Cities are hotspots for threatened species

Abstract Aim Although urbanization impacts many species, there is little information on the patterns of occurrences of threatened species in urban relative to non‐urban areas. By assessing the extent of the distribution of threatened species across all A ustralian cities, we aim to investigate the currently under‐utilized opportunity that cities present for national biodiversity conservation. Location A ustralian mainland, T asmania and offshore islands. Methods Distributions of A ustralia's 1643 legally protected terrestrial species (hereafter ‘threatened species’) were compiled. We assessed the extent to which they overlapped with 99 cities (of more than 10,000 people), with all non‐urban areas, and with…

• AR
  Australian Research Council

  Awards: DP120102857, LP110100686