1
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Caizergues AE, Santangelo JS, Ness RW, Angeoletto F, Anstett DN, Anstett J, Baena-Diaz F, Carlen EJ, Chaves JA, Comerford MS, Dyson K, Falahati-Anbaran M, Fellowes MDE, Hodgins KA, Hood GR, Iñiguez-Armijos C, Kooyers NJ, Lázaro-Lobo A, Moles AT, Munshi-South J, Paule J, Porth IM, Santiago-Rosario LY, Whitney KS, Tack AJM, Johnson MTJ. Does urbanisation lead to parallel demographic shifts across the world in a cosmopolitan plant? Mol Ecol 2024; 33:e17311. [PMID: 38468155 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2023] [Revised: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
Urbanisation is occurring globally, leading to dramatic environmental changes that are altering the ecology and evolution of species. In particular, the expansion of human infrastructure and the loss and fragmentation of natural habitats in cities is predicted to increase genetic drift and reduce gene flow by reducing the size and connectivity of populations. Alternatively, the 'urban facilitation model' suggests that some species will have greater gene flow into and within cities leading to higher diversity and lower differentiation in urban populations. These alternative hypotheses have not been contrasted across multiple cities. Here, we used the genomic data from the GLobal Urban Evolution project (GLUE), to study the effects of urbanisation on non-adaptive evolutionary processes of white clover (Trifolium repens) at a global scale. We found that white clover populations presented high genetic diversity and no evidence of reduced Ne linked to urbanisation. On the contrary, we found that urban populations were less likely to experience a recent decrease in effective population size than rural ones. In addition, we found little genetic structure among populations both globally and between urban and rural populations, which showed extensive gene flow between habitats. Interestingly, white clover displayed overall higher gene flow within urban areas than within rural habitats. Our study provides the largest comprehensive test of the demographic effects of urbanisation. Our results contrast with the common perception that heavily altered and fragmented urban environments will reduce the effective population size and genetic diversity of populations and contribute to their isolation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aude E Caizergues
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
| | - James S Santangelo
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Rob W Ness
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
| | - Fabio Angeoletto
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gestão e Tecnologia Ambiental da Universidade Federal de Rondonópolis, Rondonópolis, Brasil
| | - Daniel N Anstett
- Department of Plant Biology, Department of Entomology, Plant Resilience Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
| | - Julia Anstett
- Genomic Sciences and Technology Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | | | - Elizabeth J Carlen
- Living Earth Collaborative, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Jaime A Chaves
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, Quito
- San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Mattheau S Comerford
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | | | | | - Kathryn A Hodgins
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Glen Ray Hood
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA
| | - Carlos Iñiguez-Armijos
- Laboratorio de Ecología Tropical y Servicios Ecosistémicos (EcoSs-Lab), Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Loja, Ecuador
| | | | - Adrián Lázaro-Lobo
- Biodiversity Research Institute (IMIB), CSIC-University of Oviedo-Principality of Asturias, Mieres, Spain
| | - Angela T Moles
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, UNSW-University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jason Munshi-South
- Department of Biology and Louis Calder Center, Fordham University, New York City, New York, USA
| | - Juraj Paule
- Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ilga M Porth
- Institut de biologie intégrative et des systèmes, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
| | - Luis Y Santiago-Rosario
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Kaitlin Stack Whitney
- Science, Technology & Society Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Ayko J M Tack
- Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Marc T J Johnson
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
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2
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Kreger J, Brown D, Komarova NL, Wodarz D, Pritchard J. The role of migration in mutant dynamics in fragmented populations. J Evol Biol 2023; 36:444-460. [PMID: 36514852 PMCID: PMC10108075 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2021] [Revised: 10/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Mutant dynamics in fragmented populations have been studied extensively in evolutionary biology. Yet, open questions remain, both experimentally and theoretically. Some of the fundamental properties predicted by models still need to be addressed experimentally. We contribute to this by using a combination of experiments and theory to investigate the role of migration in mutant distribution. In the case of neutral mutants, while the mean frequency of mutants is not influenced by migration, the probability distribution is. To address this empirically, we