It is impossible to imagine anything fragile surviving the aggressive rush of hundreds of thousands of people commuting to and from work, the unforgiving noise and the endless additions to the concrete jungle that is the city.
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But a handful of endangered and threatened animals and plants are surviving in an environment that many would consider too hostile for such fragile beings.
Across Melbourne, 20 fauna and flora, ranging from chirping frogs to delicate orchids, call the city home.
The new research comes from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, based at the University of Melbourne.
One of the report's authors, Pia Lentini, said the world-first research identified how many of our threatened species are actually hanging on in our cities and the roles that cities play in supporting endangered species.
"The finding was surprising because we generally write off cities as 'lost causes' when it comes to conservation. We tend to imagine that threatened species are only found in far away national parks or remote areas," Dr Lentini said.
The study examined 99 cities across the country and tracked where Australia's 1643 legally protected threatened species – 1215 plants and 428 animals – were located. Overall, 30 per cent of those species were found in at least one city, with animals more common but plants more likely to be found in greater proportion.
In Melbourne, there are 20 species that live across the city, including the Frankston spider-orchid, rosella spider-orchid, growling grass frog, striped legless lizard, southern brown bandicoot and Macquarie perch.
Mark Norman, Parks Victoria's chief conservation scientist, said most people were unaware of the rich population of endangered animals on our doorsteps.
"It's a surprise that so many rare animals can still treat Melbourne as part of their feeding range – it's like having Tasmanian tigers in the city and not even being aware of it," he said.
Dr Norman added that bigger efforts would be needed to protect these species, such as reducing the use of insecticides and herbicides and controlling predators such as cats.
"People letting their cats out at night could lead to the last remaining frogs being killed. Anything that can help [keep] those unnatural predators at bay is really important."
Several of those species are migrant and nomadic species, like the grey-headed flying-fox and swift parrot, which travel between cities to source seasonal food such as fruit and nectar.
Far from a lost cause, cities could become even more vital in the battle to save some of these creatures from extinction.
Buoyed by their findings, researchers now want these currently under utilised urban spaces to play a more prominent role in biodiversity conservation, which should include cities in government conservation policy, they say.
Options include spatial planning of urban development, recovery planning and the increased management, restoration and improvement of habitats.
"This shows that cities aren't just a threat to conservation. If we are plan our cities carefully, we can keep habitats that are important to Australia's amazing animals and plants and help conserve them into the future," Dr Lentini says.
Melbourne City Council is developing an urban ecology and biodiversity strategy to recognise and help protect the population of endangered animals and plants. Some suggestions include creating small eco ''hot-spots'' to draw into certain species.
