Latest news with #StephanieSmith
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Museum study shows human impact on chipmunks and voles in Chicago
CHICAGO -- Three stories above the Field Museum's exhibits, rows and rows of taxidermied chipmunks filled a tray in the museum's mammal archives. Pointing to two of the oldest critters, mammalogist Stephanie Smith picked up the pair of chipmunks off the tray, balancing them in the palm of her hand. 'The oldest ones we have are from 1891, and these were collected in Jackson Park over 100 years ago,' Smith said, pointing to the two chipmunks. 'You can see how good-looking they both look, and that's the beauty of this collection. We preserve this material to last, generation to generation.' In many ways, these well-preserved chipmunks mirror those that Chicagoans might see scurrying down alleyways or hopping around in parks today, with their distinctive white stripes and bushy tails. But according to a new study by Field Museum researchers, Chicago's modern-day rodents have evolved to look quite different from what they did just a century ago — mostly because of human development. Smith, along with assistant curator of mammals Anderson Feijó and two Field Museum interns, measured the skulls of nearly 400 rodent specimens — collected from the 1890s to modern day — to see how their skull structure had changed over time. The study, published June 26, focused on chipmunks and voles, aiming to compare the evolution of above- and below-ground species. They found that over time, Chicago chipmunks have overall gotten larger, but the row of teeth along the side of their jaw has gotten smaller. 'It's probably related to the food they're eating,' Feijó said. 'Chipmunks are much more interactive with humans and have access to different kinds of food we eat. So we hypothesize they are eating more soft food and because they require less bite force, which reflects in the tooth rows.' In vole samples, they found that the animals' size had stayed pretty consistent — but that the bumps in their skull that house the inner ear had shrunk. As Chicago grew over the past hundred years, the voles may have adapted to have smaller ears in order to protect them from the noisy city streets, Smith said. 'These two animals are small mammals, so people might sort of put them in the same category in their heads, right?' she said. 'But they're responding to this human alteration of the landscape in different ways. So preservation of natural populations of animals is not a one-size-fits-all thing … as the city changes, as we try and facilitate the longevity of green areas where these animals live, maybe we need to think about different solutions for different animals.' During the 20th century, Chicago was one of the fastest growing cities in the world, expanding from 516,000 residents in the 1910 census to 3.5 million residents by the 1950 census. With this rapid population growth also came rapid urbanization, as buildings, highways and transit grew more and more dense. While just 6% of land in the Chicago area was used for urban development in 1900, this grew to 34% by 1992, according to data compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. With fewer natural areas in the region, native rodents like chipmunks and voles have had to adapt to urban environments and find new sources of food and shelter. The Field Museum team used satellite imagery dating back to 1940 to determine how much of each rodent's habitat had been used for urban buildings at the time that they lived. 'These kinds of adaptations are happening across all different animals, different groups, different areas,' Feijo said. 'It's just a way that animals need to figure out how to survive these new conditions.' Similar trends have been documented in other major cities. A 2020 study of rats in New York City found that these East Coast rodents' teeth have also shrunk over time, similar to those of Chicago chipmunks. The Field Museum houses over 40 million mammal specimens in its archives, mostly collected in Chicago and the surrounding region, enabling scientists to track how different species have changed over time. The museum's exhibits represent less than 1% of its actual collections, according to museum communications manager Kate Golembiewski. In addition to manually measuring the chipmunks' and voles' skulls, researchers also created 3D scans of some of the specimens, which allowed them to more closely compare the differences between each specimens' bone structure. Moving forward, Smith and Feijo hope to use their data to find a stronger correlation between evolutionary change and urbanization. 'These animals, the fact that they are adapting and still relatively abundant shows that they are changing,' Smith said. 'But that doesn't mean that they're gonna be able to do that forever. So it's important to keep an ear to the ground, and try to understand what these guys are up to.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Chicago chipmunks are evolving fast — and our food may be why, Field Museum says
The Brief Scientists at Chicago's Field Museum have observed that local chipmunks have evolved with larger bodies and smaller teeth over the past century. The changes are linked to urban diets, with chipmunks consuming soft human food scraps like pizza and burgers instead of hard nuts and seeds. Researchers say the findings highlight how human presence is driving rapid evolutionary changes in wildlife — even in city backyards. CHICAGO - For more than a century, Chicago's Field Museum has been collecting animal specimens. Now, the Field's collection of a Chicago-area rodent is showing just how fast animals can evolve to co-exist with humans. What we know When you think of evolution, you probably imagine it takes thousands — even millions — of years. But scientists at the Field Museum are seeing remarkable changes in one particular animal — one you probably have in your own backyard. Among the Field's collection of millions of preserved animals are hundreds of chipmunks from the Chicago area. Some are new, and some are more than a century old. "So these are from 120 years ago and they look like they were alive yesterday," said Field Museum Research Scientist Stephanie Smith, as she held a large tray of chipmunk pelts and bones collected in the early 1900's. That collection has given Smith and other researchers an opportunity to witness evolution in real time. "This is really cool because we see that this is happening," said Smith. "Evolution is happening