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Journal article
The Complexity of Urban Eco-evolutionary Dynamics
Bioscience, v 70(9), pp 772-793
01 Sep 2020
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Urbanization is changing Earth's ecosystems by altering the interactions and feedbacks between the fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes that maintain life. Humans in cities alter the eco-evolutionary play by simultaneously changing both the actors and the stage on which the eco-evolutionary play takes place. Urbanization modifies land surfaces, microclimates, habitat connectivity, ecological networks, food webs, species diversity, and species composition. These environmental changes can lead to changes in phenotypic, genetic, and cultural makeup of wild populations that have important consequences for ecosystem function and the essential services that nature provides to human society, such as nutrient cycling, pollination, seed dispersal, food production, and water and air purification. Understanding and monitoring urbanization-induced evolutionary changes is important to inform strategies to achieve sustainability. In the present article, we propose that understanding these dynamics requires rigorous characterization of urbanizing regions as rapidly evolving, tightly coupled human-natural systems. We explore how the emergent properties of urbanization affect eco-evolutionary dynamics across space and time. We identify five key urban drivers of change-habitat modification, connectivity, heterogeneity, novel disturbances, and biotic interactions-and highlight the direct consequences of urbanization-driven eco-evolutionary change for nature's contributions to people. Then, we explore five emerging complexities-landscape complexity, urban discontinuities, socio-ecological heterogeneity, cross-scale interactions, legacies and time lags-that need to be tackled in future research. We propose that the evolving metacommunity concept provides a powerful framework to study urban eco-evolutionary dynamics.
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Details
- Title
- The Complexity of Urban Eco-evolutionary Dynamics
- Creators
- Marina Alberti - University of WashingtonEric P. Palkovacs - University of California, Santa CruzSimone Des Roches - University of WashingtonLuc De Meester - KU LeuvenKristien Brans - KU LeuvenLynn Govaert - University of ZurichNancy B. Grimm - Arizona State UniversityNyeema C. Harris - University of MichiganAndrew P. Hendry - McGill UniversityChristopher J. Schell - University of Washington TacomaMarta Szulkin - University of WarsawJason Munshi-South - Fordham UniversityMark C. Urban - University of ConnecticutBrian C. Verrelli - Virginia Commonwealth University
- Publication Details
- Bioscience, v 70(9), pp 772-793
- Publisher
- Oxford Univ Press
- Number of pages
- 22
- Grant note
- DEB 1840663 / National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (RCN): Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics in an Urban Planet: Underlying Mechanisms and Ecosystem Feedbacks
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000580986300006
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85089695343
- Other Identifier
- 991021904312404721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Biology