Human evolution and human‐influenced evolution of organisms in changing environments

Human evolution and human‐influenced evolution of living organisms such as animals, plants, and microorganisms on our planet are among the most active and inspiring topics of scientific research. This is because the evolutionary processes influenced by humans can be detected within a quantifiable period of time, and the consequences of such evolutionary processes vary significantly in terms of their rates and diversification, compared to those under the conditions of no human influences (Hendry et al., 2008). For example, domesticated animals (e.g., chicken and pig) and plant species (e.g., rice and maize) have evolved relatively rapidly within the past 10 000 years, which has resulted in tremendous genetic diversity of these domesticates under human influences in different environments (Dorshorst et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2012; Rubin et al., 2012). However, the rapid evolution and changes in these organisms have had significant impacts on the environments that humans and these organisms inhabit. As a consequence, human‐influenced rapid evolution has created many more opportunities for scientists to closely explore and analyze the variation pattern of a particular group of organisms under various environmental conditions that might not vary at the same magnitude for organisms not being influenced by humans. Another issue is that the continued increase in human population and fast development of sciences and human‐invented technologies, such as biotechnology and nanotechnology, may challenge human’s lifestyles and health conditions, in addition to the dramatic change in environmental conditions through the influence of human activities. This issue of environmental impacts from human activities and human‐ influenced evolution is still largely debated worldwide (Western, 2001; Lu, 2008; Smith & Bernatchez, 2008). Research data collected from paleo‐anthropological, behavioral, and genetic analyses have provided useful information for revealing the evolutionary history of human beings, as well as other organisms. However, human origin and the driving forces that led to the evolution of modernman over the last twomillion years remain deeply puzzling. Being an undoubtedly dominant species on earth today, humans and human activities can be found at every corner of the globe. As mentioned earlier, there is no doubt that human activities have significant influences on the environments in which all organisms live and evolutionary processes take place. However, the courses and long‐ term consequences of human evolution and human‐ influenced evolution on the maintenance of biological diversity on our planet still remain poorly understood. This special issue aims at disseminating the latest results from interdisciplinary research on human evolution and human‐influenced evolution of organisms. We hope the collected studies will expand our understanding of the evolutionary bases of domestication, infectious diseases in humans, and invasive species, as well as the threats to biodiversity conservation caused by human‐mediated climate change, habitat fragmentation, and transgenic organisms. With those objectives, this special issue included one review article and eleven original research articles across a wide range of scientific disciplines. There are four research articles represented the newest findings related to human evolution. The article “Genetic affinity between the Kam‐Sui speaking Chadong and Mulam people” by Deng et al. (2013) introduced studies on the origins of a local language‐speaking minority group using single‐nucleotide polymorphisms and short‐ tandem repeats of Y chromosome and mitochondrial (mt)DNA variation. The results indicated the admixture origin of the indigenous group and the close relationships between Chadong and Mulam people. Similarly, Lu et al. (2013) presented genetic evidence for the multiple origins of Pinghua Chinese, with obvious northern and southern populations that were genetically divergent, even though the northern and southern Pinghua dialects are very similar. Based on the most prevalent Y chromosome haplogroup O3‐M122 that is ideal for studying dispersals of East Asian populations, Wang et al. (2013) revealed the geographical distribution and late Neolithic expansion of ancient Chinese people approximately 13 000 years ago. Again, using the Y chromosome and maternal mtDNA markers as Journal of Systematics and Evolution 51 (3): 241–244 (2013) doi: 10.1111/jse.12020