as we are watching and maybe not paying attention." In a recently published research paper, Smith and her colleagues compared the skeletons, skulls and fur of chipmunks collected in the Chicago area a century apart. "These chipmunks were collected in 1993 and these chipmunks were collected in 1906," Smith said, showing us two separate trays of chipmunks that both looked amazingly alive. Using careful measurements and 3D imaging, the researchers made a striking discovery. "We found that across the time period that we looked at, the animals are getting larger," said Smith. "But their tooth row, the length of the molars in the jaw, is getting shorter." So: bigger bodies, smaller teeth. Why? In urban environments, chipmunks are increasingly feasting on human food scraps — pizza crusts, sandwiches and burgers — instead of hard nuts and seeds that require strong jaws. As for their growing body size? "If you find a Twinkie on the ground and you're this big and the Twinkie is this big, you're going to get a lot of calories out of that and you're going to be a big, powerful chipmunk," said Smith. "But is it good for you? That's the question." Probably not. Which is why Smith said we all need to consider the biological footprint we leave behind. "The warning this sends is people are having an effect on animals at a biological level. Just by our presence," said Smith. "Everything that people do has an effect on how these animals live because they live in the same environment we do." And if you're wondering — yes, it's happening to rats, too. A recent study showed rats in New York City are also growing larger, with smaller teeth.
Chicago Tribune
09-07-2025
- Science
- Chicago Tribune
Field Museum study shows human impact on chipmunks and voles in Chicago
Three stories above the Field Museum's exhibits, rows and rows of taxidermied chipmunks filled a tray in the museum's mammal archives. Pointing to two of the oldest critters, mammalogist Stephanie Smith picked up the pair of chipmunks off the tray, balancing them in the palm of her hand. 'The oldest ones we have are from 1891, and these were collected in Jackson Park over 100 years ago,' Smith said, pointing to the two chipmunks. 'You can see how good-looking they both look, and that's the beauty of this collection. We preserve this material to last, generation to generation.' In many ways, these well-preserved chipmunks mirror those that Chicagoans might see scurrying down alleyways or hopping around in parks today, with their distinctive white stripes and bushy tails. But according to a new study by Field Museum researchers, Chicago's modern-day rodents have evolved to look quite different from what they did just a century ago — mostly because of human development. Smith, along with assistant curator of mammals Anderson Feijó and two Field Museum interns, measured the skulls of nearly 400 rodent specimens — collected from the 1890s to modern day — to see how their skull structure had changed over time. The study, published June 26, focused on chipmunks and voles, aiming to compare the evolution of above- and below-ground species. They found that over time, Chicago chipmunks have overall gotten larger, but the row of teeth along the side of their jaw has gotten smaller. 'It's probably related to the food they're eating,' Feijó said. 'Chipmunks are much more interactive with humans and have access to different kinds of food we eat. So we hypothesize they are eating more soft food and because they require less bite force, which reflects in the tooth rows.' In vole samples, they found that the animals' size had stayed pretty consistent — but that the bumps in their skull that house the inner ear had shrunk. As Chicago grew over the past hundred years, the voles may have adapted to have smaller ears in order to protect them from the noisy city streets, Smith said. 'These two animals are small mammals, so people might sort of put them in the same category in their heads, right?' she said. 'But they're responding to this human alteration of the landscape in different ways. So preservation of natural populations of animals is not a one-size-fits-all thing … as the city changes, as we try and facilitate the longevity of green areas where these animals live, maybe we need to think about different solutions for different animals.' During the 20th century, Chicago was one of the fastest growing cities in the world, expanding from 516,000 residents in the 1910 census to 3.5 million residents by the 1950 census. With this rapid population growth also came rapid urbanization, as buildings, highways and transit grew more and more dense. While just 6% of land in the Chicago area was used for urban development in 1900, this grew to 34% by 1992, according to data compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. With fewer natural areas in the region, native rodents like chipmunks and voles have had to adapt to urban environments and find new sources of food and shelter. The Field Museum team used satellite imagery dating back to 1940 to determine how much of each rodent's habitat had been used for urban buildings at the time that they lived. 'These kinds of adaptations are happening across all different animals, different groups, different areas,' Feijo said. 'It's just a way that animals need to figure out how to survive these new conditions.' Similar trends have been documented in other major cities. A 2020 study of rats in New York City found that these East Coast rodents' teeth have also shrunk over time, similar to those of Chicago chipmunks. The Field Museum houses over 40 million mammal specimens in its archives, mostly collected in Chicago and the surrounding region, enabling scientists to track how different species have changed over time. The museum's exhibits represent less than 1% of its actual collections, according to museum communications manager Kate Golembiewski. In addition to manually measuring the chipmunks' and voles' skulls, researchers also created 3D scans of some of the specimens, which allowed them to more closely compare the differences between each specimens' bone structure. Moving forward, Smith and Feijo hope to use their data to find a stronger correlation between evolutionary change and urbanization. 'These animals, the fact that they are adapting and still relatively abundant shows that they are changing,' Smith said. 'But that doesn't mean that they're gonna be able to do that forever. So it's important to keep an ear to the ground, and try to understand what these guys are up to.'
