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Precipitation drives global variation in natural selection.
Adam M Siepielski1, Michael B Morrissey2, Mathieu Buoro3
1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA. amsiepie@uark.edu.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|March 4, 2017
Summary
Climate change impacts species
Area of Science:
- Ecology and evolutionary biology
- Climate change science
Background:
- Ecological effects of climate change are well-documented.
- Impacts on natural selection, a key evolutionary process, are largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how climate variation influences natural selection.
- To determine if climate change could alter evolutionary trajectories.
Main Methods:
- Analyzed climate data (precipitation, evapotranspiration, North Atlantic Oscillation, temperature).
- Assessed variation in natural selection across plant and animal populations in terrestrial biomes.
Main Results:
- Precipitation, evapotranspiration, and the North Atlantic Oscillation predicted selection variation.
- Temperature explained little variation in natural selection.
- Climate variation significantly influences selection across diverse populations.
Conclusions:
- Climate change can alter selection regimes globally.
- Widespread changes in natural selection may shift evolutionary trajectories.
- Non-temperature climate factors are key drivers of selection variation.
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