Hobart William and Smith Speaker Series: Urban evolution: how cities are changing our wildlife

Urban areas are among the fastest growing ecosystems on Earth. Urbanization causes dramatic environmental change, from the conversion of natural areas to buildings and roads, to increased air, water, light, and noise pollution. Urbanization often reduces biodiversity, but it can also affect the way organisms evolve. In this talk I’ll present research on one of the most common and visible animals in cities: gray squirrels. I’ll talk about how our research on coat color in gray squirrels is helping shed light on fundamental questions about how cities affect the evolution of life