BACKGROUND While chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a growing public health concern in low- and middle-income countries, such as China, few studies have investigated the association between urbanization and the occurrence of CKD in those countries. METHODS We investigated the association between urbanization and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), an important CKD risk marker. Data came...

Watershed urbanization decreases diversity and taxonomic richness of aquatic insect communities, and headwater streams are particularly susceptible to degradation from urbanization. Patterns of taxon loss between urban headwater communities and communities in adjacent downstream, higher-order reaches might indicate which processes are controlling taxon loss and the extent to which unique headwa...

BACKGROUND The potential for reduced pollination ecosystem service due to global declines of bees and other pollinators is cause for considerable concern. Habitat degradation, destruction and fragmentation due to agricultural intensification have historically been the main causes of this pollinator decline. However, despite increasing and accelerating levels of global urbanization, very little ...