performed in vitro experiments, where mixtures of GFP-labelled ("mutant") and non-labelled ("wid-type") murine cells were grown in wells (demes), and migration was mimicked via cell transfer from well to well. In the presence of migration, we observed a change in the skewedness of the distribution of the mutant frequencies in the wells, consistent with previous and our own model predictions. In the presence of de novo mutant production, we used modelling to investigate the level at which disadvantageous mutants are predicted to exist, which has implications for the adaptive potential of the population in case of an environmental change. In panmictic populations, disadvantageous mutants can persist around a steady state, determined by the rate of mutant production and the selective disadvantage (selection-mutation balance). In a fragmented system that consists of demes connected by migration, a steady-state persistence of disadvantageous mutants is also observed, which, however, is fundamentally different from the mutation-selection balance and characterized by higher mutant levels. The increase in mutant frequencies above the selection-mutation balance can be maintained in small ( N < N c ) demes as long as the migration rate is sufficiently small. The migration rate above which the mutants approach the selection-mutation balance decays exponentially with N / N c . The observed increase in the mutant numbers is not explained by the change in the effective population size. Implications for evolutionary processes in diseases are discussed, where the pre-existence of disadvantageous drug-resistant mutant cells or pathogens drives the response of the disease to treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesse Kreger
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.,Department of Mathematics, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Donovan Brown
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.,The Huck Institute for the Life Sciences, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Natalia L Komarova
- Department of Mathematics, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Dominik Wodarz
- Department of Mathematics, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, USA.,Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention Program in Public Health, Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Justin Pritchard
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.,The Huck Institute for the Life Sciences, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
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3
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Thierry C, Pisanu B, Machon N. Both landscape and local factors influence plant and hexapod communities of industrial water-abstraction sites. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8365. [PMID: 35222941 PMCID: PMC8855018 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Revised: 10/22/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
At the landscape level, intensification of agriculture, fragmentation, and destruction of natural habitats are major causes of biodiversity loss that can be mitigated at small spatial scales. However, the complex relationships between human activities, landscapes, and biodiversity are poorly known. Yet, this knowledge could help private stakeholders managing seminatural areas to play a positive role in biodiversity conservation.We investigated how water-abstraction sites could sustain species diversity in vascular-plant communities and two taxonomic groups of insect communities in a fragmented agricultural landscape.Landscape-scale variables (connectivity indices and surrounding levels of herbicide use), as well as site-specific variables (soil type for vascular plants, floral availability for Rhopalocera, and low herbaceous cover for Orthoptera), were correlated to structural and functional metrics of species community diversity for these taxonomic groups, measured on 35 industrial sites in the Ile-de-France region in 2018-2019. Rhopalocera and Orthoptera consisted essentially of species with a high degree of dispersal and low specialization, able to reach the habitat patches of the fragmented landscape of the study area. Sandy soil harbored more diverse vascular-plant communities. Plant diversity was correlated to a greater abundance of Rhopalocera and a lower richness of Orthoptera.Increasing landscape connectivity was related to higher abundance of plants and Rhopalocera, and a higher evenness index for Orthoptera communities. Higher levels of herbicide use were related to a decrease in the biodiversity of plants and Rhopalocera abundance. High levels of herbicide favored high-dispersal generalist plants, while high levels of connectivity favored low-dispersal plants. Specialist Orthoptera species were associated with low herbaceous cover and connectivity.Water-abstraction sites are valuable seminatural habitats for biodiversity. Changing intensive agricultural practices in surrounding areas would better contribute to conserving and restoring biodiversity on these sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chloé Thierry
- UMS 2006 Patrimoine NaturelOFB, MNHN, CNRSBrunoyFrance
| | - Benoît Pisanu
- UMS 2006 Patrimoine NaturelOFB, MNHN, CNRSBrunoyFrance
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO, UMR7204)Sorbonne Université, MNHN, CNRSParisFrance
| | - Nathalie Machon
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO, UMR7204)Sorbonne Université, MNHN, CNRSParisFrance
