B virus (HBV) screening, prevalence, and immunity rates are provided for 202 868 adults from 174 unique countries in a large urban safety-net system. Of these, 41.8% (95% confidence interval, 41.5%–42.0%) were screened, with age-adjusted HBV prevalence of 0.9% (.9%–1.0%); 55.3% (54.9%–55.7%) had immunity testing, and 32.4% (31.9%–33.0%) were immune. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban environments are novel alternative habitats for wildlife. Anthropogenic food resources such as supplemental feeding (SF) are usually abundant, stable across seasons, and sometimes rich in calories. Although anthropogenic food resources could modify the seasonality and composition of the diets of urban animals, previous studies have been limited to qualitative assessments based on stomach content and food remains. Our study compared diet seasonality and niche width between rural and urban populations of Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) in Hokkaido, Japan, using direct observation and stable isotope analysis. We found that dietary seasonality was lower in urban populations than in rural populations. The frequency of seed use was higher throughout the year in urban populations than in rural populations, possibly because of excessive seeds by SF in urban squirrels. Additionally, female body weights of the urban population were higher than those of the rural population. However, this was not true for males. Because high body weight can increase reproductive success in females, it is feasible that diet modification could contribute to population growth in urban squirrels. However, no differences in male body weight were observed, possibly due to energy loss caused by intense male–male competition at feeding sites. Our study highlights the importance of studying the multidimensional effects of anthropogenic foods on wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals within a species often vary in both their problem-solving approach and ability, affecting their capacity to access novel food resources. Testing problem-solving in free-ranging individuals is crucial for understanding the fundamental ecological implications of problem-solving capacity. To examine the factors affecting problem-solving in free-ranging animals, we presented three food-extraction tasks of increasing difficulty to urban common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula). We quantified two measures of problem-solving performance: trial outcome (success/failure) and time to solve and tested the influence of a range of potential drivers, including individual traits (personality, body weight, sex, and age), mechanistic behaviors that quantify problem-solving approach (work time, functional behavior time, behavioral diversity, and flexibility), and prior experience with the puzzles. We found that mechanistic behaviors were key drivers of performance. Individuals displaying greater persistence (higher work and functional behavior time) were more likely to solve a food-extraction task on their first attempt. Individuals also solved problems faster if they were more persistent and had lower behavioral flexibility. Personality indirectly affected time to solve one of the three problems by influencing time allocated to functional behaviors. Finally, adults solved the most difficult problem faster than juveniles. Overall, our study provides rare insight into the drivers underlying the problem-solving performance of wild animals. Such insight could be used to improve management strategies and conservation efforts, such as food or bait deployment, tailored to suit the innovative foraging abilities of target individuals in new and changing environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We documented occurrence and relative abundance (henceforth abundance) of five woodpecker species in 36 forested green spaces in Portland, Oregon (USA), to estimate minimum area requirements (MAR; 0.5 probability of occurrence) and to test for potential influences of green space area and type (heavily treed manicured green spaces vs. undeveloped natural forests), habitat features, and landscape composition on the abundance of woodpeckers. Abundances of all species increased with green space area. Manicured and natural green spaces did not differ in canopy cover or total basal area, but woodpecker abundances were greater in natural than manicured green spaces for all species except Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus). Flickers and Downy Woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) were most abundant, MAR of both were under 1.5 ha, and both were found in essentially all green spaces. Hairy (P. villosus) and Pileated (Dryocopus pileatus) woodpeckers were least abundant, and with MAR of 34 and 51 ha, respectively, exhibited pronounced area sensitivity. Red-breasted Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus ruber) were intermediate in abundance and MAR to the 2 former and 2 latter species. The most important habitat variables associated with variation in abundance among green spaces were the contribution of deciduous trees to the canopy (Downy Woodpecker [+], Pileated Woodpecker [+], and Northern Flicker [-]), canopy cover (Hairy Woodpecker [+] and Northern Flicker [+]), and log density (Hairy Woodpecker [+], Red-breasted Sapsucker [-]). At the landscape level, lower woodpecker abundance was associated with increased urbanization (Red-breasted Sapsucker and Northern Flicker), while increasing forest cover influenced abundance of Northern Flicker (-) and Pileated Woodpecker (+). Highest woodpecker abundances were thus found in large green spaces with complex understories that were embedded in relatively undeveloped treed landscapes. Management of forested urban green spaces should prioritize needs of the area-sensitive species because ensuring their continued presence benefits the entire avian community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization is currently one of the trademarks of the Anthropocene, accelerating evolutionary processes and reshaping ecological interactions over short time scales. Species interactions represent a fundamental pillar of diversity that is being altered globally by anthropogenic change. Urban environments, despite their potential impact, have seldom been studied in relation to how they shape natural selection of phenotypic traits in multispecies interactions. Using a seed-dispersal mutualism as a study system, we estimated the regime and magnitude of phenotypic selection exerted by frugivores on fruit and seed traits across three plant populations with different degrees of urbanization (urban, semiurban, and rural). Urbanization weakened phenotypic selection via an indirect positive impact on fruit production and fitness and, to a lesser extent, through a direct positive effect on species visitation rates. Our results show that urban ecosystems may affect multifarious selection of traits in the short term and highlight the role of humans in shaping eco-evolutionary dynamics of multispecies interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of community-based participatory action research that evaluated the quality and extent of resident participation in community development projects initiated by a network of non-profit and public agencies in a lower-income, racialized neighbourhood in Toronto. The paper examines dynamics of community engagement and volunteer participation in relation to the socio-political context of neoliberal urban development within which they unfold. Against this backdrop, the paper discusses processes of normalization and the mainstreaming of a technocratic or instrumental approach to community engagement. The paper argues how this instrumental approach extracts volunteer participation from residents to meet short-term organizational targets while offering no genuine opportunity for residents to co-create long-term, meaningful solutions to community needs and priorities. Such short-term, 'band-aid' community engagement and capacity building projects contribute to