PhD student Sam Kreling’s research looks to better understand the consequences of urbanization on the adaptive evolution of coyotes
Kreling’s newest research looks at how our rapidly urbanizing world may influence the evolution of coyotes, the most prominent urban carnivore. Her research conceptualizes a framework that she hopes others will use to better understand the various pathways by which urbanization can influence the genomes of wildlife by using the coyote as a model for understanding urbanization’s effects. There have been few studies that have conclusively demonstrated adaptive selection in urban wildlife — Kreling and her research team are hoping to change that. Kreling alongside Summer Vance and Dr. Elizabeth Carlen theorized how the diet, health, behavior, cognition and reproduction of urban coyotes may be altered by urban selection pressures that differ from coyote’s evolutionary context.