The Global Urban Evolution Project is an international collaborative project which was started by
Marc T. J. Johnson at the Centre for Urban Environments of the
University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM).
It includes partners from at least 5 continents, 26 countries, and 160 cities.
As a field study of evolution, and as a global study of the effects of urbanization on evolution, its scale is unprecedented.
It has been described as "the best replicated test of parallel evolution, on the largest scale ever attempted".
The project uses
white clover as a
model organism
A model organism (often shortened to model) is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workin ...
for studying global
urbanization and
urban evolution Urban evolution refers to the heritable genetic changes of populations in response to urban development and anthropogenic activities in urban areas. Urban evolution can be caused by mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, or evolution by natural select ...
.
White clover was chosen because it already grew in most cities worldwide.
It examines the plant's production of
hydrogen cyanide
Hydrogen cyanide, sometimes called prussic acid, is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structure . It is a colorless, extremely poisonous, and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an ...
(HCN) in urban and more rural environments ("urban-rural
clines"
). Hydrogen cyanide deters
herbivores and increases clover's tolerance for water stress.
The project has demonstrated that urban environments are altering the ways in which plants evolve locally, and that similar changes are occurring globally, a demonstration of
parallel evolution. It enables researchers to better understand the nature of urban environments, the adaptive capacity of species, and their ability to deal with rapid global environmental changes.
Project history
In 2018, lead scientist Marc Johnson announced the project by tweeting "We are seeking collaborators to participate in the Global Urban Evolution (GLUE) project, a global study that seeks to understand whether urbanization drives parallel evolution in cities around the world."
Co-leaders of the project were Rob Ness and PhD student James Santangelo, all three at University of Toronto Mississauga.
The resulting project has involved 287 scientists
and over 550 people at various academic levels worldwide.
It is an example of inclusive science with a team including equal numbers of women and men from around the world.
Sonja Knapp categorizes it as an experimental network and a global experiment with a shared methodology.
Results
The project has collected over 110,000 clover samples and sequenced over 2,500 clover genomes, creating a huge dataset for the study of the species around the globe.
Analyzing urban-rural
clines, scientists found that cyanide production tended to increase with distance from the center of cities, suggesting that clover populations were adapting to factors commonly found in urban centers worldwide. Possible factors could include temperature (freezing is related to cyanide content), herbivory pressures, and drought stress. The research suggests that the downtowns of cities such as
Boston may more closely resemble far-flung cities such as
Beijing as clover habitats than they resemble rural areas located nearby.
References
External links
Global Urban Evolution Project*Global Urban Evolution Project o
GitHub
{{DEFAULTSORT:Global Urban Evolution Project
Collaborative projects
Genome databases
Open data
Open science
Scientific organizations based in Canada
Evolution of plants
Urbanization