a crisis of trust between residents and the non-profit agencies. The paper presents a community engagement continuum mapping indicators for technocratic and extractivist community engagement in contrast to indicators for transformative and empowering processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic noise is one of the selection pressures of urban habitats. Because noise interferes with acoustic communication, many studies have shown that the temporal structures of acoustic signals change depending on the noise. However, it is often unknown whether the changes are adaptive, such as changes being more easily located by females under noisy conditions. To investigate the phenomena, bend-legged ground crickets (Dianemobius nigrofasciatus) were collected from three urban and three rural habitats and reared in a common garden conditions. Male calling songs and female mate location behaviour of the progeny were measured. Urban males emitted a calling song with a higher dominant frequency and shorter chirp than did rural males. The playback experiment of female response and localization to songs of urban and rural males, controlling for noise, showed that there were no significant effects of the song on the mate location behaviour between urban and rural songs under noisy conditions. Although the song of urban males elicited a faster response of females, the effect was limited. These results indicate the change in song is not adaptive in terms of female choice. Urban females located more quickly to song under noisy conditions. The results suggest adaptive changes in female mating behaviour occur in urban habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization is transforming the human and political geography of Africa. While a growing body of research explores the urban dimensions of clientelism, contentious action, and social mobilization, there has been less attention given to the ways in which this demographic megatrend is influencing political change more broadly. We argue that the political implications of African urbanization are contingent on local conditions and experiences; there are no deterministic associations between urbanization and political change. To better understand the mechanisms linking urbanization to politics, we argue that a place-based approach is needed. We illustrate this by reviewing and highlighting how urbanization may affect (i) the nature and balance of citizen preferences; (ii) the composition, interests, and influence of elite actors; (iii) forms of political mobilization; (iv) shifting gender roles; (v) the role of civil society in political processes; and (vi) the likelihood and manifestations of contentious collective action. We conclude with a discussion of directions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Politics and the Urban Frontier: Transformation and Divergence in Late Urbanizing East Africa" by Goodfellow explores the different trajectories of urban development in Kampala, Kigali, and Addis Ababa. The book argues that traditional paradigms in urban studies cannot fully explain the variations in planning visions, property dynamics, marketplaces, and modes of urban protest in these cities. Goodfellow emphasizes the role of politics in shaping these dynamics, focusing on factors such as associational power, social legitimacy, political informality, and the effects of infrastructure. The book offers a comparative, historical, and interdisciplinary analysis that highlights the complexities of urban change in East Africa. [Extracted from the article]

A longer pollen season and higher pollen concentrations may also augment the severity of symptoms.[44] Future global climate change is anticipated to lengthen and intensify pollen seasons and potentially increase the incidence of allergic disease. Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS PubMed WorldCat 30 Anderegg WRL, Abatzoglou JT, Anderegg LDL, Bielory L, Kinney P, Ziska L. Anthropogenic climate change is worsening North American pollen seasons. Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS PubMed WorldCat 51 Demain JG, Choi Y-J, Oh J-W. The impact of climate change on the pollen allergy and sporulation of allergic fungi. Keywords: Allergic disease; biodiversity loss; climate change; compound impacts; urbanization EN Allergic disease biodiversity loss climate change compound impacts urbanization 655 663 9 06/20/23 20230601 NES 230601 Introduction Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases have been rising rapidly due largely to human activities, which have altered our climate system. [Extracted from the article]

Human-induced environmental changes are the main drivers of the ongoing redistribution of biodiversity. The millions of tons of organic waste that is added daily to landfills can increase the carrying capacity of ecological systems with direct effects on species' population sizes and/or distributions. Understanding the effect of landfills on bird distribution is essential to assess management decisions. Our aim was to determine the role of landfills in the distribution of the breeding population of White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) in the last 4 decades. For that purpose, we used historical and current census data of breeding pairs before and after landfill exploitation. In this study, we found that landfills have altered the distribution of the breeding population over the last 4 decades in the province of Madrid, Spain. We found that birds occupied new nesting sites near landfills independently of habitat quality as defined by prey abundance and quality according to the previous studies. Nest density was higher near landfills and increased after the landfills began to be utilized by this species. Population growth and extremely high breeding densities may translate into conflicts with humans, particularly when new nesting sites are in urban areas, and possibly alter the perception of this bird species by the human population. Landfill closures, mandated by the European Landfill legislation, are an opportunity to reduce the effects of landfills on animal populations, and reduce human--wildlife conflicts. However, there must be a process of transition and a preliminary evaluation of habitat quality and suitability in the region to avoid a dramatic decline of the White Stork population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Previous research has suggested cross-national differences in the association between living alone and well-being among older adults. This study examined whether the association varied across social contexts within the country, Japan, in terms of varying degree of urbanization and differential time periods. Methods Data were obtained from a nine-wave nationwide longitudinal survey with a probability sample of Japanese adults aged 60 years and over. Respondents belonged to one of the three periods (around 1990, 2000, and 2015) according to the year they commenced participation. As many as 4,655 individuals from 575 municipalities provided 9,016 observation sets of two consecutive waves (t − 1 and t). Within a framework of the Hierarchical Generalized Linear Model, depressive symptoms at t were predicted based on changes in living arrangements from t − 1 to t and their cross-level interactions with gender, level of urbanization, and time period, controlling for various covariates at t −  1. Results In general, older adults living alone continuously as well as those who started living alone between the waves showed more depressive symptoms than those coresiding with someone continuously. However, this tendency was more prominent among rural residents than their urban counterparts, especially for men. Moreover, the effect of continuously living alone on depressive symptoms became smaller in Period 2015 than that in Period 1990, because of the increase in depressiveness in coresident older adults. Discussion Our findings indicate that living alone has a differential effect on older adults' well-being depending on the social context where residents' preferences