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Adaptation, extinction and global change.

Graham Bell1, Sinéad Collins2

  • 1Biology Department, McGill University Montréal, QC, Canada ; NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College London Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berks, UK.

Evolutionary Applications
|January 9, 2015
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Populations struggle to adapt to rapid environmental change and elevated carbon dioxide (CO2). Experimental evolution is crucial for predicting biological responses to global change, especially for preventing extinction.

Keywords:
CO2carbon cycleenvironmental variabilityevolutionary rescuerapid evolutionstressful environment

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Ecology
  • Environmental science

Background:

  • Environmental variability follows power laws, leading to fluctuating selection pressures in natural populations.
  • Adaptation to environmental change is influenced by the frequency and severity of stress, with severe stress risking extinction.
  • Natural populations often fail to adapt to anthropogenic stresses like pollution and acidification, leading to extinction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the natural pace of environmental change and adaptation.
  • To assess the likelihood of population adaptation to lethal environmental changes.
  • To understand adaptation to elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) as a driver of global change.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of environmental variability using power laws.
  • Examination of the effects of stress frequency and severity on population fitness.
  • Experimental evolution studies on algae adapting to elevated CO2.
  • Assessment of genetic variation and mutation rates for evolutionary rescue.

Main Results:

  • Environmental change follows power laws, creating strong, fluctuating selection.
  • Population adaptation to elevated CO2 in algae resulted in loss of their carbon-concentrating mechanism.
  • Elevated CO2 is predicted to alter phytoplankton community composition and reduce oceanic carbon pump efficiency.

Conclusions:

  • Experimental evolution is vital for predicting biological responses to global change.
  • Natural populations face challenges in adapting to anthropogenic stresses, increasing extinction risk.
  • Understanding adaptation mechanisms is critical for predicting the impact of rising CO2 on marine ecosystems.