narrator: on this episode of "earth focus"...los angeles is known foror its urbrban sprawl d traffific-clgeged system off freewaways rather than its diverse array of living species. the second-most-populated city in america is actually a biodiversese hotspot--one of just a few in the entire world. within t the confines ofof this coconcrete jungle, spececies are adapting and, in some cases, even thriving. welcome to the los angeles urban wild.

woman: southern california is one of many hotspot areas around the globe which are areas of extraordinary biological diversity. man: if we just think about l.a. county, you're going from sea level to 10,064 feet when you get up to mt.

san antoniowhen you t think about that elevation r range, which is thehe greatestst elevevational range ofof any coy in t the united stateses, ther'a diverse s suite of habitats inn there, , and that includess habitat that might be right along the busiest freeway in the country...but it also includes places where mountain lions live. i mean, it's just this place of absolutely incredible diversity when it comes toto thinking abot types of habitat anand types of species s that are thhriving he. man: hey, i thought i told you guys to get out of here. now, go. come on. get out of here. male reporter: we have a mom and her kids all going for a nice, refreshing swim all at the exact same time.

woman: there is a hidden jungle in cities like los angeles, and a hidden savannah and hidden wetlands, and other kinds of ecosystems. pauly: there's no magic line where nature stops and city begins. it's all a giant matrix. and in the most urbanized parts of los angeles, you can still find literally thousands of species of plplants and animals. heise: the conventional wisdom used to be that cities are biodiversity wastelands, and we're now beginning to rethink that in two major ways. one is that actually, there's a lot of biodiversity in citities, muchch more so than n we had originally known. the other challenge is to

think about how we might make this environment that was built by us in terms of buildings, in terms of the parks that we've planted, in terms of the gardens that some of us take care of on a daily basis. how could we make this habitat more hospitable to non-human species? [coyote barks] [barks] pauly: understanding how species are adapting to urban areas is an area of research that people are really just starting to get serious about studying. things like coyotes and mountain lions and bobcats, species that we may not always think about as being city dwellers but, in fact, with a little bit of research, you realize are actually part of the story of a big cityty like los angeles. heise: the e reason that they now inhababit what we cononsideo be our spaces is that the city has expanded out into their habitat. but coyotes are also

one ofof those species that do make use of human settlements in often n quite ingenious s ways n that they obviously have learned when to cross streets and when not to cross them. it turns out that coyotes are very smart about actually observing the change of traffic lights. man: so, this is the backside of the park here. there are almost no limits to coyotes' ability to adapt to the urban environment... because south central l.a. is probably synonymous with the most inner-city neighborhoods in the world.

finding coyotes here is just-- just amazing to me and exciting every time i'm able to collelect some more scacat. here in south l.a. wetlands, there's proof that coyotes use this area because i'm finding coyote scat inside these fences. coyotes are species that most people know live in the l.a. area, but people think that they live in the mountains-- mountainous areas or griffith park, where there's more open space, but really don't think of them as animals able to adapt to this type of landscape. [car alarm beeps] back to the ranger station.

yeah, so, we're in griffith park, and here is one right here. this park isis surrounded by freeway, by urbanization, by some major barriers for wildlife. so, we just saw two, maybe 3 coyotes within this picnic area. so, they know that this resource is here on a regular basis. coyotes are doing pretty well in this urban landscape thanks to their adaptability, but the mountain lions are another story. they really need some help if they're going to have a population here for multiple ggenerations to come.

i use camera traps, which are motion-activated cameras that have a sensor in front that's triggered by motion or heat that aows me to document wildlife that is using a particularrea. and each photo or eacimage is titime- and dadate-stamped to tl e activityty levels of cecertain spspecies. ohoh, there he is. walking right past on the same trail. yeah, he's s looking healthy. he's walking really well, which is great to see. p-22 kind of adadapted to griffith park, and when i say "kind of adapted," i mean that he has retained the same behavior of his rural couunterparts in patagonia

and in the western santa monicas. but at its core, his story is about survival. and a lot of people cann relate to a story w where it's about an individual basically facing some very, seemingly insurmountable odds and defeating thth. his ability to get into this park, cross through freeways that have killed multiple mountain lions before... and live in a space that is an unprecedented amount of space for a mountain lion to survive in. usually, a male mountain lion needs about 200 square miles of space to itself and griffith park only offers 9 square miles. pauly: we know that the level of urbanization that we are bringing to this landscape is causing immense fragmentation. what are the impacts of freeways like the 405 and the 101 and the 5 going to

do in terms of allowing these populations to continue to have gene flows so that we're not facing massive issues of inbreeding? ordeñana: i'm sure there's a lot of times where he's a lot closer than we think. but he's doing what pumas do best, which is avoiding people at all costs. and d that's why they've been around l.a. fofor so long. that'whwhy th've been able to survive in this area surrounded by people.e. he's not now, because he leses in griffith park, going teter people's chihuahuhuas and petats or kind of f gotten used d to outdtdoor lightingng. he'ss retg his behavior as far as eating deer, but he's somehow, and we don't know how he's doing this, he''s finding enough prey and he's able to avoid peopople even though there's so much more activity in his habitat than other mountain lion habitat.