for living arrangements and availability of formal services could vary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization damages biodiversity, reducing people's connection to nature and negatively impacting the survivability of local species. However, with small adjustments, the damage could be mitigated. In temperate regions, several bat species inhabit urban areas, and with urbanization set to increase, adapting urban areas to improve their suitability for bats is imperative. Therefore, we investigated if wooded streets and streetlight dimming in an urban setting influenced bat activity. Static bat detectors were used to compare wooded versus non-wooded, and bright versus dim streets in Leicester, UK, on predominantly residential streets. The collected calls were quantified into bat activity (passes per night). Six species were identified, but the common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) was dominant, making up 94.1% of all calls, so it was the sole species included in the statistical model. Wooded streets had significantly higher bat activity than non-wooded streets, but bright and dim streets were not significantly different. The results suggest that wooded streets were being used as green corridors, with common pipistrelles possibly following them to conceal themselves from predators, such as the tawny owl, and the proliferation of wooded streets in urban areas could allow the formation of better-connected populations. Streetlight dimming did not affect bat activity, but no light-averse bats were detected, likely because even the most dimmed streets deterred them despite street lighting increasing food availability by attracting insects. Therefore, an alternate solution, such as part-night lighting, may be required to increase the suitability of urban areas to light-averse species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, habitat loss and land conversion are major drivers of bird population decline. To halt the decline, it is essential that habitat conservation and restoration efforts are based on an understanding of how individual species use their habitat. Here, we examine habitat use by Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) by quantifying their probability of occurrence in different land cover types and in association with varying degrees of habitat modification across most of the species' range. To do so, we used the citizen-science eBird dataset, in combination with MODIS land cover data to model site occupancy for two breeding seasons and related presence/absence to the Global Human Modification Index. We found that Red-winged Blackbirds occupy rural and suburban habitats at higher probabilities than they do habitats with high levels of urbanization, and at similar or higher probabilities than they do their historic, natural habitats. Furthermore, we found that occurrence probability peaks at intermediate values of the Global Human Modification Index. The results were consistent across most ecoregions and the geographic range of the species, confirming that the Red-winged Blackbird is a suburban-adaptable species, persisting in moderately disturbed environments. Although more research is needed to understand the ecological and evolutionary consequences of this pattern of habitat use, our results provide novel data on Red-winged Blackbird habitat use in the midst of increasing urbanization. More broadly, they provide insight into how common, widespread avian species may be affected by anthropogenic disturbance and highlight the importance of rural and suburban environments in urban ecology and evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization and habitat fragmentation can disrupt wildlife behavior and cause declines in biodiversity and ecosystem function. Most urban wildlife research has compared highly urbanized regions with rural areas. However, human development is also rapidly occurring in exurban areas, which consist of a matrix of lower-density housing and natural patches. Thus, although such "exurbanization" is intensifying, little research has examined how mammals respond to exurban development. To address this knowledge gap, we evaluated the activity of 12 species using 104 camera traps in exurban and rural areas across southeastern New Hampshire, USA, during summer 2021 and winter 2021–2. We quantified species' activity levels (overall portion of daily activity) and patterns (variation of diel activity period) to test hypotheses regarding how species' space requirements and nocturnality modulated their responses to exurban development. We found mixed support for our hypotheses. Two species with large space requirements (bobcats Lynx rufus and white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus) reduced activity levels in exurban areas, following hypothesized predictions, while other species (e.g. coyote Canis latrans) did not. As predicted, nocturnal species were less likely to shift activity patterns, but this varied across species and seasons. We also found evidence for a coupled predator–prey response among bobcats and lagomorphs in summer, with similarly altered activity in exurban areas. These results suggest that wildlife modify activity in response to exurban development with substantial species and season-specific variation within the mammal community, highlighting the complex ways wildlife adapt to urbanization and the potential consequences thereof for mammal communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the new challenge of bringing more nature into the urban environment and developing adequate green infrastructure management methods, it is necessary to clarify the regularities of the distribution of the main ecosystem components—soil organism communities on the urban gradient. Microarthropods—collembolans and mites—are the most diverse soil animals and bioindicators of soil conditions. However, no suitable approaches exist so far to help reduce the high workload of soil zoological studies and make the data acquisition for soil assessment faster. To get closer to a solution to this problem, we propose a robust sampling approach using one pooled sample per site with surface area 58 cm2. This was tested in a microarthropod distribution study on the urban gradient of Riga city (Latvia) in six urban habitat types at 21 sites. The use of classical statistical methods for the processing of soil microarthropod data is limited because these data do not meet model requirements on which classical methods are based, first of all, conformity to the normal distribution. These problems are circumvented by bootstrapping methodology, which thanks to increasing computer performance now is implemented in the most modern program packages. We tested a set of such methods: one-way bootstrap-based analysis of variance, nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMS), nonparametric multiplicative regression (NPMR), multi-response permutation procedure and Chao bootstrap-based rarefaction curves. NMS in combination with NPMR gave the best results providing statistically significant species distribution curves along the urban gradient which were broadly in line with species traits found by other studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feral and free-roaming domestic cats (Felis catus) are invasive predators throughout the world. In some areas, cats occur in higher densities than native mammalian predators and can have severe effects upon prey populations. We set 48 wildlife game cameras in residential yards in Arkansas, USA, to evaluate which landscape and yard features influenced cat abundance occurring in yards. In addition, we quantified the daily activity patterns of free-roaming cats and explored how habitat features or predator activity influenced the timing of cat activity. We found that cats were present in 70.8% of yards with an average of three recognizable individuals per yard. Abundance of cats was higher than all native mesopredators except for raccoon (Procyon lotor) and Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana). Cat