SEAS hosts lecture about human interference and evolution

Image by Geoff Stearns, courtesy of Creative Commons

Ariel Weinstein and Roberto Raimundez/Staff Writers

Every day, humans are altering the natural environment.

Cutting down trees, dumping waste and polluting the air affects many species of animals because of the changes in their environment.

This Tuesday February 11, 2014 the “Eat, Think, and Be Merry” series is hosting the first talk of the spring semester: Evolutionary Traps.

Jennifer Rehage, assistant professor of the University’s department of earth and environment, will be talking about how traits animals have developed are now affected by human interference.

“Essentially animals are misreading cues from the environment thinking its natural when in fact it’s been caused by humans,” said Rehage.

This has caused various issues within the environment, such as causing animals to become confused of their whereabouts in their own environment, therefore making it difficult for these species to reproduce.

This, in turn, has led to endangering the survival of several species.

“A common example of an evolutionary trap is that of baby sea turtles,” said Rehage. “When the turtles hatch, they begin to head to the light which is normally moon light reflected in the water.”

The problem is that when artificial lights from buildings on the beach confuse the turtles.

“The man-made lights confuse the turtles into heading away from the ocean and into the city streets,” said Rehage.

Cues that help animals determine direction, such as light, are now also being produced by humans instead of just naturally.

An animal’s natural environment can also be reduced by humans.

“Dragonflies use polarized light to find water for laying eggs; they have a colorized light range that allows them to locate water,” said Rehage. “

However with the increasing amount of cement and cars, dragonflies light range identifies these man-made objects as similar to water and they begin attempting to lay eggs.”

This set of lecture series is hosted by FIU’s School of Environment, Arts and Society (SEAS) and funded by the National Science Foundation.

The idea behind this lecture series is to bring together scientists and the general public in conversation about their research and recent discoveries.

Elaine Pritzker, coordinator at SEAS, said the series is modeled after the “National Science Foundation science cafes held across the country which features engaging conversations between scientists and the community.”

This event is free, open to the public.

 -bbc@fiusm.com

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