Causes of maladaptation

Evolution in fossil time series reconciles observations in micro- and macroevolution

Extrapolating microevolutionary models does not always provide satisfactory explanations for phenotypic diversification on million-year time scales. For example, short-term evolutionary change is often modelled assuming a fixed adaptive landscape, but macroevolutionary changes are likely to involve changes in the adaptive landscape itself. A better understanding of how the adaptive landscape changes across different time intervals and how these changes cause populations to evolve has the potential to narrow the gap between micro- and macroevolution. Here, we analyze two fossil diatom time series of exceptional quality and resolution covering time intervals of a few hundred thousand years using models that account for different behaviours of the adaptive landscape. We find that one of the lineages evolves on a randomly and continuously changing landscape, whereas the other lineage evolves on a landscape that shows a rapid shift in the position of the adaptive peak of a magnitude that is typically associated with species-level differentiation. This suggests phenotypic evolution beyond generational timescales may be a consequence of both gradual and sudden repositioning of adaptive peaks. Both lineages show rapid and erratic evolutionary change and are constantly readapting towards the optimal trait state, observations that align with evolutionary dynamics commonly observed in contemporary populations. The inferred trait evolution over a span of a few hundred thousand years in these two lineages is, therefore, chimeric in the sense that it combines components of trait evolution typically observed on both short and long timescales.

Genomic Vulnerability to Climate Change of an Australian Migratory Freshwater Fish, the Golden Perch (Macquaria ambigua)

Genomic vulnerability is a measure of how much evolutionary change is required for a population to maintain optimal genotype-environment associations under projected climates. Aquatic species, and in particular migratory ectotherms, are largely underrepresented in studies of genomic vulnerability. Such species might be well equipped for tracking suitable habitat and spreading diversity that could promote adaptation to future climates. We characterised range-wide genomic diversity and genomic vulnerability in the migratory and fisheries-important golden perch (Macquaria ambigua) from Australia's expansive Murray-Darling Basin (MDB). The MDB has a steep hydroclimatic gradient and is one of the world's most variable regions in terms of climate and streamflow. Golden perch are threatened by fragmentation and obstruction of waterways, alteration of flow regimes, and a progressively hotter and drying climate. We gathered a genomic dataset of 1049 individuals from 186 MDB localities. Despite high range-wide gene flow, golden perch in the warmer, northern catchments had higher predicted vulnerability than those in the cooler, southern catchments. A new cross-validation approach showed that these predictions were insensitive to the exclusion of individual catchments. The results raise concern for populations at warm range edges, which may already be close to their thermal limits. However, a population with functional variants beneficial for climate adaptation found in the most arid and hydrologically variable catchment was predicted to be less vulnerable. Native fish management plans, such as captive breeding and stocking, should consider spatial variation in genomic vulnerability to improve conservation outcomes under climate change, even for dispersive species with high connectivity.

Patterns of genetic variation and local adaptation of a native herbivore to a lethal invasive plant

Understanding the evolutionary processes that influence fitness is critical to predicting species' responses to selection. Interactions among evolutionary processes including gene flow, drift and the strength of selection can lead to either local adaptation or maladaptation, especially in heterogenous landscapes. Populations experiencing novel environments or resources are ideal for understanding the mechanisms underlying adaptation or maladaptation, specifically in locally co-evolved interactions. We used the interaction between a native herbivore that oviposits on a patchily distributed introduced plant that in turn causes significant mortality to the larvae to test for signatures of local adaptation in areas where the two co-occurred. We used whole-genome sequencing to explore population structure, patterns of gene flow and signatures of local adaptation. We found signatures of local adaptation in response to the introduced plant in the absence of strong population structure with no genetic differentiation and low genetic variation. Additionally, we found localized allele frequency differences within a single population between habitats with and without the lethal plant, highlighting the effects of strong selection. Finally, we identified that selection was acting on larval ability to feed on the plant rather than on females' ability to avoid oviposition, thus uncovering the specific ontogenetic target of selection. Our work highlights the potential for adaptation to occur in a fine-grained landscape in the presence of gene flow and low genetic variation.