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4
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Mechanisms of dispersal and colonisation in a wind-borne cereal pest, the haplodiploid wheat curl mite. Sci Rep 2022; 12:551. [PMID: 35017605 PMCID: PMC8752673 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-04525-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 12/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Dispersal and colonisation determine the survival and success of organisms, and influence the structure and dynamics of communities and ecosystems in space and time. Both affect the gene flow between populations, ensuring sufficient level of genetic variation and improving adaptation abilities. In haplodiploids, such as Aceria tosichella (wheat curl mite, WCM), a population may be founded even by a single unfertilised female, so there is a risk of heterozygosity loss (i.e. founder effect). It may lead to adverse outcomes, such as inbreeding depression. Yet, the strength of the founder effect partly depends on the genetic variation of the parental population. WCM is an economically important pest with a great invasive potential, but its dispersal and colonisation mechanisms were poorly studied before. Therefore, here we assessed WCM dispersal and colonisation potential in relation to the genetic variation of the parental population. We checked whether this potential may be linked to specific pre-dispersal actions (e.g. mating before dispersal and collective behaviour). Our study confirms that dispersal strategies of WCM are not dependent on heterozygosity in the parental population, and the efficient dispersal of this species depends on collective movement of fertilised females.
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5
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Kucherov NB, Minor ES, Johnson PP, Taron D, Matteson KC. Butterfly declines in protected areas of Illinois: Assessing the influence of two decades of climate and landscape change. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0257889. [PMID: 34644319 PMCID: PMC8513915 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite increasing concern regarding broad-scale declines in insects, there are few published long-term, systematic butterfly surveys in North America, and fewer still that have incorporated the influence of changing climate and landscape variables. In this study, we analyzed 20 years of citizen science data at seven consistently monitored protected areas in Illinois, U.S.A. We used mixed models and PERMANOVA to evaluate trends in butterfly abundance, richness, and composition while also evaluating the effects of temperature and land use. Overall butterfly richness, but not abundance, increased in warmer years. Surprisingly, richness also was positively related to percent impervious surface (at the 2 km radius scale), highlighting the conservation value of protected areas in urban landscapes (or alternately, the potential negative aspects of agriculture). Precipitation had a significant and variable influence through time on overall butterfly abundance and abundance of resident species, larval host plant specialists, and univoltine species. Importantly, models incorporating the influence of changing temperature, precipitation, and impervious surface indicated a significant overall decline in both butterfly abundance and species richness, with an estimated abundance decrease of 3.8%/year and richness decrease of 1.6%/year (52.5% and 27.1% cumulatively from 1999 to 2018). Abundance and richness declines were also noted across all investigated functional groups except non-resident (migratory) species. Butterfly community composition changed through time, but we did not find evidence of systematic biotic homogenization, perhaps because declines were occurring in nearly all functional groups. Finally, at the site-level, declines in either richness or abundance occurred at five of seven locations, with only the two largest locations (>300 Ha) not exhibiting declines. Our results mirror those of other long-term butterfly studies predominantly in Europe and North America that have found associations of butterflies with climate variables and general declines in butterfly richness and abundance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole B. Kucherov
- Department of Biology/Project Dragonfly, Miami University, Oxford, OH, United States of America
| | - Emily S. Minor
- Biological Sciences (M/C 066), University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States of America
| | - Philip P. Johnson
- Biological Sciences (M/C 066), University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States of America
| | - Doug Taron
- Chicago Academy of Sciences/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, IL, United States of America
| | - Kevin C. Matteson
- Department of Biology/Project Dragonfly, Miami University, Oxford, OH, United States of America
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6
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Richardson JL, Michaelides S, Combs M, Djan M, Bisch L, Barrett K, Silveira G, Butler J, Aye TT, Munshi‐South J, DiMatteo M, Brown C, McGreevy TJ. Dispersal ability predicts spatial genetic structure in native mammals persisting across an urbanization gradient. Evol Appl 2021; 14:163-177. [PMID: 33519963 PMCID: PMC7819555 DOI: 10.1111/eva.13133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2020] [Accepted: 08/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
