Urban Evolutionary Physiology

Abstract

The structural habitat of terrestrial urban environments can differ drastically from environments less impacted by human activities. Whether or not urban species use anthropogenic structures, they are subject to novel selection pressures to effectively locomote. Urban environments are distinctly more open than non-urban habitats, they offer few refuges, and habitat space is patchy with clustered perches. Animals must either change their behaviour to use only natural substrates or contend with manufactured substrates. Arboreal species are particularly impacted because the anthropogenic structures with which they interact, even if infrequently, differ from trees in structural, material, and surface properties. The chapter explores potential adaptive responses to the spatial structure and properties of climbing substrates in urban environments relevant to terrestrial and climbing locomotion. For each, the authors first discuss differences between urban and non-urban terrestrial habitats relevant to locomotion. They then discuss how these differences influence behaviour and locomotor demands, providing a mechanism through which natural selection shapes morphology. Lastly, they discuss the morphological traits most likely to be impacted by these altered demands and predict how natural selection may affect these traits in urban environments based on biomechanical principles. As there have been very few studies investigating urban morphological adaptation related to locomotion, the chapter draws on trait–environment relationships in natural environments. The discussion provides a starting point for developing rigorous hypotheses about functionally relevant trait shifts in urban environments and future directions for investigating locomotor adaptations in urban species.

Genome-wide parallelism underlies contemporary adaptation in urban lizards

“…The wide variety of environmental changes associated with urbanization present myriad opportunities for phenotypic adaptations that enable colonization and persistence in these novel habitats. For example, abundant anthropogenic food resources could affect dietary and metabolic processes ( 24 ); altered disease dynamics might impact immune function ( 25 ); novel resources could challenge cognitive abilities and behaviors ( 26 ); altered structural environments may influence locomotor morphology ( 27 ); and urban heat islands could challenge thermal and desiccation tolerances ( 14 , 28 ).…”

Dietary fatty acids modulate oxidative stress response to air pollution but not to infection

“…On the one hand, urban environments may present novel resources for exploitation, such as new, predictable food sources ( Jones and Reynolds, 2008 ; Oro et al, 2013 ). On the other hand, anthropogenic changes to the environment, like artificial light at night, air pollution, and anthropogenic noise, along with suboptimal nutrient composition in the diet are likely to challenge organismal health ( Bonier, 2012 ; Isaksson, 2015 ; Ouyang et al, 2015 ; Isaksson and Bonier, 2020 ). Such challenges can be met with behavioral and physiological responses in order to avoid negative consequences ( Tuomainen and Candolin, 2011 ; Sih, 2013 ; Watson et al, 2017 ; Ouyang et al, 2018 ).…”

Interactive effects of rising temperatures and urbanisation on birds across different climate zones: A mechanistic perspective

“…We focus on birds throughout, as they are an excellent taxonomic group to unravel the impacts of urbanisation (Lepczyk et al, 2017) and elevated temperatures (Møller et al, 2010)-and will, therefore, be well suited to explore their potential interactive effect. Birds are prominent in both urban and non-urban faunal communities (Aronson et al, 2014), easily observable and express a diverse range of responses to changes in urban ecosystems (Aronson et al, 2014;Gil & Brumm, 2014;Isaksson & Bonier, 2020;Marzluff, 2001) and temperature (McKechnie, Gerson, et al, 2021;Pollock et al, 2021;Sauve et al, 2021). Consequently, they can serve as an ideal model taxon that may provide insight into the responses of other taxa.…”