Rapid evolution in the Anthropocene
We are changing the world. We are destroying, polluting and fragmenting habitats, altering climatic conditions, plundering and relocating populations. So far-reaching is the impact of our activities, that the earth is said to have entered a new epoch: the Anthropocene. Many natural species will probably not survive the Anthropocene. Many have vanished already.
But others have shown unexpected resilience. They have adjusted their behaviour, adapted their physiology, amended their morphology, altered their life history to fit in this modern, man-made world. Some of them do well, some even thrive in the new settings.
In this symposium, we bring together biologists that have documented how natural species of various kinds have responded to our ubiquitous and intrusive presence. Which species will make it through the sixth extinction wave, why, and how will they do it?