Cities homogenize bird communities

This study took place in six different European countries along a latitudinal gradient and compared rural and urban paired sites. Researchers aimed to see the effect of urbanization on the evolutionary distinctiveness (how isolated is a species in the evolutionary tree) of bird communities. Their results evidence that urban enviroments impact negatively on the evolutionary uniqueness of birds regardless of the ecoregion analyzed or the taxonomic diversity of each country. A decrease in the phylogenetic diversity of a community decreases its evolutionary potential, which makes it less adaptable to environmental changes. Counter-measures such as urban forests are crucial for the conservation of biodiversity (in terms of functional and phylogenetic diversity) in urban areas.