Precipitation drives global variation in natural selection
Author(s)
Siepielski, AM
Morrissey, MB
Buoro, M
Carlson, SM
Caruso, CM
Clegg, SM
Coulson, T
DiBattista, J
Gotanda, KM
Francis, CD
Hereford, J
Kingsolver, JG
Augustine, KE
Kruuk, LEB
Martin, RA
Sheldon, BC
Sletvold, N
Svensson, EI
Wade, MJ
MacColl, ADC
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2017
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Climate change has the potential to affect the ecology and evolution of every species on Earth. Although the ecological consequences of climate change are increasingly well documented, the effects of climate on the key evolutionary process driving adaptation—natural selection—are largely unknown. We report that aspects of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, along with the North Atlantic Oscillation, predicted variation in selection across plant and animal populations throughout many terrestrial biomes, whereas temperature explained little variation. By showing that selection was influenced by climate variation, ...
View more >Climate change has the potential to affect the ecology and evolution of every species on Earth. Although the ecological consequences of climate change are increasingly well documented, the effects of climate on the key evolutionary process driving adaptation—natural selection—are largely unknown. We report that aspects of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, along with the North Atlantic Oscillation, predicted variation in selection across plant and animal populations throughout many terrestrial biomes, whereas temperature explained little variation. By showing that selection was influenced by climate variation, our results indicate that climate change may cause widespread alterations in selection regimes, potentially shifting evolutionary trajectories at a global scale.
View less >
View more >Climate change has the potential to affect the ecology and evolution of every species on Earth. Although the ecological consequences of climate change are increasingly well documented, the effects of climate on the key evolutionary process driving adaptation—natural selection—are largely unknown. We report that aspects of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, along with the North Atlantic Oscillation, predicted variation in selection across plant and animal populations throughout many terrestrial biomes, whereas temperature explained little variation. By showing that selection was influenced by climate variation, our results indicate that climate change may cause widespread alterations in selection regimes, potentially shifting evolutionary trajectories at a global scale.
View less >
Journal Title
Science
Volume
355
Issue
6328
Subject
Other environmental sciences not elsewhere classified