Climate change is exacerbating problems like habitat loss and temperatures swings that have already pushed many animal species to the brink.
Climate change is exacerbating problems like habitat loss and temperatures swings that have already pushed many animal species to the brink. But can scientists predict which animals will be able to adapt and survive? Using genome sequencing, researchers from McGill University show that some fish, like the threespine stickleback, can adapt very rapidly to extreme seasonal changes. Their findings could help scientists forecast the evolutionary future of these populations.
A popular subject of study among evolutionary ecologists, stickleback are known for their different shapes, sizes, and behaviours – they can even live in both seawater and freshwater, and under a wide range of temperatures. But what makes this species so resilient?
Identifying the genetic basis of adaptations, for example, to freshwater or in response to climate change, can be challenging. “The modern version of Darwin's idea of evolution by natural selection posits that organisms with genes that favour survival and reproduction will tend to leave more offspring than their peers, causing the genes to increase in frequency over generations. As a result, populations become adapted or better-suited to their environments over time,” says lead author Alan Garcia-Elfring, a Doctoral Candidate under the supervision of Rowan Barrett, the Canada Research Chair of Biodiversity Science at McGill University.
Read more at: McGill University
Threespine stickleback fish (Photo Credit: Rowan Barrett)
