Global relationships between body size and urban affinity across more than 30,000 plant and animal species
Urbanization is a major global driver of biodiversity change, with species responses to urban settings ranging from avoidance to exploitation. To better understand these responses, we conducted a global analysis of urban relative affinity inferred from occurrence data across more than 30,000 animal and plant species. Our synthesis showed a consistent pattern across taxa and biogeographic regions:…
Global relationships between body size and urban affinity among over 30,000 plant and animal species have been analyzed, revealing a consistent pattern where many species avoid urban settings while few thrive as urban exploiters. This pattern, termed 'species urbanness distribution,' is observed across various taxa and biogeographic regions.
The study also explored whether body size, a fundamental ecological trait, correlates with urban affinity among species and across 371 taxonomic families. Results indicate that larger body sizes tend to be associated with greater urban affinity in plants compared to animals, although the relationship varies among different families.
These findings emphasize the diverse relationship between body size and urban affinity across the tree of life, highlighting the need for specialized strategies to support urban biodiversity as global urbanization continues to accelerate.
Written by urgent.news from eLife's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
