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Urban evolution
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Urban evolution
Urban evolution refers to the heritable genetic changes of populations in response to urban development and anthropogenic activities in urban areas. Urban evolution can be caused by non-random mating, mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, or evolution by natural selection. In the context of Earth's living history, rapid urbanization is a relatively recent phenomenon, yet biologists have already observed evolutionary change in numerous species compared to their rural counterparts on a relatively short timescale.
Strong selection pressures due to urbanization play a big role in this process. Urbanization introduces distinct challenges such as altered microclimates, pollution, habitat fragmentation, and differential resource availability. These changed environmental conditions exert unique selection pressures on their inhabitants, leading to physiological and behavioral adaptations in city-dwelling plant and animal species. However, there is also discussion on whether some of these emerging traits are truly a consequence of genetic adaptation, or examples of phenotypic plasticity. There is also a significant change in species composition between rural and urban ecosystems.
Understanding how anthropogenic activity can influence the traits of other living beings can help humans better understand their effect on the environment, particularly as cities continue to grow. Shared aspects of cities worldwide give ample opportunity for scientists to study the specific evolutionary responses in these rapidly changed landscapes independently. How certain organisms adapt to urban environments while others cannot gives a live perspective on rapid evolution.
With urban growth, the urban-rural gradient has seen a large shift in distribution of humans, moving from low density to very high density within the last millennia. This has brought a large change to environments as well as societies.
Urbanization transforms natural habitats into completely altered living spaces that sustain large human populations. Increasing congregation of humans accompanies the expansion of infrastructure, industry and housing. Natural vegetation and soil are mostly replaced or covered by dense grey materials. Urbanized areas continue to expand both in size and number globally; in 2018, the United Nations estimated that 68% of people globally will live in ever-expanding urban areas by 2050.
Urbanization intensifies diverse stressors spatiotemporally such that they can act in concert to cause rapid evolutionary consequences such as extinction, maladaptation, or adaptation. Three factors have come to the forefront as the main evolutionary influencers in urban areas: the urban microclimate, pollution, and urban habitat fragmentation. These influence the processes that drive evolution, such as natural and sexual selection, mutation, gene flow and genetic drift.
A microclimate is defined as any area where the climate differs from the surrounding area. Modifications of the landscape and other abiotic factors contribute to a changed climate in urban areas. The use of impervious dark surfaces which retain and reflect heat, and human generated heat energy lead to an urban heat island in the center of cities, where the temperature is increased significantly. A large urban microclimate does not only affect temperature, but also rainfall, snowfall, air pressure and wind, the concentration of polluted air, and how long that air remains in the city.
These climatological transformations increase selection pressure on species living in urban areas, driving evolutionary changes. Certain species have shown to be adapting to the urban microclimate.
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Urban evolution
Urban evolution refers to the heritable genetic changes of populations in response to urban development and anthropogenic activities in urban areas. Urban evolution can be caused by non-random mating, mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, or evolution by natural selection. In the context of Earth's living history, rapid urbanization is a relatively recent phenomenon, yet biologists have already observed evolutionary change in numerous species compared to their rural counterparts on a relatively short timescale.
Strong selection pressures due to urbanization play a big role in this process. Urbanization introduces distinct challenges such as altered microclimates, pollution, habitat fragmentation, and differential resource availability. These changed environmental conditions exert unique selection pressures on their inhabitants, leading to physiological and behavioral adaptations in city-dwelling plant and animal species. However, there is also discussion on whether some of these emerging traits are truly a consequence of genetic adaptation, or examples of phenotypic plasticity. There is also a significant change in species composition between rural and urban ecosystems.
Understanding how anthropogenic activity can influence the traits of other living beings can help humans better understand their effect on the environment, particularly as cities continue to grow. Shared aspects of cities worldwide give ample opportunity for scientists to study the specific evolutionary responses in these rapidly changed landscapes independently. How certain organisms adapt to urban environments while others cannot gives a live perspective on rapid evolution.
With urban growth, the urban-rural gradient has seen a large shift in distribution of humans, moving from low density to very high density within the last millennia. This has brought a large change to environments as well as societies.
Urbanization transforms natural habitats into completely altered living spaces that sustain large human populations. Increasing congregation of humans accompanies the expansion of infrastructure, industry and housing. Natural vegetation and soil are mostly replaced or covered by dense grey materials. Urbanized areas continue to expand both in size and number globally; in 2018, the United Nations estimated that 68% of people globally will live in ever-expanding urban areas by 2050.
Urbanization intensifies diverse stressors spatiotemporally such that they can act in concert to cause rapid evolutionary consequences such as extinction, maladaptation, or adaptation. Three factors have come to the forefront as the main evolutionary influencers in urban areas: the urban microclimate, pollution, and urban habitat fragmentation. These influence the processes that drive evolution, such as natural and sexual selection, mutation, gene flow and genetic drift.
A microclimate is defined as any area where the climate differs from the surrounding area. Modifications of the landscape and other abiotic factors contribute to a changed climate in urban areas. The use of impervious dark surfaces which retain and reflect heat, and human generated heat energy lead to an urban heat island in the center of cities, where the temperature is increased significantly. A large urban microclimate does not only affect temperature, but also rainfall, snowfall, air pressure and wind, the concentration of polluted air, and how long that air remains in the city.
These climatological transformations increase selection pressure on species living in urban areas, driving evolutionary changes. Certain species have shown to be adapting to the urban microclimate.