As the rate of urbanization continues to increase globally, a growing body of research is emerging that investigates how urbanization shapes the movement-and consequent gene flow-of species in cities. Of particular interest are native species that persist in cities, either as small relict populations or as larger populations of synanthropic species that thrive alongside humans in new urban environments. In this study, we used genomic sequence data (SNPs) and spatially explicit individual-based analyses to directly compare the genetic structure and patterns of gene flow in two small mammals with different dispersal abilities that occupy the same urbanized landscape to evaluate how mobility impacts genetic connectivity. We collected 215 white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) and 380 big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) across an urban-to-rural gradient within the Providence, Rhode Island (U.S.A.) metropolitan area (population =1,600,000 people). We found that mice and bats exhibit clear differences in their spatial genetic structure that are consistent with their dispersal abilities, with urbanization having a stronger effect on Peromyscus mice. There were sharp breaks in the genetic structure of mice within the Providence urban core, as well as reduced rates of migration and an increase in inbreeding with more urbanization. In contrast, bats showed very weak genetic structuring across the entire study area, suggesting a near-panmictic gene pool likely due to the ability to disperse by flight. Genetic diversity remained stable for both species across the study region. Mice also exhibited a stronger reduction in gene flow between island and mainland populations than bats. This study represents one of the first to directly compare multiple species within the same urban-to-rural landscape gradient, an important gap to fill for urban ecology and evolution. Moreover, here we document the impacts of dispersal capacity on connectivity for native species that have persisted as the urban landscape matrix expands.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sozos Michaelides
- Department of Natural Resources ScienceUniversity of Rhode IslandKingstonRIUSA
| | - Matthew Combs
- Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology DepartmentColumbia UniversityNew YorkNYUSA
| | - Mihajla Djan
- Department of Natural Resources ScienceUniversity of Rhode IslandKingstonRIUSA
- Department of Biology and EcologyFaculty of SciencesUniversity of Novi SadNovi SadSerbia
| | - Lianne Bisch
- Department of BiologyProvidence CollegeProvidenceRIUSA
| | - Kerry Barrett
- Department of BiologyProvidence CollegeProvidenceRIUSA
| | | | - Justin Butler
- Department of BiologyUniversity of RichmondRichmondVAUSA
| | - Than Thar Aye
- Department of BiologyUniversity of RichmondRichmondVAUSA
| | | | - Michael DiMatteo
- State Health LaboratoryRhode Island Department of HealthProvidenceRIUSA
| | - Charles Brown
- Division of Fish & WildlifeRhode Island Department of Environmental ManagementWest KingstonRIUSA
| | - Thomas J. McGreevy
- Department of Natural Resources ScienceUniversity of Rhode IslandKingstonRIUSA
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7
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Bhaumik V, Kunte K. Dispersal and migration have contrasting effects on butterfly flight morphology and reproduction. Biol Lett 2020; 16:20200393. [PMID: 32810429 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Movement may fundamentally alter morphology and reproductive states in insects. In long-distance migrants, reproductive diapause is associated with trade-offs between diverse life-history traits such as flight morphology and lifespan. However, many non-diapausing insects engage in shorter resource-driven dispersals. How diapause and other reproductive states alter flight morphology in migrating versus dispersing insects is poorly understood. To find out, we compared flight morphology in different reproductive states of multiple butterfly species. We found that dispersers consisted of ovulating females with higher egg loads compared with non-dispersing females. This trend was in stark contrast with that of migrating female butterflies in reproductive diapause, which made substantially higher investment in flight tissue compared with reproductively active, non-migrating females. Thus, long-distance migration and shorter resource-driven dispersals had contrasting effects on flight morphology and egg loads. By contrast, male flight morphology was not affected by dispersal, migration or associated reproductive states. Thus, dispersal and migration affected resource allocation in flight and reproductive tissue in a sex-specific manner across relatively mobile versus non-dispersing individuals of different species. These findings suggest that dispersals between fragmented habitats may put extra stress on egg-carrying females by increasing their flight burdens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vaishali Bhaumik
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, GKVK Campus, Bellary Road, Bengaluru 560065, India.,Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology and Research Academy (SASTRA) University, Tirumalaisamudram, Thanjavur 613401, India
| | - Krushnamegh Kunte
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, GKVK Campus, Bellary Road, Bengaluru 560065, India
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8
