Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover
James S. Santangelo, Rob W. Ness, Beata Cohan, Connor R. Fitzpatrick, Simon G. Innes, Sophie Koch, Lindsay S. Miles, Samreen Munim, Pedro R. Peres‐Neto, Cindy M. Prashad, Alex T. Tong, Windsor E. Aguirre, Philips Akinwole, Marina Alberti, Jackie Álvarez, Jill T. Anderson, Joseph Anderson, Yoshino Ando, Nigel R. Andrew, Fábio Angeoletto, Daniel N. Anstett, Julia Anstett, Felipe Aoki‐Gonçalves, A. Z. Andis Arietta, Mary T. K. Arroyo, Emily J. Austen, Fernanda Baena‐Díaz, Cory A. Barker, H.A. Baylis, Julia M. Beliz, Alfonso Benítez‐Mora, David Bickford, Gabriela Biedebach, Gwylim S. Blackburn, Mannfred M. A. Boehm, Stephen P. Bonser, Dries Bonte, Jesse R. Bragger, Cristina Branquinho, Kristien I. Brans, Jorge C. Bresciano, Peta Brom, Anna Bucharová, Briana Burt, James F. Cahill, Katelyn D. Campbell, Elizabeth J. Carlen, Diego Carmona, María Clara Castellanos, Giada Centenaro, Izan Chalen, Jaime A. Chaves, Mariana Chávez‐Pesqueira, Xiaoyong Chen, Angela M. Chilton, Kristina M. Chomiak, Diego F. Cisneros‐Heredia, Ibrahim Cisse, Aimée T. Classen, Mattheau S. Comerford, Camila Cordoba Fradinger, Hannah B. Corney, Andrew J. Crawford, Kerri M. Crawford, Maxime Dahirel, Santiago David, Robert De Haan, Nicholas J. Deacon, Clare Dean, Ek del‐Val, Eleftherios K. Deligiannis, Derek Denney, Margarete A Dettlaff, Michelle F. DiLeo, Yuanyuan Ding, Moisés E. Domínguez-López, Davide M. Dominoni, Savannah L. Draud, Karen Dyson, Jacintha Ellers, Carlos Iván Espinosa, Liliana Essi, Mohsen Falahati‐Anbaran, Jéssica C. de Faria Falcão, Hayden T. Fargo, Mark D. E. Fellowes, Raina Fitzpatrick, Leah Flaherty, Pádraic J. Flood, María Francisca Flores, Juan Fornoni, Amy G. Foster, Christopher J. Frost, Tracy L. Fuentes, Justin R. Fulkerson, Edeline Gagnon, Frauke Garbsch, Colin J. Garroway, Aleeza C. Gerstein, Mischa M. Giasson
Abstract
Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale.