Evolution in a Big City

Prevoditelj: Ivan Stamenković Recezent: Senzos Osijek

So I'm here today to encourage you to think about New York City,

Danas sam ovdje da vas ohrabrim da razmišljate o New Yorku,

and not just as one of humanity's greatest achievements,

i to ne samo kao jednom od najvećih dostignuća,

but as home to native wildlife

već i domu divljeg životinjskog svijeta

that are subject to a grand evolutionary experiment.

koji je podložan velikom evolucijskom eksperimentu.

So take this forested hillside in Northern Manhattan, for example.

Pogledajte ovo pošumljeno brdo na Sjevernom Manhattanu, na primjer.

This is one of the last areas left in the city

Ovo je jedno od posljednjih područja u gradu

where there's clean spring water seeping out of the ground.

gdje postoji čista izvorska voda koja izvire iz tla.

You could drink this out of your hands and you'd be OK.

Možete ovo piti iz ruku i ništa se ne bi dogodilo.

These tiny little areas of seeping water

Ova mala područja izvorske vode

contain huge populations of northern dusky salamanders.

sadrže velike populacije sjevernih daždevnjaka.

These guys were common in the city maybe 60 years ago,

Ovi mališani bili su uobičajeni prije otprilike 60 godina,

but now they're just stuck on this single hillside

ali sada su se zaglavili na ovom jednom obronku

and a few places in Staten Island.

i par mjesta na Staten Islandu.

Not only do they suffer the indignity of being stuck on this hillside,

Ne samo da pate jer su na ovom brdu,

but we divided the hillside in two

već smo podijelili obronak na dva dijela

on two different occasions

u dvije različite prilike

with bridges crossing from the Bronx into Manhattan.

sa mostovima koji idu od Bronxa do Manhattana.

But they're still there, on either side of the bridges,

Ali oni su i dalje tu, sa obje strane mosta,

where you see the red arrows -- about 180th Street, 167th Street.

gdje vidite crvene strelice -- oko 180. i 167. ulice.

My lab has found that if you just take a few segments of DNA

Moj laboratorij utvrdio je ako uzmete samo par dijelova DNK

from salamanders in those two locations,

daždevnjaka sa ove dvije lokacije

you can tell which side of the bridge they came from.

možete reći s koje strane mosta su došli.

We built this single piece of infrastructure

Izgradili smo ovaj jedan dio infrastrukture

that's changed their evolutionary history.

koji je izmjenio njihovu evolucijsku povijest.

We can go study these guys, we just go to the hillside

Možemo ih proučavati, samo odemo na obronak

we know where they are, we flip over rocks so we can catch them.

znamo gdje su, okrenemo kamen i uhvatimo ih.

There are a lot of other things in New York City, though,

Ali postoji puno stvari u New Yorku

that are not that easy to capture, such as this guy, a coyote.

koje nije tako lako uhvatiti, kao što je ovaj kojot.

We caught him on an automatic camera trap in an undisclosed location;

Uhvatili smo ga na automatskoj klopci s kamerom na tajnoj lokaciji;

I'm not allowed to talk about it yet.

ne možemo o tome još pričati.

But they're moving into New York City for the first time.

Ali ulaze u New York prvi puta.

They're very flexible, intelligent animals.

Oni su vrlo fleksibilne, inteligentne životinje.

This is one of this year's pups checking out one of our cameras.

Ovo je jedno od štenadi koje provjerava našu kameru.

And my colleagues and I are very interested in understanding

I moji kolege i ja želimo shvatiti

how they're going to spread through the area,

kako će se širiti u gradu,

how they're going to survive here and maybe even thrive.

kako će preživjeti ovdje i možda čak i biti uspješni.

And they're probably coming to a neighborhood near you,

I vjerojatno dolaze u susjedstvo blizu vas,

if they're not already there.

ako već nisu tamo.

Some things are too fast to be caught by hand.

Neke stvari su prebrze da bi ih se uhvatilo rukom.

We can't pick them up on the cameras,

Ne možemo ih vidjeti na kamerama,

so we set up traps around New York City and the parks.

pa smo postavili klopke po New Yorku i parkovima.

This is one of our most common activities.

Ovo je jedna od naših uobičajenih aktivnosti.

Here's some of my students and collaborators

Ovdje su moji učenici i suradnici

getting the traps out and ready.

kako pripremaju klopke.

This guy, we catch in almost every forested area in New York City.

Ovog momka hvatamo u gotovo svim pošumljenim područjima New Yorka.

This is the white-footed mouse --

Ovo je bijelošapi miš --

not the mouse you find running around your apartment.

ne miš kojeg nađete kako trči u vašem stanu.

This is a native species, been here long before humans.

Ova vrsta bila je ovdje puno prije ljudi.

You find them in forests and meadows.

Nalazimo ih u šumama i na livadama.

Because they're so common in forested areas in the city,

Jer su tako uobičajeni u pošumljenim dijelovima grada,

we're using them as a model to understand how species are adapting

koristimo ih kao model za shvaćanje kako se vrste prilagođavaju

to urban environments.

na urbane okoliše.