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Pignataro T, Bressan P, Santos AL, Cornelissen T. Urban gradients alter the diversity, specific composition and guild distribution in tropical butterfly communities. Urban Ecosyst 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s11252-020-00975-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
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9
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A Conceptual Framework for Choosing Target Species for Wildlife-Inclusive Urban Design. SUSTAINABILITY 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/su11246972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Recent research has highlighted the significance of cities for biodiversity, making them important places for conservation in their own right. Current conservation approaches in cities are mostly defensive. Thus, they focus on remnant pockets of natural areas or try to protect particular species that occur in the built environment. These approaches are vulnerable to further urban development and do not create habitats. An alternative strategy is to make wildlife an integral part of urban development and thereby create a new habitat in the built-up area. Here we address the challenge of choosing target species for such wildlife-inclusive urban design. The starting point of our conceptual framework is the regional species pool, which can be obtained from geo-referenced species data. The existing habitat types on and around the development site and dispersal barriers limit the species numbers to the local species potential. In the next step, the site’s potential for each species is analyzed—how can it be upgraded to host species given the planned development and the life-cycle of the species? For the final choice of target species, traits related to the human–animal interaction are considered. We suggest that stakeholders will be involved in the final species selection. Our approach differs from existing practice, such as expert choice of priority species, by (1) representing an open process where many species are potential targets of conservation, (2) the involvement of stakeholders in a participatory way. Our approach can also be used at larger spatial scales such as quarters or entire cities.
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10
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Miles LS, Rivkin LR, Johnson MTJ, Munshi‐South J, Verrelli BC. Gene flow and genetic drift in urban environments. Mol Ecol 2019; 28:4138-4151. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.15221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2019] [Revised: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 08/13/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay S. Miles
- Integrative Life Sciences Doctoral Program Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond VA USA
- Department of Biology University of Toronto Mississauga Mississauga ON Canada
| | - L. Ruth Rivkin
- Department of Biology University of Toronto Mississauga Mississauga ON Canada
- Centre for Urban Environments University of Toronto Mississauga Mississauga ON Canada
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Toronto Toronto ON Canada
| | - Marc T. J. Johnson
- Department of Biology University of Toronto Mississauga Mississauga ON Canada
- Centre for Urban Environments University of Toronto Mississauga Mississauga ON Canada
| | - Jason Munshi‐South
- Louis Calder Center—Biological Field Station Fordham University Armonk NY USA
| | - Brian C. Verrelli
- Center for Life Sciences Education Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond VA USA
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11
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Sing KW, Luo J, Wang W, Jaturas N, Soga M, Yang X, Dong H, Wilson JJ. Ring roads and urban biodiversity: distribution of butterflies in urban parks in Beijing city and correlations with other indicator species. Sci Rep 2019; 9:7653. [PMID: 31113976 PMCID: PMC6529450 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-43997-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2018] [Accepted: 04/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The capital of China, Beijing, has a history of more than 800 years of urbanization, representing a unique site for studies of urban ecology. Urbanization can severely impact butterfly communities, yet there have been no reports of the species richness and distribution of butterflies in urban parks in Beijing. Here, we conducted the first butterfly survey in ten urban parks in Beijing and estimated butterfly species richness. Subsequently, we examined the distribution pattern of butterfly species and analyzed correlations between butterfly species richness with park variables (age, area and distance to city center), and richness of other bioindicator groups (birds and plants). We collected 587 individual butterflies belonging to 31 species from five families; 74% of the species were considered cosmopolitan. The highest butterfly species richness and abundance was recorded at parks located at the edge of city and species richness was significantly positively correlated with distance from city center (p < 0.05). No significant correlations were detected between the species richness and park age, park area and other bioindicator groups (p > 0.05). Our study provides the first data of butterfly species in urban Beijing, and serves as a baseline for further surveys and conservation efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kong-Wah Sing
- South China DNA Barcoding Center, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650223, Kunming, Yunnan, P.R. China.
