Urban living influences the nesting success of Darwin’s finches in the Galápagos Islands Johanna A. Harvey, Kiley Chernicky, Shelby R. Simons, Taylor B. Verrett, Jaime A. Chaves, Sarah A. Knutie Abstract Urbanization is expanding worldwide with major consequences for organisms. Anthropogenic factors can reduce the fitness of animals but may have benefits, such as consistent human food availability. Understanding anthropogenic... Continue Reading →
CSEE2020: Variation in Pollinator-mediated Plant Reproduction Across an Urbanization Gradient
Recently, Ruth Rivkin shared some of her dissertation work with the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE). Urban habitats are more fragmented and degraded than nonurban habitats, which can impact both the ecology and evolution of species interactions. Species interaction may be particularly sensitive to urbanization because the species involved may be responding to... Continue Reading →
CSEE2020: Human Influences on Darwin’s Finches
The Galápagos Islands are renowned for their unique, endemic biodiversity which inspired Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution by natural selection. In particular, Darwin’s finches are an iconic example of adaptive radiation due to natural selection, where ~18 species have evolved from a single, common ancestor. Adaptive radiations can occur when exploitation of... Continue Reading →
Evolution 2019: Urbanization Drives Evolution of Darwin’s Finches in the Galápagos
Many of us don't think of the Galápagos as a place that is urbanized, but as we've discussed here on Life in the City previously, there is substantial human impact in the archipelago. An estimate from 2012 places the population size at 35,000 people -- about 10 times the population just 4 decades earlier. Because researchers... Continue Reading →
Urban Galápagos: Part 1
What does it mean to be urbanized on a volcanic archipelago? With ‘Darwin Day’ (February 12th) just behind us, my upcoming research trip to the Galápagos Islands feels almost unbelievably well-timed. My goal will be to study one of the fabled Darwin’s finches, the small ground finch (Geospiza fuliginosa), and its relationship with an invasive... Continue Reading →
The Future of Darwin’s Finches with Intensifying Urbanization
Darwin's finches in the Galapagos are the poster children of adaptive radiation. These birds have formed many species that differ in their beaks. The size and shape of beaks make them uniquely suited to take advantage of different food resources. Hard big beaks are great for eating large hard seeds, small beaks for small seeds.... Continue Reading →