scholarly journals Climate change shifts natural selection and the adaptive potential of the perennial forb Boechera stricta in the Rocky Mountains

Evolution ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 2247-2262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan B. Bemmels ◽  
Jill T. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Adaptive Potential ◽  
Boechera Stricta

scholarly journals Evaluating within-population variability in behavior and demography for the adaptive potential of a dispersal-limited species to climate change

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (24) ◽  
pp. 8740-8755 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Muñoz ◽  
Kyle Miller Hesed ◽  
Evan H. Campbell Grant ◽  
David A. W. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Population Variability ◽  
Adaptive Potential

Neurobiology of phenotypic plasticity in the light of climate change

Neuroforum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda C. Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Chemical Information ◽  
Adaptive Potential ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
Neuronal Signalling ◽  
Physiological Adaptations ◽  
Signalling Cascade

Abstract Phenotypic plasticity describes the ability of an organism with a given genotype to respond to changing environmental conditions through the adaptation of the phenotype. Phenotypic plasticity is a widespread means of adaptation, allowing organisms to optimize fitness levels in changing environments. A core prerequisite for adaptive predictive plasticity is the existence of reliable cues, i.e. accurate environmental information about future selection on the expressed plastic phenotype. Furthermore, organisms need the capacity to detect and interpret such cues, relying on specific sensory signalling and neuronal cascades. Subsequent neurohormonal changes lead to the transformation of phenotype A into phenotype B. Each of these activities is critical for survival. Consequently, anything that could impair an animal’s ability to perceive important chemical information could have significant ecological ramifications. Climate change and other human stressors can act on individual or all of the components of this signalling cascade. In consequence, organisms could lose their adaptive potential, or in the worst case, even become maladapted. Therefore, it is key to understand the sensory systems, the neurobiology and the physiological adaptations that mediate organisms’ interactions with their environment. It is, thus, pivotal to predict the ecosystem-wide effects of global human forcing. This review summarizes current insights on how climate change affects phenotypic plasticity, focussing on how associated stressors change the signalling agents, the sensory systems, receptor responses and neuronal signalling cascades, thereby, impairing phenotypic adaptations.

scholarly journals Birds facing climate change: a qualitative model for the adaptive potential of migratory behaviour

2015 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelangelo Morganti
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Qualitative Model ◽  
Migratory Behaviour ◽  
Adaptive Potential ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Genetic Determination ◽  
Recent Climate

Recent climate change is altering the migratory behaviour of many bird species. An advancement in the timing of spring events and a shift in the geographical distribution have been detected for birds around the world. In particular, intra-Palearctic migratory birds have advanced arrivals in spring and shortened migratory distances by shifting northward their wintering grounds. These changes in migratory patterns are considered adaptive responses facilitating the adjustment of the life cycle to the phenological changes found in their breeding areas. However, in some cases, populations exposed to the same selective pressures do not show any appreciable adaptive change in their behaviour. Basing on the comparison of realized and non-realized adaptive changes, I propose here the formulation of a qualitative model that predicts the potential of migratory birds populations to change adaptively their migratory behaviour. The model assumes that the adaptive potential of migratory behaviour is fuelled by both genetic diversity and phenotypic plasticity. Populations of long-distance migrants are exposed to strong environmental canalization that largely eroded their phenotypic plasticity and reduced genetic variability, so that they show a very low amount of adaptive potential regarding migratory behaviour. On the contrary, partial-migrant populations have a highly varied genetic profile and are more plastic at the phenotypic level, and consequently show the highest amount of adaptive potential. Species with mainly social and mainly genetic determination of the migratory behaviour are separately treated in the model. Specific empirical models to foresee the adaptive strategies of wild bird populations that face to climate change can be derived from the general theoretical model. As example, a specific model about the shortening of migratory distances in Western European migratory bird is presented. Finally, a number of future research lines on the topic of adaptive potential of migratory behaviour are discussed, including some examples of concrete study cases. In conclusion, partial-migration emerge as the less known system and future research efforts on this topic are expected to be especially fruitful.

scholarly journals Alpine limnology of the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the USA in the context of environmental change

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura E. Redmond
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Ultra Violet ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Monitoring Methods ◽  
Freshwater Biodiversity ◽  
Nutrient Deposition ◽  
Alpine Regions ◽  
The Usa

