Surviving in a warmer world: environmental and genetic responses

There are numerous reports in the literature of advancing trends in phenophases of plants, insects and birds attributed to rising temperature resulting from human-driven climate warming. One mechanism that enables a population to respond rapidly to changes in the environment is termed phenotypic pla...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Climate research 2012-07, Vol.53 (3), p.245-262
Main Authors: Donnelly, A., Caffarra, A., Kelleher, C. T., O'Neill, B. F., Diskin, E., Pletsers, A., Proctor, H., Stirnemann, R., O'Halloran, J., Peñuelas, J., Hodkinson, T. R., Sparks, T. H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Birds
Climate change
Climate change adaptation
Evolution
Evolutionary genetics
Global warming
Phenology
Plants
Population dynamics
Population genetics
REVIEW
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:There are numerous reports in the literature of advancing trends in phenophases of plants, insects and birds attributed to rising temperature resulting from human-driven climate warming. One mechanism that enables a population to respond rapidly to changes in the environment is termed phenotypic plasticity. This plasticity grants a degree of flexibility to enable the timing of developmental stages to coincide with resource availability. If, however, environmental conditions exceed the plastic limits of an organism, evolutionary change may be necessary in order to ensure continued survival of their populations. We review evidence for phenotypic plasticity and genetic adaptation in phenological characteristics associated with climatic warming. We focus this review on examples from trees, insects and birds. We found many reports of direct observations of phenotypic plasticity but fewer studies providing conclusive evidence of genetic adaptation. Evidence for changes in genes linked with adaptive traits associated with a warming climate was stronger in insects, that have a relatively short life-cycle, than in longer-lived birds and trees. Further research is required to identify both appropriate long-term data sets for a range of species and traits and suitable analytical methods, which will permit the study of the complex interaction between phenotypic plasticity and genetic adaptation of organisms and their populations in response to climatic change.
ISSN:0936-577X
1616-1572
DOI:10.3354/cr01102