scholarly journals Snowshoe hares display limited phenotypic plasticity to mismatch in seasonal camouflage

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1782) ◽  
pp. 20140029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marketa Zimova ◽  
L. Scott Mills ◽  
Paul M. Lukacs ◽  
Michael S. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Coat Colour ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Snowshoe Hares ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Adaptive Solution ◽  
Snow Conditions ◽  
Study Sites

As duration of snow cover decreases owing to climate change, species undergoing seasonal colour moults can become colour mismatched with their background. The immediate adaptive solution to this mismatch is phenotypic plasticity, either in phenology of seasonal colour moults or in behaviours that reduce mismatch or its consequences. We observed nearly 200 snowshoe hares across a wide range of snow conditions and two study sites in Montana, USA, and found minimal plasticity in response to mismatch between coat colour and background. We found that moult phenology varied between study sites, likely due to differences in photoperiod and climate, but was largely fixed within study sites with only minimal plasticity to snow conditions during the spring white-to-brown moult. We also found no evidence that hares modify their behaviour in response to colour mismatch. Hiding and fleeing behaviours and resting spot preference of hares were more affected by variables related to season, site and concealment by vegetation, than by colour mismatch. We conclude that plasticity in moult phenology and behaviours in snowshoe hares is insufficient for adaptation to camouflage mismatch, suggesting that any future adaptation to climate change will require natural selection on moult phenology or behaviour.

Pre‐adaptation to climate change through topography‐driven phenotypic plasticity

2020 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 1465-1474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanne De Kort ◽  
Bart Panis ◽  
Kenny Helsen ◽  
Rolland Douzet ◽  
Steven B. Janssens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change

scholarly journals Snow-mediated plasticity does not prevent camouflage mismatch

Oecologia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 194 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-310
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Kumar ◽  
Marketa Zimova ◽  
James R. Sparks ◽  
L. Scott Mills
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Behavioral Plasticity ◽  
Coat Color ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Resting Sites ◽  
Snowshoe Hares ◽  
Early Snowmelt ◽  
Snow Cover Duration

Abstract Global reduction in snow cover duration is one of the most consistent and widespread climate change outcomes. Declining snow duration has severe negative consequences for diverse taxa including seasonally color molting species, which rely on snow for camouflage. However, phenotypic plasticity may facilitate adaptation to reduced snow duration. Plastic responses could occur in the color molt phenology or through behavior that minimizes coat color mismatch or its consequences. We quantified molt phenology of 200 wild snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), and measured microhabitat choice and local snow cover. Similar to other studies, we found that hares did not show behavioral plasticity to minimize coat color mismatch via background matching; instead they preferred colder, snow free areas regardless of their coat color. Furthermore, hares did not behaviorally mitigate the negative consequences of mismatch by choosing resting sites with denser vegetation cover when mismatched. Importantly, we demonstrated plasticity in the initiation and the rate of the molt and established the direct effect of snow on molt phenology; greater snow cover was associated with whiter hares and this association was not due to whiter hares preferring snowier areas. However, despite the observed snow-mediated plasticity in molt phenology, camouflage mismatch with white hares on brown snowless ground persisted and was more frequent during early snowmelt. Thus, we find no evidence that phenotypic plasticity in snowshoe hares is sufficient to facilitate adaptive rescue to camouflage mismatch under climate change.

Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations: New Challenges for the Wine Industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Ollat ◽  
Jean-Marc Touzard ◽  
Cornelis van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Wine Industry ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Wine Quality ◽  
Wine Production ◽  
Wine Making ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

AbstractClimate change will have a profound effect on vine growing worldwide. Wine quality will also be affected, which will raise economic issues. Possible adaptations may result from changes in plant material, viticultural techniques, and the wine-making process. Relocation of vineyards to cooler areas and increased irrigation are other options, but they may result in potential conflicts for land and water use. Grapes are currently grown in many regions around the world, and growers have adapted their practices to the wide range of climatic conditions that can be found among or inside these areas. This knowledge is precious for identifying potential adaptations to climate change. Because climate change affects all activities linked to wine production (grape growing, wine making, wine economics, and environmental issues), multidisciplinary research is needed to guide growers to continue to produce high-quality wines in an economical and environmentally sustainable way. An example of such an interdisciplinary study is the French LACCAVE (long-term adaptation to climate change in viticulture and enology) project, in which researchers from 23 institutes work together on all issues related to the impact of climate change on wine production. (JEL Classifications: Q1, Q5)

scholarly journals Ecosystem-Based Adaptation for the Impact of Climate Change and Variation in the Water Management Sector of Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Bhabishya Khaniya ◽  
Miyuru B. Gunathilake ◽  
Upaka Rathnayake
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Quality Of Water ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

