Urban ecology articles from across Nature Portfolio

This study shows that greening peri-urban areas boosts rainfall within cities, revealing their hidden role in shaping intra-urban precipitation and supporting climate-resilience planning.

Urban-adapted mammals host a wide spectrum of zoonotic viruses, some posing high risks of human infection. These species may act as unmonitored reservoirs for viruses of public health concern.

Urban parks enhance microbial functionality but reduce genomic diversity compared with forests due to nutrient enrichment and pH changes. Urbanization drives short-term functional gains at the cost of long-term evolutionary flexibility.

Our study reveals the shortage of green infrastructure per capita in the most informal neighborhoods of sub-Saharan African cities by linking individual trees to neighborhood informality. Continued urban expansion is projected to result in tree cover loss beyond current urban boundaries, which highlights the contradiction between the urgent need to upgrade informal settlements and current socioeconomic constraints.

Nature is a limited resource. This fact is often ignored. It became most evident during the four decades when West Berlin was completely isolated from its surroundings because of the Berlin Wall, which, in its effects, was comparable to the Spaceship Earth metaphor.

Construction and demolition waste is the most substantial waste stream in developed countries, prompting policymakers to enhance circularity, recycling and recovery rates. While strategies that simplify deconstruction and promote material reuse are important, prioritizing architectural beauty offers a compelling solution to extend the lifespan of buildings, reduce construction waste and enrich urban environments.

Our global survey and high-resolution local survey revealed that socio-economic development substantially influences the diversity of soil-borne animal pathogens, among which Trichosporon is a key indicator species. Our findings highlight the importance of human activities in shaping the pathogenic microbiome of cities and the potential implications for human health.

Camera-trap data from across 20 North American cities show how urbanization affects multiple mammal species, and that these effects are stronger in warmer and less-vegetated cities.

Cities around the world are promoting tree-planting initiatives to mitigate climate change. The potential of such efforts to assist tree migration has often been overlooked. Due to the urban heat island effect, cities could provide suitable climates for the establishment of outlier populations, serving as propagule sources for poleward tree migration.