Some smaller species of animals, such as squirrels and birds, are changing genetically in order to adapt to rapid climate change, scientists now believe. “Studies show that over the past several decades, rapid climate change has led to heritable, genetic changes in animal populations,” argues Christina Holzapfel, from the University of Oregon in Eugene in a paper in Science published today.
I wonder how long it might take to change the genetic code of some politicians to wake up to the dangers of climate change. Too long, I fear.
Many thanks for posting this. It’s not a huge surprise; animals with short breeding cycles and heavy selection pressure will show the changes more rapidly than those which breed, say, once a year or less and produce singles or twins, rathan litters. Even so, future humans — and I must assume there will be some — may well show genetic drift away from what we might think of as the norm today.