Menno Schilthuizen: "Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution"
We are marching towards a future in which three-quarters of humans live in cities, and a large portion of the planet's landmass is urbanized. With much of the rest covered by human-shaped farms, pasture, and plantations, where can nature still go? One possibility: to the cities. And with more and more wildlife carving out new niches among humans, evolution takes a surprising turn. Urban animals evolve to become more tolerant, curious and resourceful, city pigeons develop “detox”-plumage, and weeds growing from cracks in the pavement adjust their seeds. Some city animals are even on their way of becoming an entirely new species. Thanks to evolutionary adaptation taking place at unprecedented speeds, plants and animals are coming up with new ways of living in the seemingly hostile environments of asphalt and steel that we humans have created. We may be on the verge of a new chapter in the history of life -- a chapter in which much old biodiversity is, sadly, disappearing, but also one in which a new and exciting set of life forms is being born.
This event is part of the Denbo Center for Humanities & the Arts' Distinguished Lecture Series, as part of the College of Arts & Sciences' Scopes Trial Centennial Project and in partnership with the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.
About the Speaker:
Menno Schilthuizen (1965) is a professor of evolution and biodiversity at Leiden University and a senior researcher at the National Natural History Museum 'Naturalis' in Leiden, the Netherlands. He studies the processes by which urbanization promotes rapid evolution in wild organisms. He also runs the Taxon Foundation, a nonprofit for urban biodiversity studies. In his recent books, Darwin Comes to Town (Picador, 2018) and The Urban Naturalist (MIT Press, 2025) he offers a new and optimistic view of cities as places where exciting ecosystems are arising, with community science as a way for city dwellers to be explorers of their own urban neighborhoods.
Event Links
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2807961-0
