Evolution in an Urbanizing World
Sadly, plastics and litter have become part of the urban and often rural environment. It can be found almost everywhere and in any form – ranging from plastic bags to broken traffic cones. We consider it trash, however, for some birds, it is a jackpot. Often, litter is creatively included during nest building by these... Continue Reading →
Walid-Dani Kaki “In none of his works did Nature show her originality more than in insects”(Pliny the Elder) In recent years we have seen a steady decline in biodiversity, with devastating consequences for the natural world and human populations. The tendency of people to migrate to urban areas has led to their chaotic development at... Continue Reading →
“How life adapts to cities around the world” is a 5 minute educational animated film created by Sherry An (myself), a science and medical illuHow the GLUE Animation Came Aboutstrator and designer from Mississauga, Canada. The film uses 3D animation and visual storytelling to share the goals and results of the first GLUE study in... Continue Reading →
Fast-paced city life? Tempo and mode of phenotypic changes in urban birds from Switzerland Evelyn Hüppi & Madeleine Geiger Abstract Humans' large influence on the environment has constructed many new ecological niches, such as in urban areas. Phenotypic changes, including morphological ones related to human influence, are known from a small number of bird species.... Continue Reading →
A Theory of City Biogeography and the Origin of Urban Species Robert R. Dunn, Joseph Robert Burger, Elizabeth J. Carlen, Amanda M. Koltz, Jessica E. Light, Ryan A. Martin, Jason Munshi-South, Lauren M. Nichols, Edward L. Vargo, Senay Yitbarek, Yuhao Zhao and Angélica Cibrián-Jaramillo Abstract Many of the choices humans make with regard to infrastructure, urban planning... Continue Reading →
A new urban ecology book by Dr. Cylita Guy is out that highlights the work of multiple urban ecologists and evolutionary biologists, including many of our LITC contributors! What can city bees tell us about climate change? How are we changing coyote behavior? And what the heck is a science bike? Featuring the work of... Continue Reading →
Genetic differentiation in pesticide resistance between urban and rural populations of a nontarget freshwater keystone interactor, Daphnia magna Kristien I. Brans, Rafaela A. Almeida, Maxime Fajgenblat Abstract There is growing evidence that urbanization drives adaptive evolution in response to thermal gradients. One such example is documented in the water flea Daphnia magna. However, organisms residing in urban lentic... Continue Reading →
The piece below was posted in 2018 by A.Z. Andis Arietta a PhD candidate in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies at Yale University -- I recently rediscovered it and thought it would be of interest to our followers. Check out Andis's blog here. In schools, we are taught that evolution is an imperceptibly... Continue Reading →
It's clear that urbanization alters native animal and plant communities around the world. However, while some organisms become locally extinct as anthropogenic forces change the land, other species survive or even thrive in this urban landscape. A recent paper by George Perry reviews several cases of human behavior impacting the genetics of urban organisms. For... Continue Reading →
A variety of species – animals, plants, fungi, microbes – share our cities with us. Some we love, some we hate, and some we hardly notice. Some of these species existed naturally before we built cities. Some were obliterated during urban construction but have since re-entered the city. And others have been purposefully or accidentally... Continue Reading →
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