The climate of Sri Lanka has been fluctuating at an alarming rate during the recent past. These changes are reported to have pronounced impacts on the livelihoods of the people in the country. Water is central to the sustainable functioning of ecosystems and wellbeing of mankind. It is evident that pronounced variations in the climate will negatively impact the availability and the quality of water resources. The ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) approach has proved to be an effective strategy to address the impact of climate change on water resources in many parts of the world. The key aim of this paper is to elaborate the wide range of benefits received through implementation of EbAs in field level, watershed scale, and urban and coastal environments in the context of Sri Lanka. In addition, this paper discusses the benefits of utilizing EbA solutions over grey infrastructure-based solutions to address the issues related to water management. The wide range of benefits received through implementation of EbAs can be broadly classified into three categories: water supply regulation, water quality regulation, and moderation of extreme events. This paper recommends the utilization of EbAs over grey infrastructure-based solutions in adaptation to climate change in the water management sector for the developing region due its cost effectiveness, ecofriendliness, and multiple benefits received on long-term scales. The findings of this study will unequivocally contribute to filling existing knowledge and research gaps in the context of EbAs to future climate change in Sri Lanka. The suggestions and opinions of this study can be taken into account by decision makers and water resources planning agencies for future planning of actions related to climate change adaptation in Sri Lanka.

scholarly journals Co-production: Learning from Contexts

2021 ◽  
pp. 37-56
Author(s):  
Katharine Vincent ◽  
Anna Steynor ◽  
Alice McClure ◽  
Emma Visman ◽  
Katinka Lund Waagsaether ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Systemic Risk ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Study Experience ◽  
In Trans

AbstractGiven that climate change is a complex, systemic risk, addressing it requires new knowledge. One way of generating such new knowledge is through co-production, or collaborative development by a range of stakeholders with diverse backgrounds embedded in trans-disciplinary processes. This chapter reflects on emerging experiences of co-producing decision-relevant climate information to enable climate-resilient planning and adaptation to climate change in Africa. It outlines principles that have emerged and evolved through experiential learning from a wide range of co-production processes in Africa. It also uses case study experience from various contexts to highlight some of the more contextual challenges to co-production such as trust, power and knowledge systems and institutional factors (mandates, roles and incentives) and illustrates ways that trans-disciplinary co-production has addressed these challenges to mainstream a response to the climate challenge.

scholarly journals Selection on phenotypic plasticity favors thermal canalization

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik I. Svensson ◽  
Miguel Gomez-Llano ◽  
John T. Waller
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Reaction Norm ◽  
Thermal Reaction ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
Thermal Plasticity ◽  
Natural And Sexual Selection

AbstractClimate change affects organisms worldwide with profound ecological and evolutionary consequences, often increasing population extinction risk. Climatic factors can increase the strength, variability or direction of natural selection on phenotypic traits, potentially driving adaptive evolution. Phenotypic plasticity in relation to temperature can allow organisms to maintain fitness in response to increasing temperatures, thereby “buying time” for subsequent genetic adaptation and promoting evolutionary rescue. Although many studies have shown that organisms respond plastically to increasing temperatures, it is unclear if such thermal plasticity is adaptive. Moreover, we know little about how natural and sexual selection operate on thermal reaction norms reflecting such plasticity. Here, we investigate how natural and sexual selection shape phenotypic plasticity in two congeneric and phenotypically similar sympatric insect species. We show that the thermal optima for longevity and mating success differ, suggesting temperature-dependent trade-offs between survival and reproduction. Males in these species have similar thermal reaction norm slopes but have diverged in baseline body temperature (intercepts), being higher for the more northern species. Natural selection favoured reduced thermal reaction norm slopes at high ambient temperatures, suggesting that the current level of thermal plasticity is maladaptive in the context of anthropogenic climate change and that selection now promotes thermal canalization and robustness. Our results show that ectothermic animals also at high latitudes can suffer from overheating and challenge the common view of phenotypic plasticity as being beneficial in harsh and novel environments.Significance StatementOrganisms are increasingly challenged by increasing temperatures due to climate change. In insects, body temperatures are strongly affected by ambient temperatures, and insects are therefore expected to suffer increasingly from heat stress, potentially reducing survival and reproductive success leading to elevated extinction risks. We investigated how ambient temperature affected fitness in two insect species in the temperate zone. Male and female survivorship benefitted more from low temperatures than did reproductive success, which increased with higher temperatures, revealing a thermal conflict between fitness components. Male body temperature plasticity reduced survival, and natural and sexual selection operated on such thermal plasticity. Our results reveal the negative consequences of thermal plasticity and show that these insects have limited ability to buffer heat stress.

