Centipedes Deserve Your Respect: THE HIDDEN WORLD

THE HIDDEN WORLD

When Elizabeth Johnson decided to become an ecologist, she never dreamed she would end up in the urban jungle. But as manager of the Metropolitan Biodiversity Program at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Johnson aims to protect the natural resources of a region of more than 21 million people that is more asphalt than green. "People write off urban and suburban areas, but they are really important," she says. "That's where the effects of sprawl, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and climate change are more intense."

The Metropolitan Biodiversity Program, which Johnson founded in 1997, is...

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