Evolutionary Ecology of Biological Clocks: Insights from Urban Birds
Barbara Tomotani
Teaser: Urbanization dramatically changes the environment and the large amount of artificial light at night (ALAN) is one of its most obvious properties. The light–dark cycle is the most important cue to synchronize the circadian clock and the presence of ALAN in cities could make the cues in the urban environment noisier and potentially less predictable. In my talk, I will discuss possible phenotypical differences in biological clocks of city and forest birds that may lead to differences in their activity patterns. Then, I will show the results of our large common garden study with great tits (Parus major) from urban and forest origins in which we tested whether clock differences could be genetic. Finally, I will show the results of an experiment designed to test if the clocks of city birds are differently affected by light at night when compared to forest birds.
Biosketch: I am a researcher at the Arctic University of Norway (UiT) and a guest researcher at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). I am interested in the study of behavioural and evolutionary ecology of biological timekeeping and I also study how daily and seasonal timing is affected by anthropogenic changes in the environment.
