How can Scientists Measure Evolutionary Responses to Climate Change?
As global temperatures continue to rise scientists are presented with the complex challenge of understanding how species respond and adapt. In a paper published in Insect Conservation and Diversity, Dr Francisco Rodriguez-Trelles and Dr Miguel Rodriguez assess this challenge. Twentieth-Century global warming of approximately 0.6?C has already affected the Earth’s biota and now the major challenge facing ecologists and evolutionary biologists is to predict how biological impacts of climate change will unfold in response to further projected temperature increases of up to 6?C by 2100. “This relatively mild level of thermal increase has already caused shifts in species ranges, especially at higher latitudes and towards the poles,” said Rodriguez-Trelles. “Understanding biological responses to global climate warming can be dauntingly complex, but primarily it requires careful quantification of the rates of temporal change,” Assessing the trajectory of biological processes under global warm