Pan-Evo: The Evolution of Information and Biology's Part in This

Many people wonder whether biology, including humans, will benefit or experience harm from new developments in information such as artificial intelligence (AI). Here, it is proposed that biological and non-biological information might be components of a unified process, 'Panevolution' or 'Pan-Evo', based on four basic operations-innovation, transmission, adaptation, and movement. Pan-Evo contains many types of variable objects, from molecules to ecosystems. Biological innovation includes mutations and behavioural changes; non-biological innovation includes naturally occurring physical innovations and innovation in software. Replication is commonplace in and outside biology, including autocatalytic chemicals and autonomous software replication. Adaptation includes biological selection, autocatalytic chemicals, and 'evolutionary programming', which is used in AI. The extension of biological speciation to non-biological information creates a concept called 'Panspeciation'. Panevolution might benefit or harm biology, but the harm might be minimal if AI and humans behave intelligently because humans and the machines in which an AI resides might split into vastly different environments that suit them. That is a possible example of Panspeciation and would be the first speciation event involving humans for thousands of years. This event will not be particularly hostile to humans if humans learn to evaluate information and cooperate better to minimise both human stupidity and artificial simulated stupidity (ASS-a failure of AI).

Conserving Evolutionary Potential: Combining Landscape Genomics with Established Methods to Inform Plant Conservation

Biodiversity conservation requires conserving evolutionary potential-the capacity for wild populations to adapt. Understanding genetic diversity and evolutionary dynamics is critical for informing conservation decisions that enhance adaptability and persistence under environmental change. We review how emerging landscape genomic methods provide plant conservation programs with insights into evolutionary dynamics, including local adaptation and its environmental drivers. Landscape genomic approaches that explore relationships between genomic variation and environments complement rather than replace established population genomic and common garden approaches for assessing adaptive phenotypic variation, population structure, gene flow, and demography. Collectively, these approaches inform conservation actions, including genetic rescue, maladaptation prediction, and assisted gene flow. The greatest on-the-ground impacts from such studies will be realized when conservation practitioners are actively engaged in research and monitoring. Understanding the evolutionary dynamics shaping the genetic diversity of wild plant populations will inform plant conservation decisions that enhance the adaptability and persistence of species in an uncertain future.

Population origin and heritable effects mediate road salt toxicity and thermal stress in an amphibian

Human impacts on wild populations are numerous and extensive, degrading habitats and causing population declines across taxa. Though these impacts are often studied individually, wild populations typically face suites of stressors acting concomitantly, compromising the fitness of individuals and populations in ways poorly understood and not easily predicted by the effects of any single stressor. Developing understanding of the effects of multiple stressors and their potential interactions remains a critical challenge in environmental biology. Here, we focus on assessing the impacts of two prominent stressors associated with anthropogenic activities that affect many organisms across the planet - elevated salinity (e.g., from road de-icing salt) and temperature (e.g. from climate change). We examined a suite of physiological traits and components of fitness across populations of wood frogs originating from ponds that differ in their proximity to roads and thus their legacy of exposure to pollution from road salt. When experimentally exposed to road salt, wood frogs showed reduced survival (especially those from ponds adjacent to roads), divergent developmental rates, and reduced longevity. Family-level effects mediated these outcomes, but high salinity generally eroded family-level variance. When combined, exposure to both temperature and salt resulted in very low survival, and this effect was strongest in roadside populations. Taken together, these results suggest that temperature is an important stressor capable of exacerbating impacts from a prominent contaminant confronting many freshwater organisms in salinized habitats. More broadly, it appears likely that toxicity might often be underestimated in the absence of multi-stressor approaches.

Multigenerational Fitness Effects of Natural Immigration Indicate Strong Heterosis and Epistatic Breakdown in a Wild Bird Population

AbstractThe fitness of immigrants and their descendants produced within recipient populations fundamentally underpins the genetic and population dynamic consequences of immigration. Immigrants can in principle induce contrasting genetic effects on fitness across generations, reflecting multifaceted additive, dominance, and epistatic effects. Yet full multigenerational and sex-specific fitness effects of regular immigration have not been quantified within naturally structured systems, precluding inference on underlying genetic architectures and population outcomes. We used four decades of song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) life history and pedigree data to quantify fitness of natural immigrants, natives, and their F1, F2, and backcross descendants and test for evidence of nonadditive genetic effects. Values of key fitness components (including adult lifetime reproductive success and zygote survival) of F1 offspring of immigrant-native matings substantially exceeded their parent mean, indicating strong heterosis. Meanwhile, F2 offspring of F1-F1 matings had notably low values, indicating surprisingly strong epistatic breakdown. Furthermore, magnitudes of effects varied among fitness components and differed between female and male descendants. These results demonstrate that strong nonadditive genetic effects on fitness can arise within weakly structured and fragmented populations experiencing frequent natural immigration. Such effects will substantially affect the net degree of effective gene flow and resulting local genetic introgression and adaptation.