abundance and minimum population decreased when forest cover was high within 400 m of the camera. Cats were active at all times of the day but tended to be more diurnal in areas closer to city centers or in agricultural settings. Conversely, cats were more nocturnal later in the summer and in areas that had high levels of predator activity. Our results indicate that cats are widespread in this region and their relative abundance is driven more by landscape features than by yard features, possibly due to their large home ranges. Cats may alter their activity to better coexist with predators. Alteration in yard features is unlikely to be an effective deterrent for cats and more direct control measures may be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local habitats shape animal vocalizations through selection to improve transmission of signals to receivers. This process can be variable, however, when landscapes are changing continuously due to urbanization or other factors. Studies have shown that some birds alter the frequency, amplitude and structure of their songs in urban habitats. Because songbirds learn their songs from other individuals, this cultural transmission can result in substantial change over time. Urban bird populations may therefore show rapid shifts in song form and variation may result from the combined or interacting effects of time and anthropogenic habitat change. In this study, we used historic and recent song recordings to investigate changes in spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) songs over 45 years across an urban-to-rural gradient in northern California. We found that pre-trill and trilled song parts covaried differently with urban development at the two time-points, with more change occurring in trill phrases than pre-trills. Additionally, we found that birds in 1970 adjusted trills in urban areas by raising maximum frequencies and broadening bandwidths, while birds in 2015 narrowed song bandwidths by decreasing maximum frequencies in more urban areas. These results did not fit our prediction that urbanization would have a consistent effect on song at two time-points. We suggest that habitat, cultural evolution and cultural drift can act on song elements in complicated ways that vary over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the effects of land use and land cover (LULC) on ecosystem service values (ESVs) is critical for public understanding and policymaking. This study evaluated the impacts of LULC dynamics on ESVs in Chandigarh city of India. The assessment of LULC changes was performed by analyzing the satellite imagery of the study area for the years 1990 and 2020 with different band combinations in ArcGIS (10.8 version software). In addition, we analyzed ecosystem services changes which were based on the LULC classes of the study area. Five LULC classes were identified in the present study area (Water bodies, forest and vegetation, built-up, agriculture and shrubland and open spaces). The results demonstrated (from 1990 to 2020) that the forest cover and agricultural areas decreased by 4.19% and 37.01%, respectively, whereas the built-up area substantially increased by 104.61%. Overall, ESV decreased by 2.54% from 1990 to 2020 due to rapid urbanization. The combination of LULC and ecosystem services valuation can increase our understanding of different issues of an urban ecosystem. Hence, we recommend the integration of LULC and ecosystem services valuation as a tool that could provide information to policymakers, urban planners and land managers for sustainable use in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Our study examined the effect of urbanization on cognitive function and its possible pathways among Chinese middle-aged and older adults independent of the influence of health-selective migration. Methods Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we compared cognitive function among three groups (urbanized-rural residents, rural nonmigrants, and urban nonmigrants). Logistic regression and structural equation models were applied to explore the impact of urbanization on cognitive function and the potential mechanisms. Results Compared with the urbanized-rural group, urban nonmigrants had better cognitive function, with a significant coefficient of 1.56 (95% CI: 1.22, 1.89) for global cognition scores and 0.37 (95% CI: 0.22, 0.53) for episodic memory scores. The rural nonmigrants had the worst cognitive function (β = −0.79, 95% CI: −1.04, −0.55) and lower scores of mental intactness (β = −0.65, 95% CI: −0.84, −0.57) and episodic memory (β = −0.14, 95% CI: −0.26, −0.03). The association between urbanization and cognitive function was mainly mediated by income and living conditions among middle-aged and older adults. Discussion Rural people who experienced planned urbanization in China had higher cognitive scores than rural non-migrants. Urbanization could thus have a beneficial and cumulative effect on cognitive function. Improvements in living conditions and changes in income are the main drivers behind the relationship. However, urbanization could compensate for the negative impact on cognitive function from disadvantaged early-life conditions, but it cannot completely eliminate the gap between urbanized-rural people and urban nonmigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization is a principal driver of global biodiversity loss. Although many studies have examined the impacts of urbanization on biodiversity, we are only beginning to study urbanization as an evolutionary force. Urban environments are hotspots for invasive species, but most previous studies have focused on phenotypic changes in native species responding to urbanization. Quantifying the phenotypic responses of invasive species to urbanization may help reveal mechanisms promoting invasion. There are, however, few studies investigating the phenotypic response of invasive species to urbanization. We compared morphological traits of invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina) between urban and rural areas in three cities in north-eastern Australia using generalized linear mixed models. We found that the parotoid glands, which are the major anti-predator defence of toads were smaller in urban than in rural populations. The tibiofibula length of males in urban populations was longer than those in rural populations, but females showed opposite trends, suggesting potential effects of urbanization on sexual dimorphism. These results demonstrate that urbanization drives morphological changes in invasive toads, suggesting they may adapt to urban environments rapidly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing urbanization has led to large-scale land-use changes, exposing persistent populations to drastically altered environments. Sensory pollutants, including low-frequency anthropogenic noise and artificial light at night (ALAN), are typically associated with urban environments and known to impact animal populations in a variety of ways. Both ALAN and anthropogenic noise can alter behavioral and physiological processes important for survival and reproduction, including communication and circadian rhythms. Although noise and light pollution typically co-occur in urbanized areas, few studies have addressed their combined impact on species' behavior. Here, we assessed how anthropogenic noise and ALAN can influence spatial and temporal variation in breeding activity of a wild frog population. By exposing artificial breeding sites inside a tropical rainforest to multiple sensory environments, we found that both anthropogenic noise and ALAN impact breeding behavior of túngara frogs (Engystomops pustulosus), albeit in different ways. Males arrived later in the night at their breeding sites in response to anthropogenic noise. ALAN, on the other hand, led to an increase in calling effort. We found no evidence that noise or light pollution either attracted frogs to or repelled frogs from breeding sites. Thus, anthropogenic noise may negatively affect calling males by