Home Science US cities host more regionally unique species than previously thought

US cities host more regionally unique species than previously thought

81

To better understand whether rapidly growing cities are hosting the same species, a team analyzed an immense volume of data gathered by citizen scientists during the four-day global City Nature Challenge. Study findings suggest that despite similarities across cities, urban biodiversity still strongly reflects the species that are native to a region. However, observations of shared ”cosmopolitan” species like pigeons, white-tailed deer, and dandelions were more numerous than locally occurring species.