Researchers sampled wing biopsies of bats from the Mediterranean Basin and combined predictive modeling, population genomics, and spatial ecology to determine the effects of climate change on biodiversity and adaption, and predicted that bats with genotypes adapted to hot-dry climates are likely to retain most of their range and survive climate change, whereas bats with genotypes adapted to cold-wet climates are likely to lose most of their range; failure to account for adaptive genetic variation may result in overestimation of extinction risk from climate change, and though adaptation to climate change is possible, it is based on a species' maximum thermal tolerance and increased gene flow from hot-dry adapted populations.
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Article #18-20663: "Considering adaptive genetic variation in climate change vulnerability assessment reduces species range loss projections," by Orly Razgour.
MEDIA CONTACT: Orly Razgour, University of Southampton, UNITED KINGDOM; tel: +44-7545069928; email: < Orly.Razgour@soton.ac.uk >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences