Urban Tolerance of Orthoptera Is Strongly Related to National Red List Status and Population Trends

Aim Quantifying the extent to which a species can tolerate urban environments is crucial for prioritising conservation efforts. By using a large citizen science dataset, we analysed the species‐specific urban tolerance of Orthoptera and examined how urban tolerance relates to Red List category, population status and population trends. Location Germany. Time Period 2008–2024. Major Taxa Studied Orthoptera (Ensifera and Caelifera). Methods We used citizen science observations of Orthoptera from iNaturalist and observation.org and estimated the imperviousness for each observation in a 500 m buffer around each site as a proxy for urban tolerance. We then calculated an urban tolerance index for each species by subtracting the overall mean of imperviousness of all Orthoptera observations from the mean value of all observations of a given species. Results Our final dataset comprised 178,327 Orthoptera observations, allowing us to quantify urban tolerance for 63 species across Germany. The majority of species (73%) exhibited negative urban tolerance scores—particularly among habitat specialists. Species classified as near threatened, vulnerable, or endangered, as well as those with declining population trends, had the lowest tolerance scores. In contrast, species with high urban tolerance were disproportionately thermophilic, synanthropic, range‐expanding, or able to exploit urban habitat analogues. These urban‐adapted species were often habitat generalists with high mobility or effective dispersal capacities. Main Conclusions Our findings reveal that urban tolerance among Orthoptera is highly species‐specific, with habitat specialists, declining species and those of conservation concern showing the lowest tolerance scores. These groups are therefore most at risk from increasing urbanisation.