Evolution in an Urbanizing World
Parallel, urban-driven phenotypic changes There is increasing evidence that, for a given species, individuals inhabiting cities often differ from their counterparts outside of cities. Such differences may result from individuals suffering from environmental conditions in cities. For instance, my colleague Michela Corsini showed that, in the great tit (Parus major) and the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus),... Continue Reading →
Making the best of a difficult year With a group of other students here at Ohio Wesleyan University, I had successfully written a grant to research the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) in the south of France for the summer of 2020. Like so many plans that year, this trip was canceled. While the streets... Continue Reading →
Although species will face the challenges of ongoing urbanization and extreme climate events, we know very little about how these disturbances interact. For example, the response to hurricanes has largely been documented for species in their natural habitat. Thus, how urban taxa will respond to hurricanes remains largely unknown. Read on to find out how the anole lizard in Puerto Rico responded to Hurricane Maria for both urban and forest populations.
Cities, defined as large human settlements of the contemporary human population, have been part of the “Old World” landscape for long time, including Europe. However, the current exponential increase of the urbanised landscape is an unprecedented phenomenon, which has an impact at multiple ecological scales. Urbanisation and its derived actions can fragment wildlife populations and... Continue Reading →
Coyotes are widespread across North America and are one of few large predators that are found in cities. If you've been following our blog, you may have seen a few pictures of coyotes in urban and residential areas. You have probably also read some great research as well, presented by our guest contributors. Because they... Continue Reading →
As we know, the landscape of urban areas is changing rapidly as land is converted from natural to anthropogenic space. Additionally, new technology has allowed us to collect more data at a lower cost than ever before. The combination of these two events led my co-authors and me to ask "Are biologists keeping up with... Continue Reading →
Fine scale genetic structure in fire salamanders (Salamandra salamandra) along a rural‑to‑urban gradient G. Yannic, V. Helfer, R. Sermier, B. R. Schmidt, L. Fumagalli Abstract Delineating population boundaries in anthropogenic landscape is of critical importance for domains of biology that are concerned with the ecology, evolution and conservation of species. This remains particularly difficult for species where there is... Continue Reading →
Cities are hot. Because of the urban heat island effect, urban environments tend to be significantly warmer than nearby non-urban environments. For ectothermic organisms, like lizards and insects, elevated urban temperatures create thermally stressful conditions. It might be unsurprising then that researchers have documented an increase in thermal tolerance in urban animals (e.g., City Ants... Continue Reading →
Given the right conditions, life in the city might just lead to speciation. Wouter Halfwerk digs into the potential for and evidence of urban speciation in his latest paper in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Halfwerk points out that many studies have revealed both genetic and phenotypic divergence in urban populations, but asks are we seeing... Continue Reading →
In August 2020, I recently published my first first-author paper about urban Anolis lizard claws! I have previously written about my research after doing field work and presenting at my university's science symposium. I'm excited to report that the results are finally out! In our paper, The Finer Points of Urban Adaptation, myself and my coauthors (Kevin... Continue Reading →
Urban habitats and landscapes are considerably different from their rural and natural counterparts. Rural and natural habitats experience diluted human effects (e.g., disturbance, low pollution), while urban areas and urban wildlife endure more significant impacts from humans. When we think about the influence of cities and urbanization, we typically think of more "direct" impacts such... Continue Reading →
What makes a bird successful in the city? Jakob Mueller and colleagues first attempted to answer this question in blackbirds, finding genomic signatures of selection in the SERT gene associated with harm avoidance. Now, building on only a handful of studies to explore the genomic basis of urban adaptive responses, Mueller and colleagues tackle this... Continue Reading →
A recent paper in Scientific Reports, "Of city and village mice" by Dammhahn et al (2020), investigated the behavioral responses of striped field mice (Apodemus agrarius) to urbanization. The ability for an animal to adjust their behavior to a novel environment can contribute to survival in urban habitats, with the possibility of local adaptation to... Continue Reading →
James Baxter-Gilbert and colleagues from down under — Julia Riley and Martin Whiting — have been digging into the ecological and evolutionary responses to urbanization in a charismatic and common (at least if you're in Australia) group of lizards: Australian water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii). Previously, we told you about their findings that urban dragons are innately bold. In... Continue Reading →
As urban centers continue to grow, so too does the research that investigates how urbanization influences evolution. However, urban marine ecosystems are often overlooked. Interestingly, population density along coastlines is 3-times higher than the global average but research in urban marine systems is more than 3-times lower than research inland. Researchers identified the main... Continue Reading →
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