Скачать или смотреть Barn Swallows & Humans: Coexistence in a Changing World - Rebecca Safran, September 2023

The evolutionary history of one of the most common and widely distributed birds on planet Earth is intrinsically tied to that of our own species. When humans migrated out of Africa and began constructing permanent settlements in the Holocene some 10,000 years ago, they established new ecological niches for the animals and plants they domesticated as well as those that expanded alongside humans as they created new habitats for themselves and other living things. The barn swallow is one of those species whose expansion tracks with human settlement. Artifacts from ancient human civilizations portray a love story between humans and barn swallows. These birds were mummified along with their owners in ancient Egyptian burials, are prominent in ancient Bronze Age and Grecian arts, and today are portrayed all around the world on our postage stamps, tattoos, stories, and poems, and mythologies both old and new. And yet, this story of humans and barn swallows living side by side in the built environment is changing dramatically. Throughout their widespread range, barn swallows are declining.

This talk explores this story of human and barn swallow expansion and co-settlement – a relationship that has lasted for thousands of years and is now changing abruptly as barn swallows – at home just about anywhere on planet Earth – are being brought to the limits of adaptation. The story of the barn swallow is not unlike our own – as there are now places where these birds can no longer thrive, humans too are currently contending with areas rendered uninhabitable due to the effects of climate change, whether it be sea level rise, extreme heat, fire, or flood. What will be our future story of home? Will our longstanding relationship with the barn swallow persist in this new climate?

Dr. Rebecca (Becca) Safran is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is co-director of Inside the Greenhouse for creative climate communication, engaging people in exploring how humans and birds live side by side in the natural world, and teaching a science communication class where students translate climate change science into creative films. As an evolutionary biologist, Becca studies the formation of new species with a special focus on one of the most widespread birds on planet Earth: the barn swallow. Her research group studies the physiological, behavioral and ecological and climate factors that influence genomic divergence among closely related populations of barn swallows around the world, from villages above the Tibetan Plateau in China to barns and bridges near CU Boulder. Becca's research has appeared in top journals related to evolutionary ecology and genetics. She is passionate about social justice and belonging in STEM, a topic her research group has worked on collaboratively. Becca lives in Boulder Colorado with her husband, Sam, their two boys, and two dogs.

Becca presented this talk to Boulder County Audubon on September 26, 2023. Copyright Rebecca Safran.