Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Resurrection of Dormant Daphnia magna: Protocol and Applications
Published on: January 19, 2018
Climate relicts and their associated communities as natural ecology and evolution laboratories
Scott A Woolbright1, Thomas G Whitham2, Catherine A Gehring2
1The Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801, USA.
Abstract:
Climate relicts, marginal populations that have become isolated via climate-driven range shifts, preserve ecological and evolutionary histories that can span millennia. Studies point to climate relicts as 'natural laboratories' for investigating how long-term environmental change impacts species and populations. However, we propose that such research should be expanded to reveal how climate change affects 'interacting' species in ways that reshape community composition and evolution. Biotic interactions and their community and ecosystem effects are often genetically based and driven by associations with foundation species. We discuss evolution in climate relicts within the context of the emerging fields of community and ecosystem genetics, exploring the idea that foundation relicts are also natural community and ecosystem laboratories and windows to future landscapes.
More Related Videos
09:23JenaTron - An Experimental Approach to Study the Effects of Plant History and Soil History on Grassland Ecosystem Functioning
Published on: March 21, 2025
10:14Author Spotlight: Leaf Trait Analysis for Climate and Ecology Reconstruction in Modern and Ancient Plant Communities
Published on: October 25, 2024
Related Concept Videos
Global Climate Change
Microbes and Climate Change
Ecological Succession
Environmental Applications of Microorganisms
Ecological Niches
Evolution of New Traits in Microbes