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A Global Analysis of Urban Reptiles
One of the outstanding questions in urban evolutionary biology is whether there are universal or predictable responses to urbanization, and if so, what factors influence urban tolerance. As small-bodied ectotherms, reptiles are particularly sensitive to many of the challenges of…
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Moving to the Music: Hedgehog Behavior Changes in Response to Music Festival
We often think about how the construction of new buildings, parking lots, and industrial areas will impact the local wildlife. And, indeed, governments require environmental impact surveys and ongoing monitoring when vulnerable species are present. However, it wasn’t until I…
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Landcsape Genetics of Wolverines
The wolverine (Gulo gulo, not the Marvel hero) is the largest terrestrial member of the weasel family. In the early 20th century, wolverines were nearly extirpated in the contiguous United States, but still had populations in Canada. However, since their…
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Systemic Racism Shapes Urban Ecology and Evolution
The rate of urbanization is increasing greatly and with that, comes large human populations. Our population has increased from 6 billion people in 2000 to roughly 7.8 billion people in 2020 and in North America alone (~370 million people), over…
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Understanding the Distribution of Urban Rat-Associated Pathogens
Pathogens are organisms that cause disease, and zoonotic pathogens are those that can be transmitted between animals and people. Where pathogens are found can be determined by environmental changes. Urbanization is known to mediate environmental changes in cities as well…
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Big in the City: Urban Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics in Bumblebee Body Size and Pollination
Urbanization is arguably one of the most rapid and conspicuous human-driven environmental changes, and fragmentation is one of the most pervasive outcomes of urbanization. Patches of vegetation within the built matrix of a typical cityscape, such as parks and gardens,…
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CSEE2020: Variation in Pollinator-mediated Plant Reproduction Across an Urbanization Gradient
Recently, Ruth Rivkin shared some of her dissertation work with the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE). Urban habitats are more fragmented and degraded than nonurban habitats, which can impact both the ecology and evolution of species interactions. Species…
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CSEE2020: Human Influences on Darwin’s Finches
The Galápagos Islands are renowned for their unique, endemic biodiversity which inspired Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution by natural selection. In particular, Darwin’s finches are an iconic example of adaptive radiation due to natural selection, where ~18…
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