Environmental News Network - CSU Biologists Document Genome-Level Climate Adaptation in Endangered Bird Species

Details: By Colorado State University; 21.Jun

As the climate changes, living things must adapt to new environmental conditions in one of two ways – either geographically or genetically. While it’s relatively simple for scientists to track and record a species’ geographic movements, proving their genetic adaptation over time can be much more difficult.

Mohammad Munshed

As the climate changes, living things must adapt to new environmental conditions in one of two ways – either geographically or genetically. While it’s relatively simple for scientists to track and record a species’ geographic movements, proving their genetic adaptation over time can be much more difficult.

A new study led by Colorado State University researchers in Nature Climate Change is one of the first to document climate adaptation at the genomic level in a wild population. Specifically, the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher – an endangered migratory bird – has shown an increase in genetic variation associated with tolerance to wetter and more humid environmental conditions.

Sheela Turbek, a postdoctoral researcher in CSU’s Department of Biology, led this study that sequenced the genomes of the Willow Flycatcher over a 100-plus year period, comparing DNA from museum specimens from the late 1800s to modern samples taken today.

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CSU Biologists Document Genome-Level Climate Adaptation in Endangered Bird Species