Erfassung der adaptiven genetischen Variation der Eiche im Hinblick auf den Klimawandel | Assessment of adaptive genetic variation in oaks with relation to climate change

2010 ◽  
Vol 161 (6) ◽  
pp. 216-222
Author(s):  
Oliver Gailing
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
North America ◽  
Phenotypic Variation ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Genetic Adaptation ◽  
Adaptive Genetic Variation ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Traits ◽  
Wide Range

Climate change is projected to lead to a major reorganization of our forests. For example, higher annual mean temperatures, longer growth seasons and drier summers are predicted for many parts of central and southern Europe, and in North America. In order to understand the genetic adaptation to climate change we need a better understanding of the genetic regulation of key traits involved in tolerance of water and temperature stress. Oaks (Quercus spp.) are excellent model species to study the adaptation of forest trees to changing environments. They show a wide geographic distribution in Europe and in North America as dominant tree species in many forests growing under a wide range of climatic and edaphic conditions. With the availability of a growing amount of functional and expressional candidate genes we are now able to test the functional importance of genes by associating nucleotide variation in these genes with phenotypic variation in adaptive traits in segregating or natural populations. Studies trying to associate genetic variation with phenotypic variation in adaptive traits can be performed in full-sib families derived from controlled crosses (Quantitative Trait Loci [QTL] mapping) or in natural populations (association mapping). For several important adaptive traits QTL were mapped, the underlying genes have to be tested in natural populations. A future objective is to test whether genes that underlie phenotypic variation in adaptive traits are involved in local genetic adaptation and viability selection at the seedling stage, linked to reciprocal transplant experiments in order to assess the performance over climatic gradients.

Climate change effects upon massive land and housing development

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Jahangir Alam ◽  
Reaz Akter Mullick
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Housing Development ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Urban Flood ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Wide Range

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects on urban flood from rapidly growing land and housing development projects in flood zones and water bodies in and around Dhaka. The paper further extends the analysis to generate an insight into Dhaka’s urban flood due to possible climate change effects on top of land and housing development projects effects. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed method was applied for this research comprising qualitative techniques for analyzing the date gathered from reviewing the policies including the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan reports, interviews, discussions and maps, whereas quantitative analysis was used to interpret the data gathered from the global positioning system (GPS) survey and questionnaire survey among the resident of the selected housing projects. Findings – Findings show that a large number of the projects have encroached flood-flow zones and ditches and drainage channels through massive land filling, which resulted in quick changes of land use with wide range of impacts on environment and habitat quality. This study highlighted that the potential climate change impact involves increasing rainfall and subsequent increase flooding. Besides, vast area will be submerged under water and increased warming in the city from high speed built-up area by unauthorized land development. Originality/value – The results of the research can be taken into consideration when making political decisions concerning adaptation to climate change.

scholarly journals Tilapia Farming in Bangladesh: Adaptation to Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7657
Author(s):  
Mohammad Lutfar Rahman ◽  
Md Shahjahan ◽  
Nesar Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Temperature Fluctuation ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Positive Culture ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Salinity Change ◽  
Rainfall Variation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Culture Strategies

In Bangladesh, aquaculture is critically important in terms of providing food and nutrition, sustainable livelihoods, income, and export earnings. Nevertheless, aquaculture in Bangladesh has faced recent concerns due to climate change. Aquaculture is vulnerable to a combination of climatic factors, such as global warming, rainfall variation, flood, drought, temperature fluctuation, and salinity change. Considering the vulnerability of fish production to the impacts of climate change, tilapia farming is one of the possible strategies for adaptation to climate change. The positive culture attributes of tilapia are their tolerance to low water levels and poor water quality with rainfall variation, temperature fluctuation, and salinity change. In fact, tilapia farming is possible in a wide range of water environments, including freshwater, brackish water, and saltwater conditions. We suggest that appropriate tilapia culture strategies with institutional support and collaboration with key stakeholders are needed for adaptation to environmental change.

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