EMPIRE STATE OF MIND

If cities are the new evolutionary laboratory, then researchers Munshi-South, Dunn, and Lucky are like modern-day versions of Charles Darwin—mapping uncharted biological territory, albeit in places found right under our noses.

“I think a lot people are fairly shocked to find out that everything in North America isn’t already named and catalogued and placed a drawer somewhere,” says Lucky. “There are multiple levels of discovery just waiting to happen.” And as she’s shown, you don’t have to be a professional scientist to contribute to the process of discovery.

Beyond basic curiosity, researchers have an additional reason for studying evolution in urban settings—what Dunn calls the “pigeon paradox.” If people are going to care about nature enough to protect it, he says, they’re going to have to connect with the nature that’s around them. For an increasing number of people in the world, this is urban nature: pigeons, rodents, and ants. While urban species may seem less interesting or exotic than ones in tropical rain forests, they are the ones that more and more people are actually likely to encounter and the ones their actions affect on a daily basis.

As Munshi-South points out, cities are active contributors to the evolutionary process, shaping the wildlife around us in profound ways. Along with climate change, urbanism is one of the main ways that humans are directly altering the face of the planet and thereby shaping the fate of species. Scientists are only just beginning to understand how cities drive evolutionary change, but they will have ample opportunity for continued research. The trend of urbanism shows no signs of stopping.

Those curious about the future can catch a glimpse of what lies in store for us by studying those places that are already intensely urbanized, like New York City. In a way, say biologists, we are all New Yorkers now.