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The Resource Darwin comes to town : how the urban jungle drives evolution, Menno Schilthuizen

Darwin comes to town : how the urban jungle drives evolution, Menno Schilthuizen

Creator
Author
Summary
  • "Menno Schilthuizen is one of a growing number of "urban ecologists" studying how our manmade environments are accelerating and changing the evolution of the animals and plants around us. In Darwin Comes to Town, he takes us around the world for an up-close look at just how stunningly flexible and swift-moving natural selection can be. With human populations growing, we're having an increasing impact on global ecosystems, and nowhere do these impacts overlap as much as they do in cities. The urban environment is about as extreme as it gets, and the wild animals and plants that live side-by-side with us need to adapt to a whole suite of challenging conditions: they must manage in the city's hotter climate (the "urban heat island"); they need to be able to live either in the semidesert of the tall, rocky, and cavernous structures we call buildings or in the pocket-like oases of city parks (which pose their own dangers, including smog and free-ranging dogs and cats); traffic causes continuous noise, a mist of fine dust particles, and barriers to movement for any animal that cannot fly or burrow; food sources are mainly human-derived. And yet, as Schilthuizen shows, the wildlife sharing these spaces with us is not just surviving, but evolving ways of thriving. Darwin Comes to Town draws on eye-popping examples of adaptation to share a stunning vision of urban evolution in which humans and wildlife co-exist in a unique harmony. It reveals that evolution can happen far more rapidly than Darwin dreamed, while providing a glimmer of hope that our race toward over population might not take the rest of nature down with us."--Jacket
  • With human populations growing, we're having an increasing impact on global ecosystems, and nowhere do these impacts overlap as much as they do in cities. "Urban ecologists" study how our manmade environments are changing the evolution of the animals and plants around us. Schilthuizen takes us around the world for an up-close look at just how stunningly flexible and swift-moving natural selection can be. He shows how the wildlife sharing these spaces with us is not just surviving, but evolving ways of thriving
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First U.S. edition.
Extent
viii, 293 pages
Note
"April 2018"--Title page verso
Contents
  • City portal
  • I. City life. Nature's ultimate ecosystem engineer ; The ant(hropo)-hill ; Downtown ecology ; Urban naturalists ; City slickers ; If I can make it there
  • II. Cityscapes. These are the facts ; Urban myths ; So it really is ; Town mouse, country mouse ; Poisoning pigeons in the park ; Bright lights, big city ; But is it really evolution?
  • III. City encounters. Close urban encounters ; Self-domestication ; Songs of the city ; Sex and the city ; Turdus urbanicus
  • IV. Darwin city. Evolution in a telecoupled world ; Design it with Darwin
  • Outskirt
Isbn
9781250127822
Instance
Label
Darwin comes to town : how the urban jungle drives evolution
Title
Darwin comes to town
Title remainder
how the urban jungle drives evolution
Statement of responsibility
Menno Schilthuizen
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
  • "Menno Schilthuizen is one of a growing number of "urban ecologists" studying how our manmade environments are accelerating and changing the evolution of the animals and plants around us. In Darwin Comes to Town, he takes us around the world for an up-close look at just how stunningly flexible and swift-moving natural selection can be. With human populations growing, we're having an increasing impact on global ecosystems, and nowhere do these impacts overlap as much as they do in cities. The urban environment is about as extreme as it gets, and the wild animals and plants that live side-by-side with us need to adapt to a whole suite of challenging conditions: they must manage in the city's hotter climate (the "urban heat island"); they need to be able to live either in the semidesert of the tall, rocky, and cavernous structures we call buildings or in the pocket-like oases of city parks (which pose their own dangers, including smog and free-ranging dogs and cats); traffic causes continuous noise, a mist of fine dust particles, and barriers to movement for any animal that cannot fly or burrow; food sources are mainly human-derived. And yet, as Schilthuizen shows, the wildlife sharing these spaces with us is not just surviving, but evolving ways of thriving. Darwin Comes to Town draws on eye-popping examples of adaptation to share a stunning vision of urban evolution in which humans and wildlife co-exist in a unique harmony. It reveals that evolution can happen far more rapidly than Darwin dreamed, while providing a glimmer of hope that our race toward over population might not take the rest of nature down with us."--Jacket
  • With human populations growing, we're having an increasing impact on global ecosystems, and nowhere do these impacts overlap as much as they do in cities. "Urban ecologists" study how our manmade environments are changing the evolution of the animals and plants around us. Schilthuizen takes us around the world for an up-close look at just how stunningly flexible and swift-moving natural selection can be. He shows how the wildlife sharing these spaces with us is not just surviving, but evolving ways of thriving
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Schilthuizen, Menno
Dewey number
577.5/6
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
QH541.5.C6
LC item number
S35 2018
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Urban ecology (Biology)
  • Evolution (Biology)
  • Nature
  • Evolution (Biology)
  • Nature
  • Urban ecology (Biology)
Label
Darwin comes to town : how the urban jungle drives evolution, Menno Schilthuizen
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Note
"April 2018"--Title page verso
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-280) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
City portal -- I. City life. Nature's ultimate ecosystem engineer ; The ant(hropo)-hill ; Downtown ecology ; Urban naturalists ; City slickers ; If I can make it there -- II. Cityscapes. These are the facts ; Urban myths ; So it really is ; Town mouse, country mouse ; Poisoning pigeons in the park ; Bright lights, big city ; But is it really evolution? -- III. City encounters. Close urban encounters ; Self-domestication ; Songs of the city ; Sex and the city ; Turdus urbanicus -- IV. Darwin city. Evolution in a telecoupled world ; Design it with Darwin -- Outskirt
Control code
ocn981968607
Dimensions
25 cm
Edition
First U.S. edition.
Extent
viii, 293 pages
Isbn
9781250127822
Lccn
2017059153
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
Label
Darwin comes to town : how the urban jungle drives evolution, Menno Schilthuizen
Publication
Copyright
Note
"April 2018"--Title page verso
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-280) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
City portal -- I. City life. Nature's ultimate ecosystem engineer ; The ant(hropo)-hill ; Downtown ecology ; Urban naturalists ; City slickers ; If I can make it there -- II. Cityscapes. These are the facts ; Urban myths ; So it really is ; Town mouse, country mouse ; Poisoning pigeons in the park ; Bright lights, big city ; But is it really evolution? -- III. City encounters. Close urban encounters ; Self-domestication ; Songs of the city ; Sex and the city ; Turdus urbanicus -- IV. Darwin city. Evolution in a telecoupled world ; Design it with Darwin -- Outskirt
Control code
ocn981968607
Dimensions
25 cm
Edition
First U.S. edition.
Extent
viii, 293 pages
Isbn
9781250127822
Lccn
2017059153
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations

Subject

Genre

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