shifting the timing of sexual signaling. Conversely, ALAN may increase the attractiveness of calling males. These changes in breeding behavior highlight the complex ways that urban multisensory pollution can influence behavior and suggest that such changes may have important ecological implications for the wildlife that are becoming increasingly exposed to urban multisensory pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oceanic archipelagos have long been treated as a Petri dish for studies of evolutionary and ecological processes. Like archipelagos, cities exhibit similar patterns and processes, such as the rapid phenotypic divergence of a species between urban and nonurban environments. However, on a local scale, cities can be highly heterogenous, where geographically close populations can experience dramatically different environmental conditions. Nevertheless, we are yet to understand the evolutionary and ecological implications for populations spread across a heterogenous cityscape. To address this, we compared neutral genetic divergence to quantitative trait divergence within three native riparian and four city park populations of an iconic urban adapter, the eastern water dragon. We demonstrated that selection is likely acting to drive divergence of snout‐vent length and jaw width across native riparian populations that are geographically isolated and across city park populations that are geographically close yet isolated by urbanization. City park populations as close as 0.9 km exhibited signs of selection‐driven divergence to the same extent as native riparian populations isolated by up to 114.5 km. These findings suggest that local adaptation may be occurring over exceptionally small geographic and temporal scales within a single metropolis, demonstrating that city parks can act as archipelagos for the study of rapid evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background socioeconomic inequity in mortality and life expectancy remains inconclusive in low- and middle-income countries, and to what extent the associations are mediated or modified by lifestyles remains debatable. Methods we included 21,133 adults from China Health and Nutrition Survey (1991–2011) and constructed three parameters to reflect participants' overall individual- (synthesising income, education and occupation) and area-level (urbanisation index) socioeconomic status (SES) and lifestyles (counting the number of smoking, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet and bodyweight). HRs for mortality and life expectancy were estimated by time-dependent Cox model and life table method, respectively. Results during a median follow-up of 15.2 years, 1,352 deaths were recorded. HRs (95% CIs) for mortality comparing low versus high individual- and area-level SES were 2.38 (1.75–3.24) and 1.84 (1.51–2.24), respectively, corresponding to 5.7 (2.7–8.6) and 5.0 (3.6–6.3) life-year lost at age 50. Lifestyles explained ≤11.5% of socioeconomic disparity in mortality. Higher lifestyle risk scores were associated with higher mortality across all socioeconomic groups. HR (95% CI) for mortality comparing adults with low individual-level SES and 3–4 lifestyle risk factors versus those with high SES and 0–1 lifestyle risk factors was 7.06 (3.47–14.36), corresponding to 19.1 (2.6–35.7) life-year lost at age 50. Conclusion this is the first nationwide cohort study reporting that disadvantaged SES was associated with higher mortality and shorter life expectancy in China, which was slightly mediated by lifestyles. Risk lifestyles were related to higher mortality across all socioeconomic groups, and those with risk lifestyles and disadvantaged SES had much higher mortality risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How has urbanization altered the relationships between species and selection on phenotypes? To address this question, Palacio and Ordano measured trait and frugivore selection in blue passionflower (Passiflora caerulea) in three different localities. Their analysis revealed changes in avian selection with urbanization, which altered population phenotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrocarbon pipelines have emerged as a highly contentious political issue in recent years. In this paper, I conduct spatial regression analyses at national and regional scales to determine whether the locations of hydrocarbon pipelines constitute a systemic environmental justice issue throughout the contiguous US transmission pipeline system. National-level analyses show that counties with higher percentages of non-White residents are associated with more kilometers of hydrocarbon pipeline, whereas counties with a higher percentage of residents with a four-year college degree are associated with fewer kilometers of hydrocarbon pipeline. Regional analyses reveal further complexity, showing only degrees of consistency with national-level results. Situating these results within the emergent literature on planetary urbanization, I develop a multiscalar environmental justice framework that I call extended spaces of environmental injustice. Extended spaces of environmental injustice describe the places through which infrastructures of extended urbanization, which are built across vast geographical distances and operate to meet the material needs of urban society, materialize as spatially variegated environmental justice issues at the local scale. I conclude by arguing that the extended spaces of environmental injustice framework can open new pathways for research related to environmental justice and scale, both in analyzing the geography of existing infrastructures of extended urbanization and the construction of future infrastructure as efforts to decarbonize the economy manifest spatially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although urbanization is often an important topic in climate change studies, the complex effect of urbanization on heat vulnerability in urban and rural areas has rarely been studied. We investigated the disparate effects of urbanization on heat vulnerability in urban and rural areas, using nationwide data.Methods: We collected daily weather data for all 229 administrative districts in South Korea (2011-17). Population density was applied as an urbanization indicator. We calculated the heat-mortality risk using a distributed lag nonlinear model and analysed the relationship with population density. We also examined district characteristics that can be related to the spatial heterogeneity in heat-mortality risk.Results: We found a U-shaped association between population density and heat-mortality risk, with the highest risk for rural populations; in urban areas, risk increases with increasing population density. Higher heat-mortality risk was associated with a lower number of hospital beds per person and higher percentage of people requiring recuperation. The association between hospital beds and heat-mortality risk was prominent in high-density urban areas, whereas the association between the percentage of people requiring recuperation and heat-mortality risk was pronounced in rural areas.Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the association between population density and heat-mortality risk is different in urban and rural areas, and that district characteristics related to heat-mortality risk also differ by urbanicity. These results can contribute to understanding the complex role of urbanization on heat vulnerability and can provide evidence to policy makers for prioritizing resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental degradation caused by rapid urbanization is a pressing global issue. However, little is known about how urban changes operate and affect environments across multiple scales. Focusing on China, we found urbanization was indeed massive from 2000 to 2015, but it was also very uneven, exhibiting high internal city dynamics. Urban areas in China as a whole became less green, warmer, and had exacerbated PM2.5 pollution. However, environmental impacts differed in newly developed versus older areas of cities. Adverse impacts were prominent in newly urbanized areas, while old urban areas generally showed improved environmental quality. In addition, regional environmental issues are emerging as cities expand, connect and interact to form urban megaregions. To turn urbanization into an opportunity for, rather than an obstacle to, sustainable development, we must move beyond documenting urban expansion to understand the environmental consequences of both internal city dynamics and the formation of urban megaregions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The skin microbiota plays a major role in health of organisms but it is still unclear how such bacterial assemblages respond to changes in environmental conditions and anthropogenic perturbations. In this study, we investigated the effects of the eutrophication of freshwater ecosystems on the skin microbiota of fish. We sampled wild gudgeon Gobio occitaniae from 17 river sites along an eutrophication gradient and compared their skin microbiota diversity and composition, using a 16s rRNA gene metabarcoding approach. Results showed a tendency for higher taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity in highly eutrophic sites linked to the presence of suspended organic matters. We also highlighted significant links between eutrophication and skin microbiota taxonomic composition and beta-diversity. In contrast, skin microbiota characteristics did not correlate with host factors such as age or sex, although microbiota beta-diversity did vary significantly according to host parasite load. To conclude, our study highlights the importance of environmental factors, especially eutrophication, on the diversity and composition of skin mucus bacterial communities. Because changes in the skin microbiota may induce potential deleterious consequences on host health and population persistence, our results confirm the importance of accounting for host-microbiota interactions when examining the consequences of anthropogenic activities on aquatic fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The confirmed number of SARS-CoV-2 infections up to 18 October 2022 is 626 million worldwide, but information about factors affecting the probability of infection or a severe course of COVID-19 remains insufficient and often speculative. Only a small number of factors have been rigorously examined, mostly by retrospective or cross-sectional studies.   We ran a preregistered study on 5164 Internet users who shared information with us about their exposure to 105 risk factors and reported being COVID-19 negative before the beginning of the fourth wave of COVID-19 in the Czech Republic. After the fourth wave, in which 709 (13.7%) of participants were infected, we used a partial Kendall test controlled for sex, age, and urbanization to compare the risk of infection and a severe course of the disease in subjects who initially did and did not report exposure to particular risk factors.   After the correction for multiple tests, we identified 13 factors – including male sex, lower age, blood group B, and larger household size – that increased the risk of infection and 16 factors – including mask-wearing, borreliosis in the past, use of vitamin D supplements, or rooibos drinking – that decreased it. We also identified 23 factors that increased the risk of a severe course of COVID-19 and 12 factors that decreased the risk.   This preregistered longitudinal study is of explorative nature. Therefore, although the observed effects were strong and remained highly significant even after correction for multiple tests, it will be necessary to confirm their existence in future independent studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization represents a multi-dimensional ecological 'filter' for birds determined by a myriad of variables that can change over time. Birds colonising an urban system or staying in a habitat that has been recently urbanised need to overcome both the extrinsic (e.g. food predictability, human activities, and inter-specific interaction) and intrinsic filter variables, ranging from genetic to behavioural changes and/or adjustments. An increasing body of knowledge has identified the behavioural component as crucial for individuals facing the spatiotemporal dynamic urban filters, often after other traits and mechanisms have played their role. Through both developmental (i.e. variability in the expression of genes during ontogeny) and activation plasticity (i.e. alteration of behaviour as a result of individual experience), studies have shown that the identification of cues in novel systems—often determined by extrinsic factors—and learning processes, among other factors, have important impacts on decision-making and innovation. The latter are crucial behavioural traits for thriving in urban settings. Thus, we propose an integrative mechanistic framework based on the process experienced by birds who reach a city and manage to persist in the novel system (becoming urban 'utilisers') or those that dwell in an urbanised region who increase their fitness through behavioural responses and adaptations, leading to population persistence (becoming 'dwellers'). Future field research efforts ought not only to widen the range of focal species, regions, and temporal scales of studies, but also to assess behavioural responses in highly urbanised settings, given that much of our knowledge comes from studies performed in urban greenspaces. Additionally, experimental studies are needed to complement the evidence from field research and to determine causal links. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent human-induced transformations to the environment are significantly impacting wild animal populations. Whereas some animals thrive due to these changes, others are being extinguished. Many studies have attempted to identify behavioural traits (e.g. personality, diet versatility, cognition) that allow some animals to succeed in human-dominated landscapes, but few have studied multiple traits or environmental contexts concurrently, despite the fact that different environments may require different types of behavioural performance. We presented house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) captured from urban, suburban, and rural sites with two different environmental problems to solve (escaping from a confinement and finding food in multiple feeding structures) and measured the success and speed of solving the challenge as well as activity levels and stress behaviours of the birds. We found that urban birds were better at solving the escape challenge, but there was no difference in finding a hidden food source. In addition, we found that birds who solved the escape challenge were more active than those who did not solve this problem, although we observed no such behavioural difference in the food challenge. These results indicate that, because problem-solving challenges can vary across environments, certain types of innovation may be prioritized over others in urban-dwelling species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the conservation and protection of nature are among the greatest challenges facing urban regions. There are few approaches so far that link the SDGs to natural diversity and related ecosystem services at the local level and track them in terms of increasing sustainable development at the local level. We want to close this gap by developing a set of indicators that capture ecosystem services in the sense of the SDGs and which are based on data that are freely available throughout Germany and Europe. Based on 10 SDGs and 35 SDG indicators, we are developing an ecosystem service and biodiversity-related indicator set for the evaluation of sustainable development in urban areas. We further show that it is possible to close many of the data gaps between SDGs and locally collected data mentioned in the literature and to translate the universal SDGs to the local level. Our example develops this set of indicators for the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg