Evolution in an Urbanizing World
When people consider the causes of the decline in bird or small mammal populations most will first think of pesticides or vehicle deaths. However, one of the biggest threats to these birds and mammals may actually be our own dear pet cats. Domestic cats (Felis catus) contribute significantly to the decline in urban wildlife. Cats... Continue Reading →
Domestic Cats (Felis silvestris catus; Felis catus) are a human commensal, said to have started their relationship with us during the era of the first settled farmers (approx. 12.000 years ago) within the Fertile Crescent region of the middle east.1 We took them into our homes and slowly transformed them into the royalty that a lot... Continue Reading →
Spotted Lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) have become an unavoidable nuisance since their arrival in the Big Apple in 2020. These clumsy hemipterans have managed to dominate the urban jungle due to their bright red warning coloration, which is indicative of their bitter tasting chemicals they uptake from their favorite food source, the Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). Despite... Continue Reading →
High incidence of leg autonomy in urban crickets T Kuriwada, S Shindome, Y Tomita, M Kawanishi Abstract Predation is an important selection pressure affecting animals. Predation has both consumptive and non-lethal effects. Because it is often difficult to estimate the extent to which non-lethal effects occur, we focused on autotomy as an indicator of non-lethal... Continue Reading →
Downtown diet: a global meta-analysis of increased urbanization on the diets of vertebrate predators Siria Gámez, Abigail Potts, Kirby L. Mills, Aurelia A. Allen, Allyson Holman, Peggy M. Randon, Olivia Linson and Nyeema C. Harris Abstract Predation is a fundamental ecological process that shapes communities and drives evolutionary dynamics. As the world rapidly urbanizes, it... Continue Reading →
Morphological divergence, tail loss, and predation risk in urban lizards Shashank Balakrishna, Madhura Sham Amdekar & Maria Thaker Abstract Urbanisation changes the structure of natural habitats and alters trophic interactions, pressuring urban species to adjust and adapt. Unlike behavioural shifts that tend to be more flexible, morphological characteristics in vertebrates are less plastic and changes may come... Continue Reading →
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