Evolution in an Urbanizing World
From hantavirus to the plague, rats have long since been reservoirs for a whole host of nasty infectious diseases. They live in our cities and feed off our garbage, sharing with us their fleas, ticks, and pathogens as a thank-you. With more urban development comes more rats and more potential for zoonotic diseases, making the... Continue Reading →
In response to human impact on the environment—from increased light, sound, air, and water pollution, to higher levels of interaction with humans—organisms must adapt to novel conditions in order to survive. One area in which organisms adapt is behavior. von Merton et. al. (2022) explores how the behavior and personality of two shrew species (Crocidura... Continue Reading →
Guest post by Brandon Waldo, Katherine Moore, Sam Bickley, Christopher Anderson, & Moises Bernal. Salinity, Urbanization, and Genetic Divergence of Killifish Coastlines are unique and dynamic environments that are always subject to intense changes. Organisms living in beaches, estuaries, and marshes constantly face fluctuations in water conditions that can alter their habitat, making hardiness and... Continue Reading →
Is the urban landscape pushing lichen evolution or is it just providing space for opportunists? Harold Timans Photo by: Matthijs MolenaarPhysciella chloantha is shown with a fertile apothecium and the lobes producing vegetative soralia The urban environment creates a multitude of habitats that differ widely in their abiotic factors. In one street it can be... Continue Reading →
The common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) offers a great opportunity to study how humans are influencing the course of evolution. These lizards have a large native range, covering much of Southern Europe, but are also successfully established in many places, including Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The common wall lizard was introduced to Cincinnati in the early... Continue Reading →
The ongoing global urban expansion presents resident wildlife with many changes to their environmental structure. A few changes created by anthropogenic growth include habitat fragmentation, roads and buildings, pollution, and increased human presence. These consequences of urbanization have caused many species to become locally extinct, while others appear to thrive from the effects of urban... Continue Reading →
Danielle Sabin THE BACKGROUND When Splinter discovered four baby turtles in a New York City sewer, he had no idea what the glowing green goo was that covered their bodies. He simply cleaned them off and gave them a home. Shortly thereafter, these turtles grew very rapidly and mutated into anthropomorphic beings with proclivities for... Continue Reading →
Anolis lizards (known as anoles) are models for studying evolution in the wild. Not only do anoles have a history of repeatedly diversifying to specialize in the same types of microhabitats in the same ways across the Greater Antilles (i.e., they are an adaptive radiation), these lizards also have a tendency to adapt on rapid... Continue Reading →
The growing field of urban evolutionary ecology studies the impact of urbanization on its resident species. Often, that involves comparisons between conspecific urban and non-urban populations. Jackson et al. took a different perspective in this study. They analyzed the divergence between populations living in adjacent but isolated city parks. They developed their study around a... Continue Reading →
Humans are now the dominant driver of evolution. Most contemporary examples of rapid evolution in nature stem from the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on populations. A prominent example of this is how urbanization affects species' evolution. This topic has received substantial attention since 2016, with many scholars turning their research attention to the topic. Part... Continue Reading →
The Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is an invasive plant-hopper pest native to parts of China, first introduced to the United States in Berks County, PA, in 2014. According to the NYSIPM, egg masses were hypothesized to have arrived in stone shipments in 2012. Since its introduction, there have been Spotted Lanternfly reports in Indiana, Michigan,... Continue Reading →
As urban areas continue to expand, nearby wildlife must either adapt to the effects of urbanization or flee to natural spaces. The species impacted by urbanization typically fall into one of three categories: urban avoiders, urban adaptors, or urban exploiters. Coyotes (Canis latrans) are classified as urban adaptors due to their ability to live on... Continue Reading →
Urban-rural gradients: how landscape changes drive adaptive evolution of plant competitive traits Yuya Fukano, Kei Uchida, Yuuya Tachiki Abstract The role of competition in local adaptation and the associated traits underlying adaptation remain unclear. One reason for the lack of evidence may be that plant-plant competition is ubiquitous in natural environments; thus, local adaptation to... Continue Reading →
In a previous post titled Meta-analysis of Urban Bird Phenology, we discussed how urban conditions have affected the average value of phenology and reproductive phenotypes in bird species. Capilla-Lasheras et al. found that urban bird populations had lower values than their non-urban conspecifics for three life-history traits, indicating earlier lay dates, smaller clutch sizes, and... Continue Reading →
Humans have significantly impacted environmental conditions and landscapes for several decades through our urban expansion. These changes have produced selective pressures different from those present in non-urban areas. In response to these selective pressures, many species have diverged in physical, behavioral, and reproductive traits between their urban and non-urban populations. In addition, urban landscapes are... Continue Reading →
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