Charles Sturt University (CSU) scientists will be paying particular attention to birds and pollinating insects in Albury streets over the next few months.The researchers will be conducting a survey of the native birds and insects that pollinate gardens to investigate the impact of urbanisation.Ecologist from CSU's School of Environmental Sciences, Dr Dale Nimmo said, "As Albury is expanding and its population is increasing, it's important to understand how this impacts biodiversity, including those species that occur in the heart of the city."The project, which will have CSU researchers walking Albury's streets in search of native birds and pollinators, is part of a wider study looking at the best way to grow regional cities while minimising the impact on biodiversity."To help protect biodiversity in cities as they expand, there are two options. 'Land sharing' happens when people are spread thinly in low-density 'leafy' suburbs, which allow species to occur within urban areas" Dr Nimmo said."On the other hand, 'Land sparing' dedicates some areas for high density housing and other parts for large-scale biodiversity conservation, such as nature reserves"."We want to see if the best way to conserve our biodiversity is land sharing, land sparing or a combination of both."The project will look at birds and pollinator insects as these two groups of animals can respond differently to urban environments.Ecologist from CSU's Institute for Land Water and Society, Dr Manu Saunders said, "There've been very few studies done on pollinator insects in Australia's urban areas. But urban gardens can actually be great habitats for native bees and other pollinator insects, provided they have lots of different flowers and low pesticide use." The research has been funded by a CSU Sustainability Research Seed Grant, through CSU Green and the WH Gladstones Population and Environment Fund.The bird and pollinator surveys will run from January until mid-2017