p-22 has gone through a lot of misadventures. because he's a celebrity, he's been able to kind of survive a lot of these circumstances. one of those incidences was him getting stuck under a house and wildlife officers shooting him with beanbag rounds and tennis ball guns. he kept his cool to the point where he waited for those people to tire themselves out before he left, and he left without anybody y seeing him. and that's him being able e to kind of use those natural skills of being elusive to keep his distance and stay safe. evenen the most adaptable e spes out here, arguguably the c coyoe or the raccoon, have trouble in thisis landscape because o of rs and of a lot of other urban dangers. pauly: and the reality is the decisions that we make today are going to be all the difference as to whether those mountain lions are in the l.a. area 100 years from now.

heise: we have been overall, over the last 150 years, been very successful at d displacing especially a lot of the animalss out of the city that were to some degree harmful l to human healtlth and well-being.. but we're now also realizing that in some sense we have overdone that. ordeñana: i believe it's our responsibility to o facilitatete their coexistence with us. and for mountain lions and wide-ranging species that also include deer, we need to allow for safe passage across these very formidable barriers that we've created. what's being proposed along the 101 freeway in agoura hills is to build a crossing, a wildlife crossing. this is not a new concept. a lot of other countries have aladady built ththese wildlife crossings. what these are are not just bridges, but they're bridges that are vegetated, that have nice restoration that's done leading

up to these crossing points and fencing that funnel these animals. heise: the cost is comparative. so, it's $50 million that we will invest in mountain lion habitat that we won't invest in something else. so, i think there needs to be democratic decision making anand extensive consultation about whether we want to do this and who will raise the monney for this, who will pay for this. what do we owe mountain lions, what do we owe to other species of plants and animals? pauly: man-made structures act as barriers for lots of species in urban areas. but some aspects of our infrastructure actually allow

non-native species to thrive. the big moment for thinking about water in los angeles is 1913. once you hahave perermanent watr on the landscape, lots of non-native species, if they get introduced, can now make it. so, what's happened is that non-native species that get introduced to southern california, that are maybe from a more tropical place, now can make it here because there's much more water. and one of the ways that a lot of these species are coming in is actually via the nursery plant trade. [animalsls callingng] things like brown anoles and green anololes and various species of geckos and now a thing called ththe coqui frog. "coqui, coqui, coqui,"," and it might do ththis all nigight lon.

so, if you live in a neighbhborhood with a coququi f, you might find it incrediblyly aggravating. so, the coqui frog was introducedo hawaii i in the 198. . once they y get esestablished inin hawaii, they start comining into califora a n nursery plants. a and so, now we have them established at two nurseries herere in soututhern california. we currently have 15 people out helping us search ffor these coqui frogs, and that includes b biologist with the california department of fish and wildlife as well as biologist with thehe natural history museum. . but there's these real implicacations s of e coqui frogs showing up and having these impactsts and it'ss just all b because they're doing what a a lot of other spececiese doing, which is hitchhikining a ride into ththe nursery plantt trade. a as a biologist, my interest is understanding how species are dealing with urbanization, whether those are native species that are trying to adapt to these urban settings, or whether these are non-native species thahat have beeen introduced as a resultff human acactivity and are also trying to find d a way toto makt here in the l los angngeles are.

we were here specifically to look for slender salamanders. give me a hand grabbing these. and we were able to find 7 slenender salamanders, and on tp of that we found two other native specieie-a westernrn fene lizard and a southern a alligatr lizard. you got a brahminy blind snake? no way! they're super squirmy. woman: yeah, so, we've got a brahminy blind snake here. pauly: yeah, we don't have any-- i don't have any reports of brahminy blind snakes right around here. with those slender salamanders, we were able to use some swabs to swab their skin, and those swabs will then be--the dna in

those swabs will be sequenced. in additition to that, we were able to take some measurements, some length measurements and some weight measurements. woman: go. yeah. .5 grams. pauly: i certainly was hopeful that w we would get one species today. i never imagineed that we would g get 4 specieses. in u urban places, youou have te huhuge matrices of f private propertities, just a giant j jiw puzzzzle of private prproperty,d so, as a biologist, every 10 steps, i'm on a new piece of private property. whwhat we found is t that the et way to do biodiversity reseaearh in urban areas is to enlnlist te help of literally thousands s of people. greg and emily han and other community scientists that have participated in our programs are what allow us to do urban biodiversity research. gregeg han: i was just, i dodo't knknow, staring ofoff in thehe distance while scrubbing dishes and i saww this litittle bit off bright bluee that did notot look like anything you would see in your backyard. emily han: : our clm toto fame s we discovered a population of

