ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2017
Urban driven phenotypic changes: empirical observations and theoretical implications for eco-evolutionary feedback.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 245 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Transcriptomic Response Along an Urbanization Gradient Is Also Temperature-Dependent in a Freshwater Insect.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- An integrated social-ecological-evolutionary-phenotypic (SEEP) approach to understanding animal responses to urbanization.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Diversity Patterns of Spontaneous Plants and Their Multi-Scale Driving Mechanisms in Cold Regions: A Case of 14 Cities in Heilongjiang Province, China.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Population Declines of the Oriental MagpieEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Fluttering in a Changing World: Effects of Urbanization and Nectar Plants on Butterfly Movement Patterns.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Feather macrostructure is marginally correlated with temperature range but not urbanization across California.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Higher Sex-Reversal Rate of Urban Frogs in a Common-Garden Experiment Suggests Adaptive Microevolution.Evolutionary applications · 2025Article
- The Impact of Urbanization on Avian Communities During the Breeding Season in the Huanghuai Plain of China.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Adaptation in the Alleyways: Candidate Genes Under Potential Selection in Urban Coyotes.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Online toolkits for collaborative and inclusive global research in urban evolutionary ecology.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Smarter in the city? Lizards from urban and semi-natural habitats do not differ in a cognitive task in two syntopic species.Current zoology · 2024Article
- Urbanization and a green corridor do not impact genetic divergence in common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.).Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Latitude-specific urbanization effects on life history traits in the damselflyEvolutionary applications · 2023Article
- Avian behaviour changes in response to human activity during the COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- A comprehensive overview of the effects of urbanisation on sexual selection and sexual traits.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2022Review
- Phenotypic and genotypic divergence of plant-herbivore interactions along an urbanization gradient.Evolutionary applications · 2022Article
- Darwin's small and medium ground finches might have taste preferences, but not for human foods.Royal Society open science · 2022Article
- Individual variation in feeding morphology, not diet, can facilitate the success of generalist species in urban ecosystems.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Replicated, urban-driven exposure to metallic trace elements in two passerines.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Urban bat pups take after their mothers and are bolder and faster learners than rural pups.BMC biology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Emerging evidence that cities drive micro-evolution raises the question of whether rapid urbanization of Earth might impact ecosystems by causing systemic changes in functional traits that regulate urban ecosystems' productivity and stability. Intraspecific trait variation-variation in organisms' morphological, physiological or behavioural characteristics stemming from genetic variability and phenotypic plasticity-has significant implications for ecological functions such as nutrient cycling and primary productivity. While it is well established that changes in ecological conditions can drive evolutionary change in species' traits that, in turn, can alter ecosystem function, an understanding of the reciprocal and simultaneous processes associated with such interactions is only beginning to emerge. In urban settings, the potential for rapid trait change may be exacerbated by multiple selection pressures operating simultaneously. This paper reviews evidence on mechanisms linking urban development patterns to rapid phenotypic changes, and differentiates phenotypic changes for which there is evidence of micro-evolution versus phenotypic changes which may represent plasticity. Studying how humans mediate phenotypic trait changes through urbanization could shed light on fundamental concepts in ecological and evolutionary theory. It can also contribute to our understanding of eco-evolutionary feedback and provide insights for maintaining ecosystem function over the long term.This article is part of the themed issue 'Human influences on evolution, and the ecological and societal consequences'.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.