As species across the world adjust where they live in response to climate change, they will come into competition with other species that could hamper their ability to keep up with the pace of this change, according to new CU Boulder-led research.
As species across the world adjust where they live in response to climate change, they will come into competition with other species that could hamper their ability to keep up with the pace of this change, according to new CU Boulder-led research.
The new findings, published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confirms previous models showing that competition between species slows their expansion into new territories over multiple generations.
“The experiment shows how interspecies competition can put certain species at greater risk of extinction,” said Geoffrey Legault, lead author of the study, who conducted the research while earning his doctoral degree in ecology and evolutionary biology at CU Boulder. “It has enabled us to improve the ecological models, and that helps us to make better predictions about nature.”
Read more at: University of Colorado Boulder
Flour beetles and their reflections explore and feed on flour within a controlled laboratory environment. (Photo Credit: Brett Melbourne)
