CLIMATE: ON THE EVOLUTIONARY RESPONSE TO RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE

ScienceWeek: "Over the past 40 years, species have been extending their ranges toward the poles and populations have been migrating, developing, or reproducing earlier in the spring than previously (1-4). These range expansions and changes in the timing of seasonal events have generally been attributed to 'phenotypic plasticity' -- that is, the ability of individuals to modify their behavior, morphology, or physiology in response to altered environmental conditions (5). But phenotypic plasticity is not the whole story: recent studies show that over the recent decades, climate change has led to heritable, genetic changes in populations of animals as diverse as birds, squirrels, and mosquitoes."