The Randolph Bromery Spring 2019 Seminar Series: Marina Alberti

Description

Dr. Marina Alberti, the director of the Urban Ecology Research Laboratory and a professor of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington, will give a talk entitled "Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics in an Urban Planet" for the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences.

Abstract:

Cities across the globe are driving rapid evolutionary changes in plants, animals, fungi, viruses, and other organisms. Humans in cities challenge the phenotypic, genetic, and cultural makeup of species by affecting the fitness landscapes on which they evolve. Because these organisms play important roles in maintaining ecosystem function (i.e., nutrient cycling, pollination, seed dispersal, water and air purification, and food production), any changes in their traits might have significant effects on human well-being. Through a meta-analysis of experimental and observational studies, reporting more than 1,600 phenotypic changes in multiple species across multiple regions, my team and I found a clear urban signal: rates of phenotypic change are greater in urbanizing systems compared with natural and no urban anthropogenic systems. In this talk I examine the evidence on the mechanisms linking urban development patterns to rapid evolutionary changes and the potential implications for Earth's ecosystems. I propose that cities are microcosms of the evolutionary changes that are occurring on a planetary scale and thus provide a natural laboratory to advance our understanding of eco-evolutionary dynamics in a rapidly urbanizing world.