London - A decade-long citizen science project called "School of Ants," launched by the University of Parma, has revealed how urban environments shape ecosystems by analyzing ant populations collected by thousands of volunteers across 40 Italian cities. Published in the Nature group's Scientific Reports and Scientific Data, the research indicates that species diversity thrives in greener, less populated areas, while higher city temperatures drastically reduce taxonomic diversity. These findings demonstrate how citizen-led data collection can provide crucial insights for ecological monitoring and the sustainable management of urban green spaces. (9colonne)