Pineapples and Whales recently created an infographic about parallel evolution in urban anole populations! It's based on this study in Nature Ecology & Evolution: Parallel selection on thermal physiology facilitates repeated adaptation of city lizards to urban heat islands.
Urban Observation of the Week: Otters in Salisbury
Last week we brought you otters on astroturf. This week, otters popped up in a market in Salisbury. Do you have a photo or video of an urban species doing something unusual? What about a rare plant or animal that you were surprised to find in a city? If so, let Lindsay know or Tweet... Continue Reading →
Evolutionary Applications Special Issue: Evolution in Urban Environments
For the past 1.5 years, we (the editors of LITC) have been working to bring together new empirical urban evolution research as well as novel reviews and perspectives. While this research has trickled out online over the past few months we're excited that it is officially published in Evolutionary Applications' first issue of 2021. This... Continue Reading →
New Year, Same Blog!
Happy New Year everyone! With 2020 behind us, let's get ready for a fresh new year. Here's a preview of what our blog has in store. Urban Observations Yep. We will continue to bring you weekly urban observations. We think that it is an important aspect of urban evolution research. In fact, the step in... Continue Reading →
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays everyone! Tis the holiday season so we are taking time off to enjoy the holidays virtually with family and friends. We will see you all next year, 2021!!!
Urban Copperheads Stay Local: Behavioral Ecology in an Urban and Rural Forest
Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Malle Carrasco-Harris at the International Urban Wildlife Conference (#IUWC2019). Carrasco-Harris has been studying the role urbanization plays in the behavior of Eastern Copperhead snakes (Agkistrodon contortrix) and while we might not think of snakes as congruent with cities, multiple species of snakes have been able to... Continue Reading →
Happy Birthday, We’re 2!
Life in the City turns 2 years old today (ish)! In true 2020 fashion, we missed our own birthday, by a whole month! Thank you all for following our blog. We are very proud of how it has grown and owe a huge thank you to our amazing contributors, which have more than doubled in... Continue Reading →
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In light of recent events, particularly the murder of George Floyd, harassment of Christian Cooper, and unjust actions against protesters supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement, we at LITC want to acknowledge the systematic oppression and racism that exists in our field. We wholeheartedly support the Black community and communities of color, and firmly stand against racism.... Continue Reading →
Where Have all the Animals Gone: Urban Organisms in the Time of Corona
Like many of you, I've been working from home due to the Coronavirus pandemic. My University suspended face-to-face classes two weeks ago and closed the campus to all nonessential personnel on Sunday night. Knowing this was coming, I packed up my desktop, hard drives, and essential books, and brought them home with me and got... Continue Reading →
Urbanization has Varying Effects on the Population Structure of Six Bird Species in Singapore
Urban areas are known to be prone to habitat fragmentation. We've seen the intense urbanization in New York City lead to the rapid divergence of mouse populations and the subdivision of bobcats in Los Angeles. But the adverse effects of habitat fragmentation are difficult to quantify given that they differ based on the ability of... Continue Reading →
Urbanization and Zoonotic Disease
The Wuhan novel coronavirus is dominating the news, with reports of thousands infected and new cases reported worldwide every day. Are we at the verge of a pandemic? That's not a question I'm equipped to answer, and I encourage our readers to follow all advice from the CDC and WHO regarding the spread of the... Continue Reading →
SICB 2020: Artificial Light at Night and Stress
Urban areas are easy to find during the night as they quite literally light up. Urban light pollution disrupts biological processes from gene expression to ecosystem composition across multiple taxa, including birds, insects, mammals, and fishes. With ever-increasing urbanization, understanding the effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) on urban organisms is crucial to future... Continue Reading →
2019 in Review
Milestones and more In 2019 we hit a lot of milestones. We turned 1 year old. We were featured in several major news outlets, including as a News Feature in PNAS, the Wildlife Society, and Wired Magazine! We reached over 13,000 visits since starting from (almost) every corner of the globe (we're looking at you,... Continue Reading →
November Comment Contest Winners!
In the month of November we asked to hear from you during our first annual November Comment Contest. Now that the month is over, we've tallied the comments, responses, and likes and we're pleased to announce our two winners: Kristin Thompson and Kevin Aviles-Rodriguez! They'll get to pick the urban organisms featured on the next... Continue Reading →
November Comment Contest!
For the month of November we're doing something special... a comment contest! We want to liven up the conversations here on the blog, and to do that we need your participation! To enter the contest, all you have to do is post a comment here on the blog. At the end of the month, the user who... Continue Reading →