previously undiscovered snails in los angeles. so, we immediately started looking for more snails and found a bunch of other really tiny, little snails. he put a picture of the snails on instagram, and once he did that, we got a notification that scientists and other snail enthusiasts were very excited about this snail find. woman: it looks great back here, emily. emily han: thanks. woman: and i contacted gregory to say, can i come out and get it because we don't have any of those specimens in the collection. yep, that's xerotricha theree. and who'o's this little guy? emily han: is that a cochlicella barbara? a r really tey,y, tiny one?e? vendetti: yepep, that's a juvenile. so, i in february 1 of 2016, i came out here, the hans invited d me, and we just did a little exploration of their backyard and collected xerotricha conspurcata, so, the species we're talking about, but then also this other species called cochlicella barbara, which also is a first record for los angeles county. and then now, almost two years later, i'm back assessing are thosose spieies

still here. and they are. we literally are collaborators. like, we have papers together with all of our names on it. so, those are things that-- that collaboratioion makes this specimen and citizen science and standing in this backyard a really meaningful thing. pauly: this one's gonna go right there. we have the specimens that you see behind me, and other specimens all throughout this instititution. over 35 million specimens s and historical collection objects. and those can basically be a time machine so that we can understand where species were found in the past. when we think about the greatest threats to biodiversity that our planet is currently facing, we think ababout thingsgs like clclimate change,e, and the r reality is t one of t the biggesest threatsts actualally urbanizization. so, we nonow know thahat as of , 50% of the human population is now living in urban areas, and

so, suddenly, it becomes a huge imimperative on p people to understand howow we can make urban areas s more welcoming to native and desired specieses. and whahat better placece to do that than los angeles? [bell rings] man: esperanza is located in one of the highest-density neighborhoods of downtown los angeles. [kids speaking indistinctly] i'm the principal of esperanza elementary school, just east of the skyscscrapersrs of downtownn the westlake neighborhrhood, downtown los angeles. woman: can you write the name and post it under the correct bird? kids: house finch, mourning dove, european starling, brewer's blackbird, red-tailed hawk, american crow. boy: hooded oriole, gray y egre, great blue heron, and a mockingbird.

rumble: the students love this. they love charging in here and really getting to know at a very deep, profound level what's showing up in our habitat. we observe, we record, we analyze, we share. all of these are important skillss for our students. so, at the very bottttom, do you see the live spider in there? kids: yeah. rumble: i'm surrounded by deerweed, native sages, encilia, but if you go back to 2014, i would have been standing on asphalt. peel back that asphalt, allow the dirt to be there, to plant native plants and create a living laboratory for students to really explore. girl: my name is ramona ramino. i like the garden because we come here and explore nature in the garden. what i see in the garden is hummingbirds, mockingbirds, and flowers. second girl: my name is

jimena lopez. we're trying to illustrate poppies and deer grass. boy: the california poppy is a flower native to california. rumble: it was a beautiful thing to have a burrowing owl be discovered by a fourth-grade student two winters ago. and even more incredible was that this little owl stayed with us, and so, i sometimes think of this as a zoo without cages. i think of my students who live in those buildinings right acros the street. they wake up in a concrete building. they go down concrete stairs. there's a little patch of concrete maybe to bounce a ball. they walk across a concrete sidewalk, an asphalt street, another concrete sidewalk, and they come onto a campus which is largely asphalt. then they go home

and they do it again. they need this connection to nature like every human being. now they have e access to nature right here on their campus. heise:e: i like toto call it multltispecies j justice, soso's thinking about what is it right to do by people. how do we make this a more just, a more fair space for the different groups of people who inhabit the city, but t how do e also make it a habitable place for the non-human species that are already here? papauly: there e has been t this geneneral idea o out there t thf you u want to sesee nature, , yu neneed to go o to yellowswstoner yosemite,e, and the reality is that that's not true. and everybody shouould know that that's not true because they just have to start l looking around and they can see the incredible diversity of species that are around ththem at all times. you don't need to travel anywhere to see nature. you

just need to start observing. announcer:earth fos" is ma possle in pa by the ange coty commuty foundion and he farv foundatn.

08/27/18 08/27/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! togoing home for a while treat my illness. i have every intention of returning here in giving many of you cause to regret all of the nice things you said about me. and i hope they press on you again that it is an honor to serve the american people in your company. thank you, fellow senators. amy: senator john mc