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Urban Speciation
Above: Fig. 2 from Rivkin et al: many species have been shown to adapt to cities. Thompson et al. ask whether or not this could lead to speciation. Organisms that persist in urban environments are subject to novel selective pressures as…
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City Trails of Urban Snails
Urban life is often described as a fast-paced and frantic thing. But one of my favourite study species, the urban snail, is the living proof you can take your time and still enjoy what your city has to offer. I…
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What Makes an Urban Habitat?
As a scientist that works in the field of urban evolution I often have to consider, “what makes an urban habitat?” While this seems like a fairly easy question to answer, there’s actually a lot of different ways that we…
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The Human Side of Urban Evolution: Integrating Identity and Community with Research
As life scientists that choose to study species within a city – habitats that are dominated by stochasticity, ecological traps, and, well, humans – we’re sort of like the crazy cousins at the biological sciences family reunion. Indeed, studying a…
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A Roadmap for Evolutionary Ecology, Evolutionary Applications Perspective Article
Last summer, a group of scientists researching different aspects of urban ecology and evolution got together at the University of Toronto Mississauga to discuss trends in this young field in a symposium aptly titled, “Synthesis in the City” organized by…
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The Undergraduate’s Field Guide to Urban Ecology: Four Things You Should Know
Other posts here at Life in the City have covered the perils, issues, and occasional awkwardness of urban fieldwork from the perspective of the researcher, but have you considered how your naive undergraduate field technician is going to fare when…
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People Watching: the study of urban wildlife is a two-way street
My eyes are instinctively drawn to a black, blue, and snow white flurry of movement. A reflex hammer to my naturalist’s knee. The subject of my fascination springs a brisk two-footed hop-scotch, just ahead along a ribbon of green separating…
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Getting “Back on Track” with Common Milkweed
Sophie Breitbart, PhD student at University of Toronto Mississauga, tells us about her experience in the field working on milkweed. I’m sitting in the railway station Got a ticket to my destination… -Simon and Garfunkel, “Homeward Bound” Who would’ve thought…
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