Urbanisation drives parallel genomic divergence across cities and bumble bee species.

Across nine Central European urban–rural pairs, whole-genome analyses of 524 bumble bees show parallel, replicated genomic divergence linked to urban environments in each of three species.

• Why it matters: It is unclear whether evolutionary responses to cities are idiosyncratic or whether similar selective pressures repeatedly produce predictable genomic outcomes across cities and species.
• What they did: The study analyzed whole-genome data from 524 individuals of three widespread bumble bee species sampled across nine independent urban–rural pairs in Central Europe, using genome-environment association and selective sweep scans.
• The result: Genome-environment association analyses revealed parallel allele-frequency shifts at the same loci across independent cities for each species, and sweep scans detected repeated positive-selection signals in urban populations, with divergence largely polygenic and enriched in non-coding regulatory regions.