Study finds function–evolution trade-off in urban park soil microbes

A research team from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences made a systematic comparison of soil microbiomes in urban parks and natural forests. The results reveal that urbanization profoundly reconfigures microbial community composition, functional capacity, and evolutionary trajectories, based on.

Urban natives: Plants evolve to live in cities

While urbanization has restricted and fragmented the natural ecosystems, it also creates new and diverse environmental conditions within towns. A Kobe University research team now found that a plant species that successfully established itself throughout a megacity exhibited distinct and inheritable characteristics that have adapted to the diverse urban environments.

Religion, politics and war drive urban wildlife evolution

The downstream consequences of religion, politics and war can have far-reaching effects on the environment and on the evolutionary processes affecting urban organisms, according to a new analysis from Washington University in St. Louis. 

Chicago’s rodents are evolving to handle city living

Scientists recently found an example of evolution in real time, tucked away in the collection drawers of the Field Museum in Chicago. By comparing the skulls of chipmunks and voles from the Chicagoland area collected over the past 125 years, the researchers found evidence that these rodents have been adapting to life in an increasingly urban environment.

Urban evolution - Wikipedia