# Urban expansion causes ecological collapse in streams in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area

Source: [Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-urban-expansion-ecological-collapse-streams.html) · 2026-11-14 · Life
Page: https://themorning.science/story/urban-expansion-causes-ecological-collapse-in-streams-in-the-sao-paulo-metropoli-1d9c84f2da72a387
Kind: research · Impact: medium

## In brief

- A study published in August in the journal Nature Cities reports that urbanisation in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area is causing food webs in local streams to collapse.
- According to the report, the effects of the metropolis go beyond a simple reduction in the number of species.

## Why it matters

It documents how urban expansion can disrupt whole freshwater food webs, not just reduce species counts, which matters for anyone studying or managing urban ecosystems.

## Coverage

- [Urban expansion causes ecological collapse in streams in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-urban-expansion-ecological-collapse-streams.html) — Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology, 2026-11-14

Tags: urbanisation, food webs, freshwater ecology, streams, biodiversity, brazil

---

Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science