With the help of Brock researcher Kiyoko Gotanda, a new paper is offering insight into the emerging field of urban evolutionary ecology.<\/p>\n
The Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences was part of an interdisciplinary international team of researchers that recently completed a \u2018horizon scan\u2019 to determine the top 30 questions and research avenues in the field.<\/p>\n
Gotanda and 28 other researchers, social scientists and academics published their paper Nov. 1 in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution<\/em>.<\/p>\n Research on the evolutionary ecology of urban areas reveals how human-induced evolutionary changes affect biodiversity and essential ecosystem services.<\/p>\n Gotanda helped co-ordinate groups of authors for the section of the manuscript focused on \u201cpolitics, governance, culture, their interactions and their ethical considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n The researchers polled members of various groups who study or work in urban evolutionary ecology with the goal of identifying the emergent issues and research priorities that affect the ecology and evolution of species within cities.<\/p>\n \u201cHorizon scans identify knowledge gaps and the next questions and steps to be taken for advancing the research field on that subject,\u201d said Gotanda.<\/p>\n The scan is an opportunity for scientists in an emerging field to collaborate and choose research topics with the most benefit to the field as a whole.<\/p>\n \u201cThe questions were eye-opening for me,\u201d said Gotanda. \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t taken part in the horizon scan, I would have never thought about questions such as \u2018can synthetic organisms adapt to urban environments?\u2019 Imagine if artificial intelligence-driven machines like the Amazon delivery drones start adapting to their urban environment.\u201d<\/p>\n