The cumulative impacts of multiple environmental and anthropogenic stressors on freshwater biodiversity have been studied in systems across the globe. The magnitude of multiple interdependent stressors on alpine systems may lead to increased primary productivity and jeopardize these unique communities. In this review, the consequences of individual stressors on alpine lake and pond ecology are synthesized, as well as the cumulative and potentially synergistic or antagonistic effects of multiple stressors. Beside temperature variability, other stressors reviewed include ultra violet (UV) radiation, organic pollutants, nutrient deposition, and biological invasions. Each stressor was evaluated individually and in combination with increasing water temperatures. In alpine environments, climatic warming is anticipated to increase with elevation, therefore amplifying the effects of temperature-related responses. The purpose of this review is to highlight the ecological effects of climate change on alpine lakes and ponds in the Rocky Mountains of North America and fill knowledge gaps between disciplines of aquatic studies. This work underscores that to better understand and face the overall effects of climate change on alpine biota, investigations must continue to assess the compounded impacts of multiple stressors. Emphasis must be put on the standardization of monitoring methods across alpine regions to aid in consistent trend and prediction analysis within the context of both current and future climate change.

Amazing Glacier Stuff

Glaciers ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Daniel Taillant
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Central Andes ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Outburst Floods ◽  
The World ◽  
Industrial Use ◽  
Mitigating Circumstances ◽  
Story Building ◽  
At Home

This chapter is about what glaciers—and particularly what glacial and periglacial melt—mean to people and communities around the world. We often don’t realize that people interact daily with glaciers. Some go to visit and hike on glaciers or to photograph them for their magnificent beauty. Some ski on glaciers. Others extract water from glaciers for personal and industrial use. Others fear glaciers for their potent fury and destruction. People and communities are adapting to climate change and its impacts on glaciers, sometimes without even knowing it. Others are very aware of glacier vulnerability and are taking measures to address the changing cryosphere. They are mitigating circumstances and are adapting to impacts. In this chapter, we share stories and facts about glaciers and periglacial environments, which most people are probably unfamiliar with, and we explain how lives in these environments are changing due to climate change. Few people have heard of glacier tsunamis, but they exist, they’re real, they’re ferocious, and they can kill. Scientists call them glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs). And as climate change deepens, more and more GLOF phenomena can be expected. Imagine you live at the foot of a mountain range like the Rocky Mountains, the Himalayas, or the Central Andes. On a nice sunny day, you can see the snow-capped mountains in the distance, maybe 20 or 30 km (12–18 mi) out, maybe even more. You are sitting at home when all of a sudden you feel shaking and hear a rumble. People start screaming. You look out the window and see people running frantically and erratically about. Then a woman yells, “The mountain! It’s coming! Run!” Imagine a large glacier the size of a dozen or so city blocks, perched atop a mountain. It’s 180 meters thick (600 ft), which is as tall as a sixty-story building. Below it, time and climate have formed a lake, a glacier lake occupying the same spot where the glacier once rested, pushing rock and earth out and forward as the glacier flowed downhill when it was solidly frozen and healthy.

scholarly journals The nature of nurture in a wild mammal's fitness

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1806) ◽  
pp. 20142422 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Eryn McFarlane ◽  
Jamieson C. Gorrell ◽  
David W. Coltman ◽  
Murray M. Humphries ◽  
Stan Boutin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Adaptive Evolution ◽  
Genetic Effects ◽  
Adaptive Potential ◽  
Red Squirrels ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Face ◽  
North American Red Squirrels

Genetic variation in fitness is required for the adaptive evolution of any trait but natural selection is thought to erode genetic variance in fitness. This paradox has motivated the search for mechanisms that might maintain a population's adaptive potential. Mothers make many contributions to the attributes of their developing offspring and these maternal effects can influence responses to natural selection if maternal effects are themselves heritable. Maternal genetic effects (MGEs) on fitness might, therefore, represent an underappreciated source of adaptive potential in wild populations. Here we used two decades of data from a pedigreed wild population of North American red squirrels to show that MGEs on offspring fitness increased the population's evolvability by over two orders of magnitude relative to expectations from direct genetic effects alone. MGEs are predicted to maintain more variation than direct genetic effects in the face of selection, but we also found evidence of maternal effect trade-offs. Mothers that raised high-fitness offspring in one environment raised low-fitness offspring in another environment. Such a fitness trade-off is expected to maintain maternal genetic variation in fitness, which provided additional capacity for adaptive evolution beyond that provided by direct genetic effects on fitness.

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