Evolutionary Forces in Urban Landscapes: Ignite presentation from Ecological Society of America 2013

Slides from Ignite talk presented at ESA 2013 on 07 August 2013 in Minneapolis, MN in IGN 9: Urban Ecology - from Biophysics to Society

ABSTRACT:

Cities are comprised of “gray” and “green” spaces that may harbor non-overlapping species assemblages. This habitat partitioning occurs on microgeographic scales (e.g. opposite sides of a street), resulting in the spatial distribution of green species resembling a photographic negative of the gray species. The spatial genetic structure of gray and green populations should thus reflect contrasting landscape features (e.g. infrastructure / human socioeconomic variables vs. vegetation cover). Selection pressures will also differ between these habitat classes. I discuss the utility of this concept for explaining community structure and population genetics of rodents and invertebrates in NYC.