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The subsequent ramifications of faith, governance, and warfare can have extensive effects on the ecosystem and on the evolutionary mechanisms influencing urban organisms, according to a recent evaluation from Washington University in St. Louis.

Usually regarded from a sociological viewpoint, the consequences of faith, governance, and warfare are seldom explored in the realm of evolutionary biology. This should change, according to an international group of biologists, including Elizabeth Carlen from Arts & Sciences at WashU, co-lead author of a new review published in Nature Cities.

Enhancing our comprehension of the impacts of faith, governance, and warfare on urban evolutionary biology can improve our capacity to plan and redesign cities to benefit humans while nurturing the environment and evolutionary prospects within the urban setting, the study’s authors stated.

“For an extended period, we have distinguished humans from biology. However, humans, particularly in urban locales, are a very active component of biology, and our choices yield repercussions,” noted Carlen, a Living Earth Collaborative postdoctoral researcher.

She helped assemble a collaborative team from five of the seven continents to provide global and local viewpoints on the societal processes examined in the article.

Beginning with religious customs, the authors illustrated how socially-induced interactions between humans and urban wildlife may result in evolutionary transformations for certain animals or plants. While earlier studies have shown that religious customs influence urban biodiversity, the authors contend that these customs also lead to downstream evolutionary changes in urban wildlife.

For instance, when barriers were erected around places of worship in the city of Oviedo, Spain, this alteration led to genetic divergence and caused population variations among fire salamanders (Salamandra salamandra) both inside and outside the enclosed area.

Another religion-related instance involves the ceremonial release of prayer creatures — the paper refers to birds, fish, and even bullfrogs — in urban settings, which often entails the capture and subsequent release of wild animals; this release may take place far from their original capture location, resulting in human-facilitated gene movement.

The study authors propose a series of testable hypotheses for forthcoming research aimed at deepening our understanding of how faith, governance, and warfare affect urban evolutionary biology. They also encouraged scientists to contemplate how they might document changes as they unfold. “Digital technology has enabled us to transform the type of data we’re gathering,” Carlen explained.

“One of our co-authors published a study on social media accounts tracking animal changes amidst warfare,” she shared. “For example, analyzing Twitter and Instagram to discover posts depicting a polecat trapped in a bomb crater. We now have the capability to record such occurrences, even while a conflict is ongoing.”

In her research in the American Midwest, where Carlen is examining the effects of environmental management choices on wildlife, including Eastern gray squirrels, governance can significantly impact biodiversity and evolution, she remarked.

In St. Louis, political regulations have resulted in a crime deterrence approach in specific areas of the city that can affect biodiversity, Carlen indicated. “Locations like Fountain Park and Fairground Park lack low shrubs and small trees. This is partly to enable police visibility across the area.

“However, consider that for a small animal, traversing that same area becomes far more challenging,” she stated. “Raccoons moving across an open expanse are more susceptible than if there were a bush providing shelter.”

The biologists underscored the importance of further research to disentangle how evolution is influenced by human conflict and socially driven decisions.

“Faith, governance, and warfare are all deeply interconnected,” Carlen asserted. “It can be challenging to distinguish these processes in numerous instances, complicating matters for human societies, biologists, and the wildlife affected by our actions.”

The post Religion, politics and war drive urban wildlife evolution appeared first on The Source.

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