Scientists Find 1,000 Different Species in Their Suburban Home, Backyard

A trio of scientists who live together have documented more than 1,000 species found in their suburban home and its backyard.

The findings, published in the journal Ecology, highlight the biodiversity present in many suburban landscapes, which can far surpass professionals' expectations, according to the researchers.

The scientists from the University of Queensland in northeastern Australia—mathematician Matt Holden, ecologist Andrew Rogers and taxonomist Russell Yong—conducted their survey during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020.

The home is in the Annerley suburb of Brisbane, on the Queensland coast.

As a challenge, the scientists tried to identify as many species as possible over a period of 12 months.

"We've always been wanting to do this study. With the three trees on the lot, and no pesticides used, we noticed quite a few cool insects around here and there, so we knew we'd find a lot," Holden told Newsweek. "Andrew, Russell and I had talked about it over many house dinners. But we never really had the time until we got locked down in the house during COVID."

"It was a good social activity the three of us could do as a shared house project when we didn't have many other social options. While noticing the wildlife and taking photos is rather easy, we knew identifying species would take a lot of time. But quite frankly it was even more work than we initially thought, only because we found so many species," he said.

In total, the scientists documented 1,150 unique species of animals, plants and fungi over the 12 months, surpassing expectations.

"We asked a large number of ecologists and conservation scientists how many species they'd expect to find in this setting and they predicted only 200," Holden said in a press release. "But after 60 days of surveying, we'd already discovered 777 species."

"It shows suburban houses and apartments could have far more biodiversity than ever imagined, especially when it comes to insects."

The idea to conduct the survey came when Rogers was vacuuming cobwebs in his room and wondered how many spiders were living on the property.

"The three of us soon envisioned a plan to comb through the house and backyard in search of other critters that resided alongside us," Holden said.

The research project identified a wide array of animals, including 436 moth and butterfly species, 56 different spiders, eight types of reptiles and 56 birds. Among the birds were tawny frogmouths, laughing kookaburras, blue-faced honeyeaters, rainbow lorikeets, spotted doves and the Australian white ibis.

"Blue-tongued skinks hibernated under the garage, and at night, blue-banded and teddy-bear bees slept in the hedges under the front window," Holden said.

"The house was a complex ecosystem of species interacting—we stumbled upon the moth Scatochresis innumera, which as a caterpillar spends its whole time feeding inside the dung of a brushtail possum before emerging as an adult," Holden said. "The Parilyrgis concolor is another moth species whose caterpillar lives in spiderwebs and devours spider poop to survive."

"One of the more fascinating predators was the thread-legged assassin bug," Holden told Newsweek. "Some of these bugs pluck at spider webs, and when the spider comes to check out their 'meal,' they find out that they are indeed the meal of this clever assassin."

To their surprise, the researchers also documented three species that had not previously been recorded in Australia's leading biodiversity database, the Atlas of Living Australia. These included a mosquito species, a sandfly and an invasive flatworm.

While this survey was focused on only one location, the researchers believe that similar biodiversity could be found in many suburban areas across the country.

"It depends on how people tend to their homes and gardens—keeping low-maintenance trees and shrubs and eliminating manicured lawns and pesticides will significantly boost the number of critters found," Holden said.

"Brisbane is subtropical and contains a good number of urban street trees and green spaces," he told Newsweek. "Cities with less varied vegetation may have fewer species. Climate also plays a role. That said I'm confident that every home will have many species throughout any city in Australia, especially if you have some shrubs or trees and don't spray pesticides in your garden."

Update 12/13/23, 7:46 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Matt Holden.