{"id":38964,"date":"2020-03-05T06:31:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T06:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/?p=38964"},"modified":"2020-03-08T09:28:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-08T08:28:40","slug":"are-cities-europes-new-biodiversity-hotspots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2020\/03\/are-cities-europes-new-biodiversity-hotspots\/","title":{"rendered":"Are cities Europe’s new biodiversity hotspots?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Are<\/div>\n

Vondelpark, Amsterdam’s public urban park in the southwest of the city, is anything but a remote place. Even on a weekday, it’s full of people taking a stroll, playing soccer or chatting with friends on the neatly mowed grass.<\/p>\n

There are also countless people bicycling on the wide, paved roads \u2014 after all, this is the Netherlands. Vondelpark definitely might not seem like the ideal place to look for new species of insects<\/a>, but biologist Iva Njunjic begs to differ.<\/p>\n

“Unknown biodiversity is lurking everywhere, even in this place dominated by humans.” Njunjic works for Taxon Expeditions, a Netherlands-based organization that offers ecotourism<\/a> trips, usually to places like Borneo, Panama and Montenegro.<\/p>\n

\n

Last year, they embarked on a week long citizen-science project<\/a> to comb a small island nature reserve in Vondelpark called the “Koeienweide” \u2014 “cow meadow” \u2014 for new species.\u00a0A single path leads to the reserve, which is padlocked and clearly off-limits to the general public.\u00a0Managed by an Amsterdam citizens’ initiative, the Koeienweide \u2014 an island surrounded by canals \u2014 clearly hasn’t seen a lawnmower for quite a while.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

“In a country like the Netherlands, cities are actually biologically rich in comparison to the countryside,” he told DW. “This is because there is intensive agriculture everywhere.”\u00a0The organizers hope their findings will shed light on the importance of insects<\/a>. “Even though they’re so tiny they perform many important functions like aerating the soil, decomposing organic matter and pollinating the plants,” Iva Njunjic says. “Everyone wants to save pandas and lions, but insects are actually more important.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This is an excerpt. You can read the full article in<\/strong>\u00a0Deutsche Welle: a<\/a>re cities Europe’s new biodiversity hotspots?<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vondelpark, Amsterdam’s public urban park in the southwest of the city, is anything but a remote place. Even on a weekday, it’s full of people taking a stroll, playing soccer or chatting with friends on the neatly mowed grass – and now it also a hotspot of local biodiversity!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1871,534],"tags":[177],"yoast_head":"\nAre cities Europe's new biodiversity hotspots?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vondelpark, Amsterdam's public urban park in the southwest of the city, is anything but a remote place. Even on a weekday, it's full of people taking a stroll, playing soccer or chatting with friends on the neatly mowed grass - and now it also a hotspot of local biodiversity!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are cities Europe's new biodiversity hotspots?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vondelpark, Amsterdam's public urban park in the southwest of the city, is anything but a remote place. Even on a weekday, it's full of people taking a stroll, playing soccer or chatting with friends on the neatly mowed grass - and now it also a hotspot of local biodiversity!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Travindy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-05T06:31:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-08T08:28:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Travindy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@travindy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Travindy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Travindy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2020\/03\/are-cities-europes-new-biodiversity-hotspots\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Travindy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/79576b26c03e84ac969c6cf7ad8118bb\"},\"headline\":\"Are cities Europe’s new biodiversity hotspots?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-05T06:31:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-08T08:28:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2020\/03\/are-cities-europes-new-biodiversity-hotspots\/\"},\"wordCount\":280,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"biodiversity\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Biodiversity\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2020\/03\/are-cities-europes-new-biodiversity-hotspots\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html\",\"name\":\"Are cities Europe's new biodiversity hotspots?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-05T06:31:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-08T08:28:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"Vondelpark, Amsterdam's public urban park in the southwest of the city, is anything but a remote place. Even on a weekday, it's full of people taking a stroll, playing soccer or chatting with friends on the neatly mowed grass - and now it also a hotspot of local biodiversity!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Are cities Europe’s new biodiversity hotspots?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Travindy\",\"description\":\"sustainable tourism consulting, news and resources\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Travindy\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Travindy\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Travindy\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/79576b26c03e84ac969c6cf7ad8118bb\",\"name\":\"Travindy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e8e24b511c9178e320b9eb2226dadb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e8e24b511c9178e320b9eb2226dadb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Travindy\"},\"description\":\"Travindy is an independent website featuring news and opinion on all issues to do with tourism and sustainability. Written primarily for an industry audience, our aim is to support the transformation of the sector into one that is regenerative, restorative and fully inclusive.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/travindy\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/author\/travindy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are cities Europe's new biodiversity hotspots?","description":"Vondelpark, Amsterdam's public urban park in the southwest of the city, is anything but a remote place. Even on a weekday, it's full of people taking a stroll, playing soccer or chatting with friends on the neatly mowed grass - and now it also a hotspot of local biodiversity!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are cities Europe's new biodiversity hotspots?","og_description":"Vondelpark, Amsterdam's public urban park in the southwest of the city, is anything but a remote place. Even on a weekday, it's full of people taking a stroll, playing soccer or chatting with friends on the neatly mowed grass - and now it also a hotspot of local biodiversity!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html","og_site_name":"Travindy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","article_published_time":"2020-03-05T06:31:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-03-08T08:28:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Travindy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@travindy","twitter_site":"@Travindy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Travindy","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2020\/03\/are-cities-europes-new-biodiversity-hotspots\/"},"author":{"name":"Travindy","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/79576b26c03e84ac969c6cf7ad8118bb"},"headline":"Are cities Europe’s new biodiversity hotspots?","datePublished":"2020-03-05T06:31:30+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-08T08:28:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2020\/03\/are-cities-europes-new-biodiversity-hotspots\/"},"wordCount":280,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["biodiversity"],"articleSection":["Biodiversity","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2020\/03\/are-cities-europes-new-biodiversity-hotspots\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html","name":"Are cities Europe's new biodiversity hotspots?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-03-05T06:31:30+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-08T08:28:40+00:00","description":"Vondelpark, Amsterdam's public urban park in the southwest of the city, is anything but a remote place. Even on a weekday, it's full of people taking a stroll, playing soccer or chatting with friends on the neatly mowed grass - and now it also a hotspot of local biodiversity!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/european-cities-insects-2645382785.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Are cities Europe’s new biodiversity hotspots?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/","name":"Travindy","description":"sustainable tourism consulting, news and resources","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Travindy","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Travindy"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Travindy"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/79576b26c03e84ac969c6cf7ad8118bb","name":"Travindy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e8e24b511c9178e320b9eb2226dadb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e8e24b511c9178e320b9eb2226dadb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Travindy"},"description":"Travindy is an independent website featuring news and opinion on all issues to do with tourism and sustainability. Written primarily for an industry audience, our aim is to support the transformation of the sector into one that is regenerative, restorative and fully inclusive.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","https:\/\/twitter.com\/travindy"],"url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/author\/travindy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}