Health-promoting effect for students from physical loads of speed and strength orientation

OBJECTIVE

Aim: To investigate the impact of speed and strength physical loads on promoting health and reducing the biological age of student youth.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Materials and Methods: The research involved 180 students aged 18-19. The first stage provided for the study of the indicators of the biological age of 120 students, and the second stage covered substantiation of the methodology for martial arts training sessions, based on physical loads of speed and strength orientation. To test its effectiveness, 60 students were involved (30 were in the experimental group (EG), 30 - in the control group (CG)).

RESULTS

Results: The methodology for martial arts training sessions was developed and tested. In the dynamics of the experiment, there is a tendency to a decrease in the difference between the biological and the passport age, but these changes were unreliable in the CG, while a statistically significant decrease in this difference was recorded in the EG. In addition, there were significant changes in the EG in the following indicators: inspiratory breath holding (11.6 %), subjective health assessment (38.5 %), and static balancing (20.0 %).

CONCLUSION

Conclusions: The use of physical loads of speed and strength orientation in the course of martial arts training has established a health-promoting effect and positive dynamics of the biological age indicators of student youth. The results of the research can be implemented in physical education and the process of sports improvement of students in higher educational institutions.

Spatial sorting promotes rapid (mal)adaptation in the red-shouldered soapberry bug after hurricane-driven local extinctions

Predicting future evolutionary change is a critical challenge in the Anthropocene as geographic range shifts and local extinction emerge as hallmarks of planetary change. Hence, spatial sorting-a driver of rapid evolution in which dispersal-associated traits accumulate along expanding range edges and within recolonized habitats-might be of growing importance in ecology and conservation. We report on the results of a natural experiment that monitored recolonization of host plants by the seed-feeding, red-shouldered soapberry bug, Jadera haematoloma, after local extinctions from catastrophic flooding in an extreme hurricane. We tested the contribution of spatial sorting to generate rapid and persistent evolution in dispersal traits, as well as in feeding traits unrelated to dispersal. Long-winged dispersal forms accumulated in recolonized habitats and due to genetic correlation, mouthparts also became longer and this shift persisted across generations. Those longer mouthparts were probably adaptive on one host plant species but maladaptive on two others based on matching the optimum depth of seeds within their host fruits. Moreover, spatial sorting eroded recently evolved adaptive divergence in mouthpart length among all host-associated biotypes, an outcome pointing to profound practical consequences of the extreme weather event for local adaptation, population resilience and evolutionary futures.

The duplication of genomes and genetic networks and its potential for evolutionary adaptation and survival during environmental turmoil

The importance of whole-genome duplication (WGD) for evolution is controversial. Whereas some view WGD mainly as detrimental and an evolutionary dead end, there is growing evidence that polyploidization can help overcome environmental change, stressful conditions, or periods of extinction. However, despite much research, the mechanistic underpinnings of why and how polyploids might be able to outcompete or outlive nonpolyploids at times of environmental upheaval remain elusive, especially for autopolyploids, in which heterosis effects are limited. On the longer term, WGD might increase both mutational and environmental robustness due to redundancy and increased genetic variation, but on the short-or even immediate-term, selective advantages of WGDs are harder to explain. Here, by duplicating artificially generated Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs), we show that duplicated GRNs-and thus duplicated genomes-show higher signal output variation than nonduplicated GRNs. This increased variation leads to niche expansion and can provide polyploid populations with substantial advantages to survive environmental turmoil. In contrast, under stable environments, GRNs might be maladaptive to changes, a phenomenon that is exacerbated in duplicated GRNs. We believe that these results provide insights into how genome duplication and (auto)polyploidy might help organisms to adapt quickly to novel conditions and to survive ecological uproar or even cataclysmic events.

