Dan Childers is a Professor in the School of Sustainability and member of the Executive Committee of the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Program ( CAP LTER ) at Arizona State...

Lurking beneath the trash laden leaf litter of the 5 boroughs lurks a secretive little amphibian that exemplifies the struggle between the forces of urbanization and the biological need to adapt or fa...

The Duluth City Council votes Monday on a controversial housing development project. It pits NIMBYs or "Not In My Backyard" opponents against so-called YIMBYs or “Yes In My Backyard,” who advocate…

A research team from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences made a systematic comparison of soil microbiomes in urban parks and natural forests. The results reveal that urbanization profoundly reconfigures microbial community composition, functional capacity, and evolutionary trajectories, based on.

Back in December, I spotted a research paper about the ecological impact of human-provided food on squirrel populations, and I started to wonder whether similar work exists for the various species of "garden birds" that many of us like to feed in winter. Incidentally, I installed an inherited bird feeder outside my window around the same time, to get some first hand observations in. (It may be an age thing, too.) It's always fun writing about squirrels, but the most spectacular results I discovered were those of the hummingbirds in California. Due to the widespread use of feeding stations with fake nectar, these birds have extended their range dramatically and also undergone measurable anatomical evolution. Read all about it in my latest feature which is out today: **Feeding change in urban wildlife** Current Biology Volume 36, Issue 2, 19 January 2026, Pages R31-R33 Restricted access to full text and PDF download (Unfortunately, this year's features will no longer become open access one year after publication - do contact me if you would like a PDF. Last year's features will still move to the open archives as this year advances.) Magic link for free access (first seven weeks only) See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features. My mastodon posts are also mirrored on Bluesky. Last year's thread is here . Squirrels like this Eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) thrive in urban parks and benefit from food supplied by humans. A study on the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in Japan has shown that the urban populations also have improved reproduction chances compared with the rural ones. (Photo: Jules Verne Times Two/julesvernex2.com/CC-BY-SA-4.0.) The same issue of CB also contains story of Veronika, the back-scratching bovine that probably wins the internet today (open access). I already saw a Guardian headline about it.

While urbanization has restricted and fragmented the natural ecosystems, it also creates new and diverse environmental conditions within towns. A Kobe University research team now found that a plant species that successfully established itself throughout a megacity exhibited distinct and inheritable characteristics that have adapted to the diverse urban environments.

Scientists recently found an example of evolution in real time, tucked away in the collection drawers of the Field Museum in Chicago. By comparing the skulls of chipmunks and voles from the Chicagoland area collected over the past 125 years, the researchers found evidence that these rodents have been adapting to life in an increasingly urban environment.

When I was younger, I remember thinking to myself: “This tree is losing its skin, is it dying?” I believe I can’t be the only child that thought this when first looking at a London plane. Little di…

In urban ecology, a lot of attention has been paid to groups such as birds and trees and how they adapt to life in the human hive, but an often-neglected group are the lichens. These easily overlooked...

“Dad, what are those birds? I’ve never seen them before” I remember asking my dad when I was younger. We were outside having a barbecue and for the first time, I noticed several green birds flying ove...

Once thought to have evolved inside the Tube network, a tunnel-dwelling mosquito might actually have emerged thousands of years ago in Egypt.