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Urbanisation has reduced the abundance and diversity of many taxonomic groups, and the effects may be more pronounced on islands, which have a smaller regional species pool to compensate. Green spaces within urban environments may help to safeguard wildlife assemblages, and the associated habitat heterogeneity can even increase species diversity. Here, total abundance and species diversity of butterflies, birds, and vegetation at nine rural and nine urban locations were quantified on Lipsi Island, Greece. Sites were assessed using Pollard walks for butterflies, point‐count surveys for birds, and quadrats for vegetation. There was no significant difference in the abundance or species diversity of butterflies or vegetation among rural and urban locations, which could pertain to the low building density within urbanised areas and the minimal extent of urbanisation on the island. However, urban areas hosted a significantly greater abundance, richness, and diversity of birds compared to rural sites. The community composition of butterflies, birds, and vegetation also differed significantly between urban and rural locations, highlighting the impact of urbanisation on species across a broad range of trophic groups. This study contributes to ecological knowledge on the impacts of urbanisation across multiple trophic levels in island ecosystems, with comparisons across a gradient of island size and urbanisation intensity needed in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbiotic marine invertebrates can be small, hidden or difficult to find, hampering the understanding of their distribution and ecological roles. Haplosyllis anthogorgicola is a polychaete inhabiting the gorgonian Anthogorgia bocki , where it lives in high densities within the host's coenenchyme and occupies burrows formed by host tissue near coral polyps. This study provides the first records of H. anthogorgicola since its description in 1956, from colonies of Anthogorgiidae in southern Japan. We observed that host gorgonians were also inhabited by the pygmy seahorse Hippocampus bargibanti , a popular species to observe and photograph among SCUBA divers. Therefore, we examined photographic records of H. bargibanti available on the citizen science website iNaturalist and screened for structures associated with infestation by H. anthogorgicola to gather information on this elusive species. Our analyses confirmed that this polychaete and/or similar species are widespread in the central Indo-Pacific region. In addition, we observed some polychaete behaviours, raising questions about the nature of the relationships between H. anthogorgicola , its gorgonian hosts and the pygmy seahorse. Our study demonstrates that citizen science can contribute to our knowledge not only on the distribution and behaviour of well known and charismatic species but also inadvertently on overlooked and neglected taxa.