Marine heatwaves threaten cryptic coral diversity and erode associations among coevolving partners

Climate change-amplified marine heatwaves can drive extensive mortality in foundation species. However, a paucity of longitudinal genomic datasets has impeded understanding of how these rapid selection events alter cryptic genetic structure. Heatwave impacts may be exacerbated in species that engage in obligate symbioses, where the genetics of multiple coevolving taxa may be affected. Here, we tracked the symbiotic associations of reef-building corals for 6 years through a prolonged heatwave, including known survivorship for 79 of 315 colonies. Coral genetics strongly predicted survival of the ubiquitous coral, Porites (massive growth form), with variable survival (15 to 61%) across three morphologically indistinguishable-but genetically distinct-lineages. The heatwave also disrupted strong associations between these coral lineages and their algal symbionts (family Symbiodiniaceae), with symbiotic turnover in some colonies, resulting in reduced specificity across lineages. These results highlight how heatwaves can threaten cryptic genotypes and decouple otherwise tightly coevolved relationships between hosts and symbionts.

Adaptive plastic responses to metal contamination in a multistress context: a field experiment in fish

Wild populations often differ in their tolerance to environmental stressors, but intraspecific variability is rarely taken into account in ecotoxicology. In addition, plastic responses to multiple stressors have rarely been investigated in realistic field conditions. In this study, we compared the responses to metal contamination of gudgeon populations (Gobio occitaniae) differing in their past chronic exposure to metal contamination, using a reciprocal transplant experiment and an immune challenge mimicking a parasite attack to test for potential effects of multiple stressors across biological levels. We measured fish survival and traits involved in metal bioaccumulation, oxidative stress, immunity, cell apoptosis, and energy management to decipher underpinning physiological mechanisms across biological levels (i.e., gene expression, cell, organism). Fish from the two replicate High Contamination sites had higher survival when transferred into contaminated sites, suggesting a local adaptation to the contaminated site, possibly explained by higher levels of detoxification and antioxidant capacity but with potential higher apoptosis costs compared to their naïve counterparts. We found no evidence of co- or maladaptation to the immune stressor, suggesting no specific costs to face pathogens. In the emerging field of evolutionary ecotoxicology, this study underlines the need to consider intraspecific variability to better understand the effects of pollution in heterogeneous populations.

Increases in intraspecific body size variation are common among North American mammals and birds between 1880 and 2020

Many studies have documented the average body size of animals declining over time. Compared to mean body size, less is known about long-term changes in intraspecific trait variation (ITV), which is also important to understanding species' ability to cope with environmental challenges. On the basis of 393,499 specimen records from 380 species collected in North America between 1880 and 2020, we found that body size ITV increased by 9.59% for mammals (n = 302) and 30.67% for birds (n = 78); human-harvested species had higher probability of ITV increase. The observed increasing ITV in many species suggests possible niche expansion and potential buffering effects against downsizing but it risks increased maladaptation to rapidly changing environments. The results demonstrate that trait mean and variance do not necessarily respond in similar ways to anthropogenic pressures and both should be considered.

Diet can alter the cost of resistance to a natural parasite in Caenorhabditis elegans

Resistance to parasites confers a fitness advantage, yet hosts show substantial variation in resistance in natural populations. Evolutionary theory indicates that resistant and susceptible genotypes can coexist if resistance is costly, but there is mixed evidence that resistant individuals have lower fitness in the absence of parasites. One explanation for this discrepancy is that the cost of resistance varies with environmental context. We tested this hypothesis using Caenorhabditis elegans and its natural microsporidian parasite, Nematocida ironsii. We used multiple metrics to compare the fitness of two near-isogenic host genotypes differing at regions associated with resistance to N. ironsii. To quantify the effect of the environment on the cost associated with these known resistance regions, we measured fitness on three microbial diets. We found that the cost of resistance varied with both diet and the measure of fitness. We detected no cost to resistance, irrespective of diet, when fitness was measured as fecundity. However, we detected a cost when fitness was measured in terms of population growth, and the magnitude of this cost varied with diet. These results provide a proof of concept that, by mediating the cost of resistance, environmental context may govern the rate and nature of resistance evolution in heterogeneous environments.