metropolitan area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which comprises both rural and densely populated settlements. This set of indicators can also help improve communication and plan sustainable development by increasing transparency in local sustainability, implementing a visible sustainability monitoring system, and strengthening the collaboration between local stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban bird diversity has been shown to be a useful indicator of overall biodiversity in urban green spaces. Attributes of green spaces (size, location and age) vary within a city and can influence bird diversity. To understand the relationship between bird diversity and green space attributes, we assessed bird abundance and richness in several green spaces in Reykjavik, Iceland. Fifteen green spaces were selected, representing different size categories (small: <5 ha and large: 7–41 ha) and different locations within the urban sprawl (central and suburban). Thirteen transect surveys were conducted at each park from March to September 2020. Abundance, species richness, the Shannon diversity index and evenness were compared across parks. Abundance, Shannon index and evenness were significantly higher in large, intermediate-aged parks with residential urban contexts (P  < 0.05). Richness did not vary significantly with park size but was significantly higher in old- and intermediate-age parks that were centrally located (P  < 0.005). Bird diversity did not vary significantly over the survey season. For abundance, our results were expected: the larger the park, the greater the abundance. However, contrary to most studies, the suburbs of Reykjavik had less richness than the city center. Furthermore, park size was not relevant for richness, which is the main factor in other cities (e.g. London, Boston). These differences in response indicate that abundance and richness should be considered simultaneously when monitoring urban bird diversity. Lastly, small urban parks (<5 ha) should not be disregarded in urban planning, especially in high latitude cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing plants along the vertical axis of a building façade is currently re-emerging as a technique for (re)integration of greening into the urban fabric. This article reports an exploratory study that involved the design, development and evaluation of vertical greening within low-income communities in Lagos, Akure (Nigeria) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). We highlight the vertical gardens' contributions to food production (vegetables). Challenges identified include high maintenance, pests, vandalism, tenure status and socio-cultural misgivings about growing vegetables on walls. It is crucial to evolve policy initiatives and programmes that promote citizen-led, community-based vertical farming within the urban fabric in sub-Sahara Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban animals can be an important threat to human health as possible hosts of zoonotic diseases and their susceptibility to these diseases can depend on their overall health conditions. Thus, it is important to understand the factors that determine their health conditions. For this, we studied Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana) in six locations with different urbanization levels and types in Mexico City, Mexico. We trapped opossums and measured eight health-related characteristics (number of ectoparasites and tartar severity, among others) and estimated the percentage of area covered by the four main types of terrain (natural vegetation, managed vegetation, impermeable terrain and constructions). Data were analyzed by a canonical correspondence analysis. We found that impermeable terrain was related to negative health characteristics, while the constructions were opposite to impermeable terrain and mostly related to good health characteristics. At the same, time constructed areas held a smaller population than the natural areas. This suggests that constructed areas provide few shelters, but opossums are healthier there, while impermeable areas provide more shelter but cause more health problems to the animals, thus increasing the chances of zoonotic diseases. We recommend reducing the impermeable areas in city planning to contribute to a better health of the urban animals and therefore reduce risks of zoonotic diseases with potentially disastrous results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban wildlife faces a great variety of human-induced habitat alterations, among others changes in resource availability and composition, often resulting in serious declines in biodiversity. Nevertheless, Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) occur in high densities in urban areas and seem to benefit from supplementary feeding. However, we still lack knowledge about consequences of urbanisation on mammalian foraging behaviour and nutrient intake. Thus, we investigated body mass, food choice and diet composition in squirrels from an urban core area versus a forest population in a cafeteria experiment. Urban individuals were lower in initial body mass and condition, but consumed significantly more g and kJ per day and significantly gained weight over the course of the experiment (around 2 weeks); nevertheless, the difference in body mass and condition persisted. All squirrels preferred hazelnuts, but urban squirrels had a wider dietary range and consumed more non-natural food items. Both groups prioritised fat and there was no difference in protein intake. Urban squirrels though had a significantly higher sugar intake, mainly by eating biscuits. Our results demonstrate clear effects of urbanisation on foraging behaviour and preferences, which has the potential for nutritional mismatch or negative side effects due to consumption of non-natural food items. Our findings show that highly supplemented urban core fragments might not serve as adequate refuge for wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban expansion has been identified as one of the main threats to biodiversity because it can negatively affect wildlife populations. However, wildlife population dynamics have not been studied in one of the most rapidly urbanizing regions in the world—the Neotropics. To examine the effect of urbanization on the population dynamics of Neotropical wildlife, we used recapture data from a marked population (2011–2017) of White-eared Ground-Sparrow (Melozone leucotis) across an urban–rural gradient in the Costa Rican Central Valley. Additionally, we tested if this effect differed between males and females. Contrary to our prediction, ground-sparrow survival rates were higher in urban and suburban sites than in the rural site, and we found that survival was positively correlated to the proportion of urban surface inside each territory (β = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.71–0.97). We did not find differences in survival rates between the sexes and the mean survival rate was high overall (0.79 ± 0.06). Surprisingly, our results suggest that the survival rate of this urban avoider is positively influenced by urbanization, and therefore, suggest that the potential cost to some urban avoiders may not be driven by reduced survival in more urbanized environments, and could be driven by reductions in other vital rates. Therefore, we encourage research to evaluate multiple vital rates of urban avoiders and urban adapters to achieve more comprehensive knowledge on how urbanization is affecting avian populations in the Neotropics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are one of the fastest growing ecosystems on the planet, and conserving urban biodiversity is of primary importance. Urbanization increases habitat fragmentation and may be particularly problematic for native plant species which often exist in small, remnant populations in cities. We studied the effects of urbanization on Impatiens capensis , a self-compatible native wildflower, which is an important nectar and pollen