So if you think back 400 years ago,

Ako gledate 400 godina u prošlost,

the five boroughs would've been covered in forests and other types of vegetation.

pet oblasti bilo bi prekriveno šumama i drugom vegetacijom.

This mouse would've been everywhere [in] huge populations

Ovaj miš bio bi posvuda u velikom broju

that showed few genetic differences across the landscape.

koji su pokazivali par genetskih razlika širom krajolika.

But if you look at the situation today,

Ali ako danas pogledate situaciju,

they're just stuck in these little islands of forest scattered around the city.

oni su zaglavljeni na ovim malim zelenim otocima raštrkanim po gradu.

Just using 18 short segments of DNA, we can pretty much take a mouse

Koristeći samo 18 kratkih dijelova DNK možemo uzeti miša,

somebody could give us a mouse, not tell us where it was from,

netko nam može dati miša i ne reći nam otkud je,

and we could determine what park it came from.

i mogli bi odrediti iz kojeg je parka došao.

That's how different they've become.

Toliko su drugačiji postali.

You'll notice in the middle of this figure,

Primjetit ćete da su ovdje

there are some mixed-up colors.

neke pomiješane boje.

There are a few parks in the city that are still connected to each other

Postoji nekoliko parkova u gradu koji su još uvijek povezani

with strips of forest, so the mice can run back and forth

kroz komade šume tako da se miševi kreću tim putevima

and spread their genes, so they don't become different.

i šire gene, tako da ne postaju drugačiji.

But throughout the city, they're mostly becoming different in the parks.

Ali kroz grad, većinom postaju drugačiji u parkovima.

So I'm telling you they're different, but what does that mean?

Govorim kako su drugačiji, ali što to znači?

What's changing about their biology?

Što se mijenja u njihovoj biologiji?

To answer this question,

Kako bi odgovorili na ovo pitanje,

we're sequencing thousands of genes from our city mice

sekvenciramo tisuće gena naših gradskih miševa

and comparing those to thousands of genes from the country mice,

i uspoređujemo ih sa tisućama gena iz seoskih miševa,

so, their ancestors outside of New York City

njihovih predaka izvan New Yorka

in these big, more wilderness areas.

u ovim velikim, divljim područjima.

Now, genes are short segments of DNA that code for amino acids.

Sad, geni su kratki komadići DNK koji određuju amino kiseline.

And amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.

I amino kiseline su izgraditelji bjelančevina.

If a single base pair changes in a gene,

Ako se jedan bazni par promijeni u genu,

you can get a different amino acid,

možete dobiti drugu aminokiselinu,

which will then change the shape and structure of the protein.

koja će onda promijeniti oblik i strukturu bjelančevina.

If you change the structure of a protein,

Ako promijenite strukturu bjelančevina,

you often change something about what it does in the organism.

često mjenjate nešto što čini u organizmu.

Now if that change leads to a longer life or more babies for a mouse,

Ako ta promjena vodi dužem životu ili više beba za miša,

something evolutionary biologists call fitness,

nešto što evolucijski biolozi zovu odgovarajuća promjena,

then that single base-pair change will spread quickly

onda će se ta jedna promjena baznog para brzo proširiti

in an urban population.

u urbanoj populaciji.

So this crazy figure is called a Manhattan plot,

Ova luda figura zove se nacrt Manhattana,

because it kind of looks like a skyline.

jer pomalo izgleda kao linija horizonta.

Each dot represents one gene,

Svaka točka predstavlja jedan gen,

and the higher the dot is in the plot,

i što je točka višpe u nacrtu,

the more different it is between city and country mice.

veća je razlika između gradskih i seoskih miševa.

The ones kind of at the tips of the skyscrapers are the most different,

Oni na vrhovima nebodera su oni s najvećim razlikama,

especially those above the red line.

osobito oni iznad crvene linije.

And these genes encode for things like immune response to disease,

I ovi geni određuju imunološke odgovore na bolesti,

because there might be more disease in very dense, urban populations;

jer će možda biti više bolesti u vrlo gustim, urbanim populacijama;

metabolism, how the mice use energy;

metabolizam, kako miševi koriste energiju,

and heavy-metal tolerance.

i otpornost na teške metale.

You guys can probably predict

Vi vjerojatno možete predvidjeti

that New York City soils are pretty contaminated

da su tla u New Yorku poprilično zagađena

with lead and chromium and that sort of thing.

olovom i kromom i takvim stvarima.

And now our hard work is really starting.

I sada težak rad stvarno počinje.

We're going back into the wilds of New York City parks,

Vraćamo se u divljinu parkova u New Yorku,

following the lives of individual mice

prateći živote pojedinih miševa

and seeing exactly what these genes are doing for them.

i gledamo točno što ovi geni rade za njih.

And I would encourage you guys to try to look at your parks in a new way.

I ja bih vas ohrabrio da pogledate svoje parkove na drugi način.

I'm not going to be the next Charles Darwin,

Neću biti sljedeći Charles Darwin,

but one of you guys might be, so just keep your eyes open.

ali netko od vas bi mogao biti, samo ostavite oči otvorene.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)