Urban sprawl might not be as harmful to wildlife as previously thought. When biologists compared the diversity of bird populations in natural forests, tree plantations and “exurban” (urban sprawl) areas in Tennessee, they found that tree plantations had substantially less bird population diversity than did native forests and exurban areas, and in some cases, exurban areas had even MORE diversity than native forests.

Researcher David Haskell says, “These findings suggest that urban sprawl is not all bad for wildlife. This turns conventional wisdom about wildlife conservation on its head.”
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