From piping plovers to coyotes, eastern bluebirds to mountain lions, urban wildlife takes many forms — differing from other undomesticated wildlife in that such animals have adapted to a life that involves close contact with humans. That proximity sometimes has effects on both sides, creating feedback loops that can be positive or negative. For example, some human activities may encourage the domination of West Nile Virus vectors like house sparrows over other bird species, whereas restoring wetlands can attract more diverse species of birds and insects like dragonflies.
And remarkably, systemic (human) problems like inequality and racism can have outsized impacts on the evolution of urban wildlife as well. The two may seem unrelated, but a growing body of research has made this link apparent. A 2020 study in the journal Science compared racist practices like redlining, a form of residential segregation, to patterns of plants and animals in urban environments.
