↓ Skip to main content

A global analysis of the impacts of urbanization on bird and plant diversity reveals key anthropogenic drivers

Overview of attention for article published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, April 2014
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (96th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
23 news outlets
blogs
10 blogs
policy
3 policy sources
twitter
52 X users
wikipedia
5 Wikipedia pages
reddit
1 Redditor

Citations

dimensions_citation
1139 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
1961 Mendeley
citeulike
2 CiteULike
Title
A global analysis of the impacts of urbanization on bird and plant diversity reveals key anthropogenic drivers
Published in
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, April 2014
DOI 10.1098/rspb.2013.3330
Pubmed ID
Authors

Myla F. J. Aronson, Frank A. La Sorte, Charles H. Nilon, Madhusudan Katti, Mark A. Goddard, Christopher A. Lepczyk, Paige S. Warren, Nicholas S. G. Williams, Sarel Cilliers, Bruce Clarkson, Cynnamon Dobbs, Rebecca Dolan, Marcus Hedblom, Stefan Klotz, Jip Louwe Kooijmans, Ingolf Kühn, Ian MacGregor-Fors, Mark McDonnell, Ulla Mörtberg, Petr Pyšek, Stefan Siebert, Jessica Sushinsky, Peter Werner, Marten Winter

Abstract

Urbanization contributes to the loss of the world's biodiversity and the homogenization of its biota. However, comparative studies of urban biodiversity leading to robust generalities of the status and drivers of biodiversity in cities at the global scale are lacking. Here, we compiled the largest global dataset to date of two diverse taxa in cities: birds (54 cities) and plants (110 cities). We found that the majority of urban bird and plant species are native in the world's cities. Few plants and birds are cosmopolitan, the most common being Columba livia and Poa annua. The density of bird and plant species (the number of species per km(2)) has declined substantially: only 8% of native bird and 25% of native plant species are currently present compared with estimates of non-urban density of species. The current density of species in cities and the loss in density of species was best explained by anthropogenic features (landcover, city age) rather than by non-anthropogenic factors (geography, climate, topography). As urbanization continues to expand, efforts directed towards the conservation of intact vegetation within urban landscapes could support higher concentrations of both bird and plant species. Despite declines in the density of species, cities still retain endemic native species, thus providing opportunities for regional and global biodiversity conservation, restoration and education.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 52 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 1,961 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 9 <1%
Australia 6 <1%
United Kingdom 6 <1%
Mexico 5 <1%
Brazil 4 <1%
Germany 3 <1%
Italy 2 <1%
Canada 2 <1%
Singapore 2 <1%
Other 14 <1%
Unknown 1908 97%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 317 16%
Student > Bachelor 301 15%
Student > Master 297 15%
Researcher 280 14%
Other 84 4%
Other 278 14%
Unknown 404 21%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 755 39%
Environmental Science 489 25%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 49 2%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 39 2%
Social Sciences 24 1%
Other 117 6%
Unknown 488 25%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 291. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 19 July 2023.
All research outputs
#121,038
of 25,460,914 outputs
Outputs from Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
#261
of 11,356 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#948
of 241,351 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
#6
of 186 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,460,914 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 11,356 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 40.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 241,351 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 186 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.