Shane Campbell-Staton | Harvard Horizons Symposium

TL;DR

Extreme weather events due to climate change are affecting the survival and evolution of species, as seen through the study of lizards' response to the polar vortex in the southern United States.

Transcript

our climate is changing and at an unprecedented rate extreme weather events are occurring more often and with greater intensity as evolutionary biologists we're trying to understand how these changes in climate will affect the biological processes that are important for the survival of life on our planet here in mid-latitudes we've experienced an i... Read More

Key Insights

• 🥺 Climate change is leading to more frequent and intense winter storms in mid-latitudes.
• 🥶 Lizards' ability to tolerate cold temperatures can evolve rapidly in response to extreme climate events.
• 🧑‍🏭 The study shows that natural selection can act quickly in response to changing environmental conditions.
• 💱 Understanding the impact of extreme climatic events on species' survival and evolution is crucial for predicting their response to future climate change.
• 🖐️ Lizards in southern sites were more affected by the polar vortex event, suggesting that local adaptation plays a role in their response to extreme weather.
• 🦎 The rapid evolutionary response observed in lizards implies that other species may also be able to adapt quickly to extreme climate events.
• 🔨 Climate modeling and experimental physiology are valuable tools for studying the effects of climate change on species.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does climate change affect extreme weather events and their frequency and intensity?

Climate change leads to fluctuations in the polar vortex, causing more frequent and intense winter storms in mid-latitudes.

Q: Why are lizards a good system for studying the relationship between thermal environment and survival?

Lizards are ectotherms and cannot produce their own body heat, making them sensitive to variations in the thermal environment, which allows researchers to understand how they adapt to different temperatures.

Q: What was observed in the study of green anole lizards after the polar vortex event?

The survivors of the polar vortex event were able to tolerate significantly colder temperatures than before, and this cold tolerance was inherited by the subsequent generation.

Q: How did the study demonstrate a rapid evolutionary response to extreme climate events?

The researchers found that lizards in southern sites, which were less cold-tolerant, showed a significant shift in cold tolerance after the polar vortex event, demonstrating rapid evolutionary response within a single generation.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Climate change is causing more frequent and intense winter storms in mid-latitudes, disrupting survival patterns for species.

• A study of green anole lizards in Texas showed that their ability to tolerate colder temperatures increased after a polar vortex event.

• The evolutionary response to extreme climate events can occur within a single generation, indicating the potential for species to adapt quickly to changing environments.