Hospitality Net
06-07-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
Crafting a Hotel Marketing Budget: Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
At the HSMAI Commercial Strategy Conference on June 17, Stephanie Smith of Cogwheel tried to change mindsets about how backwards most hotel marketing budgets are created. There are 3 ways to create a hotel marketing budget: Too Little – Take last year's budget and add 10% Too Much – Take your top line forecast then budget 3-8% towards marketing Just Right – Follow the following steps to property justify a targeting hotel marketing budget Steps to Creating a Hotel Marketing Budget Without following this framework as a hotel commercial team, you will never be able to solve issues or reach team goals. Otherwise, we are left trying to stretch dollars across various tactics too thin. Define Gaps and Goals Determine a Strategy (as a team) Solve with Specific Tactics Allocate funds and budgets — Source: Cogwheel Marketing & Analytics Sample Hotel Commercial Scenarios and How to Solve with Hotel Digital Marketing Then, Stephanie walked through 6 different commercial strategy scenarios and how to plan against them for marketing. Each of these gaps or goals are generally sales or revenue problems that hotel marketers need to plan to help solve. In each scenario, we walk through the steps above to see how different strategies and budgets can solve various gaps or achieve specific goals. Scenario 1: Our market is heavily saturated with hotels of the same brand, we are not getting our fair share Scenario 2: Group PACE has dropped, so we are relying more on transient in specific quarters Scenario 3: Demand in the market has softened, everyone is fighting over the same business Scenario 4:We have a newly rebranded hotel, RAMP is slow, no one knows us as the new name. Scenario 5: It is the middle of the month, and we are not going to meet this month's budget. Scenario 6: Profit is low due to OTA commissions. To see the sample strategies, tactics and budgets used to solve against these scenarios, please review the entire deck presented at the conference: Download here Lastly, a chart of digital marketing KPIs, not just ROAS and cheat sheet to align the customer journey funnel and their aligned tactics, KPIs and costs. About Cogwheel Marketing Cogwheel Marketing™️ is a full service digital marketing agency specializing in branded hotels, first leveraging brand systems then coupling that with supplemental strategies to maximize total online presence. Their reporting and business intelligence tool, Cogwheel Analytics, aggregates data from multiple sources to allow companies to identify trends and opportunities in their online presence. Our defined processes ensure the best positioning for your hotel against the competitive set and against other hotels of the same brand. Let us work with your sales and revenue management teams to identify and close the gaps and target your ideal guests. View source
Time of India
27-06-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Bigger bodies, smaller teeth, and flatter skulls: Why Chicago's rats and rodents are evolving
A groundbreaking study from the Field Museum of Natural History has revealed that chipmunks and voles in the Chicago metro area have undergone significant physical changes over the past 125 years, driven by urbanization and climate change. Researchers Anderson Feijó and Stephanie Smith analyzed over a century's worth of rodent skulls to track how these animals are adapting to life in a sprawling city. The study found that eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) have grown larger in body size but developed shorter rows of teeth. Researchers attribute this to easy access to high-calorie, processed human food, which is softer and requires less chewing than their natural diet. The increase in size suggests chipmunks are consuming more food year-round due to human proximity. Voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus), on the other hand, didn't grow bigger, but their skulls changed more dramatically. They developed flatter skulls and smaller auditory bullae—bony structures in the skull linked to hearing. These adaptations are likely a response to the constant noise pollution in urban areas. Additionally, voles from densely urbanized regions showed less variation in skull shape, indicating a loss of morphological diversity. Using museum specimens collected before 1950 and after 1980, the researchers applied geometric morphometrics to analyze cranial changes. They discovered that while both species were affected by urbanization, their responses were distinct—highlighting the complexity of evolutionary pressure in human-dominated environments. 'Urbanization and climate change can have unexpected effects on organisms that share space with humans,' the study notes. 'Understanding these impacts helps us forecast how wildlife may cope with ongoing environmental change.' Live Events The findings emphasize the need for species-specific conservation strategies as cities continue to grow. The study, recently published in a peer-reviewed journal, also underscores the value of natural history collections in documenting long-term evolutionary trends.
