The Potential for Experimental Evolution to Uncover Trade-Offs Associated With Anthropogenic and Climate Change...

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Climate change adaptation
• Experimental evolution

Background:

• Environmental changes pose challenges to species survival and reproduction.
• Adaptation to stressors can incur costs, such as reduced tolerance to other environmental factors.
• Detecting these adaptive trade-offs in natural settings is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the role of trade-offs in evolutionary responses to climate change.
• To highlight the utility of experimental evolution in studying adaptive trade-offs.
• To advocate for the inclusion of trade-off measurements in future climate adaptation research.

Main Methods:

• Review of experimental evolution studies investigating adaptation to climate change.
• Analysis of correlated responses to selection during adaptation.
• Integration of genomic data to understand molecular underpinnings of trade-offs.

Main Results:

• Experimental evolution studies increasingly demonstrate trade-offs during adaptation to anthropogenic change.
• Tolerance and plasticity trade-offs are common outcomes of adaptation.
• Genomic sequencing aids in elucidating the molecular basis of observed phenotypic trade-offs.

Conclusions:

• Trade-offs are a significant factor in evolutionary adaptation to climate change.
• Experimental evolution is a powerful tool for uncovering these adaptive costs.
• Future research should prioritize quantifying trade-offs and their molecular mechanisms to better predict species' responses to global change.