Increasing rat numbers in cities are linked to climate warming, urbanization and human population

Urban rats are notorious invasive pests that thrive in cities by exploiting the resources accompanying high human population density. Identifying long-term trends in rat numbers and how they are shaped by environmental changes is critical for understanding their ecology, and projecting future vulnerabilities and mitigation needs. Here, we use trend analyses of public complaint and inspection data in 16 cities around the world to estimate trends in commensal rat populations. Eleven of 16 cities (69%) had significant increasing trends in rat numbers, including Washington D.C., New York, and Amsterdam. Just three cities experienced declines. Cities experiencing greater temperature increases over time saw larger increases in rat numbers. Cities with more dense human populations and more urbanization also saw larger increases in rats. Warming temperatures and more people living in cities may be expanding the seasonal activity periods and food resource availability for urban rats. Cities will..., , , # Increasing rat numbers in cities are linked to climate warming, urbanization and human population

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3xsj3txrq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3xsj3txrq)

## Description of the data and file structure

The dataset consists of an Excel file (with two sheets such as data and metadata).

### Files and variables

#### File: Richardson\_et\_al\_ScienceAdv\_wild\_rat\_trend\_analysis\_data\_19Apr24.xlsx

**Description:**  Please see the \"Metadata\" sheet tab within this data file for more information on each variable, abbreviations, etc. 

**Code/Software**

This is a basic spreadsheet file, viewable in Excel or Google Sheets. All subsequent analyses with these data were done in R.