Article
Santangelo et al., 2022. Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover. Science 375:1275-1281.pdf
Science
(2022)
Abstract
Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether
urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from
6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that
also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution
of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was
explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities.
Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best
explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results
demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale.
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring March 18, 2022
Citation Information
Travis J. Ryan. "Santangelo et al., 2022. Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover. Science 375:1275-1281.pdf" Science (2022) ISSN: 1095-9203 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/travis_ryan/42/