source for native bees and hummingbirds. We sampled I. capensis from six populations located in urban and rural habitats in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We sequenced the DNA of 43 families (N  =   86 individuals) using genotype-by-sequencing to obtain 5627 single nucleotide polymorphisms. From each parent and offspring, we estimated individual outcrossing rates, population-level genetic diversity and genetic structure among populations. We found that 95% of plants were outcrossed, and populations were genetically differentiated, where urban populations contained a subset of the genetic variation found in rural populations. Urban populations exhibited lower genetic diversity than rural populations, and we detected a relationship between population census size and habitat on genetic diversity. Despite high outcrossing rates, our results suggest that urbanization reduces the genetic diversity of I. capensis populations, potentially increasing the vulnerability of these populations to long-term population declines and extirpation in response to urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the minimal dispersal capabilities and dependency on particular microhabitat, the land snails are susceptible to anthropogenic and natural disturbances. Considering the increasing anthropogenic threats, especially in urban areas, information on species' requirements for particular habitat is very essential for land snail conservation and sustenance. In the present commentary, diversity and distribution of small-sized land snails in relation to their microhabitat preference in urban habitats of Kolkata, West Bengal, had been carried out through the quadrat method. The information on the richness and abundance of snails and their habitat places in Kolkata, India, was used to construct a bipartite network. A total of 13 land snail species were linked with 16 microhabitats. The network indices were used to justify the specialist or generalist nature of the snail species in the context of microhabitat preference. The snail species Succinea daucina and Allopeas gracile were observed to be associated with the maximum number of habitats while species strength was highest for S. daucina. The low value of connectance (0.288, <0.5) and niche overlap (0.34), the high value of specialization index H2′ (0.58) and d′ (0.44) indicate that the snail–microhabitat interactions were highly specialized. The network ecology of snail–microhabitats illustrated in the present instance will enable the identification of preferred microhabitats, which are required for the enhancement of the population of land snails in urban areas like Kolkata, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization can change interactions in insect communities, and the few studies of tritrophic interactions in urban settings focus on interactions between plants, herbivorous insects and their mutualists and natural enemies. Plant pathogen infection is also widespread and common, and infection may also alter such interactions, but we have no understanding of whether the ecological consequences of pathogen infection vary with urbanization. Using replicated aphid colonies on experimental plants, we investigated how infection by the plant pathogen Botrytis cinerea influences interactions between plants, aphids and the aphid natural enemies and ant mutualists in highly urbanized, suburban and rural study sites. Aphid and natural enemy abundance were highest in the suburban site, while mutualist ants were most abundant in the urban site, reversing the usual positive density-dependent relationship between natural enemies and aphids. The effect of pathogen infection varied with trait and site, mediated by natural enemy preference for hosts or prey on uninfected plants. The effect of infection on aphid abundance was only seen in the suburban site, where natural enemies were most abundant on uninfected plants and aphid numbers were greatest on infected plants. In the urban site, there was no effect of infection, while in the rural site, aphid numbers were lower on infected plants. Uninfected plants were smaller than infected plants and differed between locations. This study suggests that the effects of urbanization on ecological interactions may become more complex and difficult to predict as we study ecological assemblages and communities at greater levels of structural complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the sustainable development of the Earth and the improvement of human living environment, it is of great importance to establish a scientific urban low-carbon management performance evaluation index system and provide scientific methods for better urban low-carbon management. Based on literature research and questionnaire, this paper establishes the performance evaluation system of urban low-carbon management. Based on the premise of evaluating low-carbon cities, this system measures the management level of low-carbon cities, clarifies the realistic content of urban low-carbon management performance and puts forward some constructive suggestions for improving the performance of urban low-carbon management. This paper makes statistical analysis of the evaluation indicators by issuing questionnaires to professional groups, focuses on the investigation and analysis of the public's concept of low-carbon city and environmental awareness and then uses scientific entropy method to calculate and draw feasible conclusions and countermeasures, which has innovative significance. In the case study in Foshan, the performance evaluation system indicated that from 2017 to 2021, the performance of urban low-carbon management in Foshan has increased by ~30%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how education, corruption perception, and urbanization jointly influence political trust in Asia. Previous literature proposes a "performance-based evaluation" thesis whereby corruption perception is associated with political trust. We hypothesized this association could be moderated by individual educational attainment and socioeconomic statuses. Applying multilevel models to the Asian Barometer Survey (2001–2016) data, we found interaction effects of education, the urban–rural divide, and corruption perceptions in shaping political trust in 14 East and Southeast Asia societies. For rural Asians, education does not affect political trust when they perceive low corruption; it leads to lower trust when they perceive high corruption. For urban Asians, such an interaction does not exist, and education monotonically erodes political trust no matter how they perceive the severity of corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization brings new pressures for individuals. Among them, trace elements, such as cadmium, are important stressors. A recent study highlights a weaker negative effect of cadmium on city colonies relative to their forest counterparts in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi. Here, we aim to test whether the better tolerance of city colonies in this species results from a better ability of workers to rear larvae despite stressful conditions and/or a better ability of larvae to develop properly despite stressful conditions. We performed a cross-fostering experiment of workers and larvae from city and forest colonies, in common garden conditions in the laboratory. Colonies were fed using cadmium-enriched or cadmium-free food for 2 months, and we measured four life-history traits. As expected, cadmium had a negative impact on all traits. Unexpectedly, we did not observe a better tolerance of city colonies to cadmium, contrary to our previous study, which prevented us from disentangling the respective contributions of workers and larvae to cadmium tolerance. Interestingly, forest colonies seemed to be of better quality in our laboratory conditions. Finally, colony size increased adult survival, but only in the absence of cadmium, suggesting that social buffering could collapse with strong external disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]