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650223, Kunming, Yunnan, P.R. China.
| | - Jiashan Luo
- Institute of Ecology and Geobotany, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan, P.R. China
| | - Wenzhi Wang
- South China DNA Barcoding Center, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650223, Kunming, Yunnan, P.R. China
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650223, Kunming, Yunnan, P.R. China
- Wildlife Forensic Science Service, Kunming, Yunnan, P.R. China
- Guizhou Academy of Testing and Analysis, Guiyang, Guizhou, P.R. China
| | - Narong Jaturas
- Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Science, Naresuan University, 65000, Phitsanulok, Thailand
| | - Masashi Soga
- Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Yayoi, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Xianzhe Yang
- International College Beijing, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Hui Dong
- Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, Shenzhen and Chinese Academy of Sciences, 518004, Shenzhen, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - John-James Wilson
- Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Science, Naresuan University, 65000, Phitsanulok, Thailand.
- International College Beijing, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China.
- Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool, William Brown Street, L3 8EN, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
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12
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Merckx T, Kaiser A, Van Dyck H. Increased body size along urbanization gradients at both community and intraspecific level in macro-moths. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2018; 24:3837-3848. [PMID: 29791767 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2017] [Revised: 02/16/2018] [Accepted: 03/02/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Urbanization involves a cocktail of human-induced rapid environmental changes and is forecasted to gain further importance. Urban-heat-island effects result in increased metabolic costs expected to drive shifts towards smaller body sizes. However, urban environments are also characterized by strong habitat fragmentation, often selecting for dispersal phenotypes. Here, we investigate to what extent, and at which spatial scale(s), urbanization drives body size shifts in macro-moths-an insect group characterized by positive size-dispersal links-at both the community and intraspecific level. Using light and bait trapping as part of a replicated, spatially nested sampling design, we show that despite the observed urban warming of their woodland habitat, macro-moth communities display considerable increases in community-weighted mean body size because of stronger filtering against small species along urbanization gradients. Urbanization drives intraspecific shifts towards increased body size too, at least for a third of species analysed. These results indicate that urbanization drives shifts towards larger, and hence, more mobile species and individuals in order to mitigate low connectivity of ecological resources in urban settings. Macro-moths are a key group within terrestrial ecosystems, and since body size is central to species interactions, such urbanization-driven phenotypic change may impact urban ecosystem functioning, especially in terms of nocturnal pollination and food web dynamics. Although we show that urbanization's size-biased filtering happens simultaneously and coherently at both the inter- and intraspecific level, we demonstrate that the impact at the community level is most pronounced at the 800 m radius scale, whereas species-specific size increases happen at local and landscape scales (50-3,200 m radius), depending on the species. Hence, measures-such as creating and improving urban green infrastructure-to mitigate the effects of urbanization on body size will have to be implemented at multiple spatial scales in order to be most effective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Merckx
- Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Group, Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Aurélien Kaiser
- Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Group, Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Hans Van Dyck
- Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Group, Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
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