Evolution in an Urbanizing World
Where there are humans, there is food... delicious calorie rich food. And so much of it, well, it can keep a bear from hibernating! We've told you about wildlife and anthropogenic food before (check out: Raccoon Eats Your Bird Food, Juggling a Junk Food Diet, Eggroll Squirrel, and of course - Pizza Rat), and taking advantage... Continue Reading →
The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology is gearing up for their annual meeting next week. And just like previous years, there are some amazing urban talks and posters that we want to highlight here! But we can’t do it without your help. We’re looking for contributors who will be attending the meeting to be... Continue Reading →
A new book of interest to those working in urban ecosystems! It looks pretty interesting and I'm eager to dig into it a bit more. Here's a summary from the author, Scott Kellogg: Merging together the fields of urban ecology, environmental justice, and urban environmental education, Urban Ecosystem Justice promotes building fair, accessible, and mutually beneficial relationships... Continue Reading →
Everyone welcome the newest member of our editorial team here at Life in the City, Kevin Avilés-Rodríguez! Kevin is a postdoctoral researcher at Fordham University. His dissertation research focused on the interaction of global change drivers on the ecology and evolution of Anolis lizards. His work incorporates genomics, ecology, behavior, and morphology to understand how hurricanes, urbanization,... Continue Reading →
Urbanization extends flight phenology and leads to local adaptation of seasonal plasticity in Lepidoptera Thomas Merckx, Matthew E. Nielsen, Janne Heliölä, Mikko Kuussaari, Lars B. Pettersson, Juha Pöyry, Juha Tiainen, Karl Gotthard, and Sami M. Kivelä Abstract Urbanization is gaining force globally, which challenges biodiversity, and it has recently also emerged as an agent of... Continue Reading →
Consistency and plasticity of risk-taking behaviour towards humans at the nest in urban and forest great tits, Parus major Vincze, Ernő, Veronika Bókony, László Zsolt Garamszegi, Gábor Seress, Ivett Pipoly, Csenge Sinkovics, Krisztina Sándor, and András Liker Abstract Urban animals often show bolder behaviour towards humans than their nonurban conspecifics. However, it is unclear to... Continue Reading →
Growing up in a new world: trait divergence between rural, urban, and invasive populations of an amphibian urban invader Max Mühlenhaupt, James Baxter-Gilbert, Buyisile G. Makhubo, Julia L. Riley, John Measey Abstract Cities are focal points of introduction for invasive species. Urban evolution might facilitate the success of invasive species in recipient urban habitats. Here... Continue Reading →
Does melanin-based plumage coloration reflect health status of free-living birds in urban environments? Hani Amir Aouissi, Mostefa Ababsa, Aissam Gaagai, Zihad Bouslama, Yassine Farhi, and Haroun Chenchouni Abstract Background: Ecological functions and processes in urban ecosystems are governed by various human activities. City-adapted and city-exploiting animal species are expected to present certain specific behavioral and physiological... Continue Reading →
Age-Related Variability of the Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) Song in Natural and Urban Environments A. E. Bastrikova, S. I. Gashkov, and N. S. Moskvitina Abstract The age-related variability of the frequency and structural–temporal parameters of the advertising song of Ficedula hypoleuca males in natural habitats and the urban environment were analysed. In the natural habitats, the... Continue Reading →
De Novo Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Potential Thermal Adaptation Mechanisms in the Cicada Hyalessa fuscata Hoa Quynh Nguyen, Yuseob Kim, and Yikweon Jang Abstract In metropolitan Seoul, populations of the cicada Hyalessa fuscata in hotter urban heat islands (“high UHIs”) exhibit higher thermal tolerance than those in cooler UHIs (“low UHIs”). We hypothesized that heat stress... Continue Reading →
Urbanization processes drive divergence at the major histocompatibility complex in a common waterbird Ewa Pikus, Radosław Włodarczyk, Jan Jedlikowski, Piotr Minias Abstract Urban sprawl is one of the most common landscape alterations occurring worldwide, and there is a growing list of species that are recognised to have adapted to urban life. To be successful, processes... Continue Reading →
Cryptic eco-evolutionary feedback in the city: urban evolution of prey dampens the effect of urban evolution of the predator Kristien I. Brans, Nedim Tüzün, Arnaud Sentis, Luc De Meester, Robby Stoks Abstract Most research on eco-evolutionary feedbacks focuses on ecological consequences of evolution in a single species. This ignores the fact that evolution in response... Continue Reading →
Replicated, urban-driven exposure to metallic trace elements in two passerines Marion Chatelain, Arnaud Da Silva, Marta Celej, Eliza Kurek, Ewa Bulska, Michela Corsini & Marta Szulkin Abstract While there are increasing examples of phenotypic and genotypic differences between urban and non-urban populations of plants and animals, few studies identified the mechanisms explaining those dissimilarities. The... Continue Reading →
Hi everyone, we (the lead team here at Life in the City) have fallen a little behind on our New Literature alerts since mid-summer. Sorry about that! We are working on catching up, so check back daily to see more New Lit Alert updates with cool urban ecology and evolution research that has come out... Continue Reading →
Niche lability mitigates the impact of invasion but not urbanization Borden, J. B., Bohlman, S., & Scheffers, B. R. Abstract Native species can coexist with invasive congeners by partitioning niche space; however, impacts from invasive species often occur alongside other disturbances. Native species’ responses to the interactions of multiple disturbances remain poorly understood. Here we... Continue Reading →
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.