The significance of partial migration for food web and ecosystem dynamics

Migration is ubiquitous and can strongly shape food webs and ecosystems. Less familiar, however, is that the majority of life cycle, seasonal and diel migrations in nature are partial migrations: only a fraction of the population migrates while the other individuals remain in their resident ecosystem. Here, we demonstrate different impacts of partial migration rendering it fundamental to our understanding of the significance of migration for food web and ecosystem dynamics. First, partial migration affects the spatiotemporal distribution of individuals and the food web and ecosystem-level processes they drive differently than expected under full migration. Second, whether an individual migrates or not is regularly correlated with morphological, physiological, and/or behavioural traits that shape its food-web and ecosystem-level impacts. Third, food web and ecosystem dynamics can drive the fraction of the population migrating, enabling the potential for feedbacks between the causes and consequences of migration within and across ecosystems. These impacts, individually and in combination, can yield unintuitive effects of migration and drive the dynamics, diversity and functions of ecosystems. By presenting the first full integration of partial migration and trophic (meta-)community and (meta-)ecosystem ecology, we provide a roadmap for studying how migration affects and is affected by ecosystem dynamics in a changing world.

A Conceptual Analysis of Mental Health Maladaptation in Postpartum

Aim: This concept analysis aims to explore how the concept of maladaptation applies to mental health changes among postpartum women. Background: The concept of maladaptation is utilized throughout various disciplines but minimally in women's health, including a limited focus on maladaptive body dissatisfaction and perfectionistic beliefs of women in the postpartum period. Methods: The Walker and Avant eight-phase model was used to guide this analysis. Data Source: A search for maladaptation articles through Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Complete, ProQuest, and PubMed databases, as well as Google Scholar, was conducted. Results: A review of the literature concerning maladaptation in postpartum mental health resulted in defining two key attributes, including conforming to cultural norms of body image and pressure of perfection. In understanding maladaptation and its attributes, childbirth educators and health-care professionals will be able to better determine more contributing factors for postpartum depression (PPD) and formulate a plan that includes early intervention and support. Conclusion: This concept analysis is intended to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes by understanding mental health maladaptations related to PPD.

Behavioral plasticity can facilitate evolution in urban environments

Plasticity-led evolution is central to evolutionary theory. Although challenging to study in nature, this process may be particularly apparent in novel environments such as cities. We document abundant evidence of plastic behavioral changes in urban animals, including learning, contextual, developmental, and transgenerational plasticities. Using behavioral drive as a conceptual framework, our analysis of notable case studies suggests that plastic behaviors, such as altered habitat use, migration, diurnal and seasonal activity, and courtship, can have faciliatory and cascading effects on urban evolution via spatial, temporal, and mate-choice mechanisms. Our findings highlight (i) the need to incorporate behavioral plasticity more formally into urban evolutionary research and (ii) the opportunity provided by urban environments to study behavioral mechanisms of plasticity-led processes.

Evaluating the persistence and utility of five wild Vitis species in the context of climate change

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) have the capacity to contribute novel traits to agriculture. Given climate change, these contributions may be especially vital for the persistence of perennial crops, because perennials are often clonally propagated and consequently do not evolve rapidly. By studying the landscape genomics of samples from five Vitis CWRs (V. arizonica, V. mustangensis, V. riparia, V. berlandieri and V. girdiana) in the context of projected climate change, we addressed two goals. The first was to assess the relative potential of different CWR accessions to persist in the face of climate change. By integrating species distribution models with adaptive genetic variation, additional genetic features such as genomic load and a phenotype (resistance to Pierce's Disease), we predicted that accessions from one species (V. mustangensis) are particularly well-suited to persist in future climates. The second goal was to identify which CWR accessions may contribute to bioclimatic adaptation for grapevine (V. vinifera) cultivation. To do so, we evaluated whether CWR accessions have the allelic capacity to persist if moved to locations where grapevines are cultivated in the United States. We identified six candidates from V. mustangensis and hypothesized that they may prove useful for contributing alleles that can mitigate climate impacts on viticulture. By identifying candidate germplasm, this study takes a conceptual step toward assessing the genomic and bioclimatic characteristics of CWRs.

Dispersal plasticity driven by variation in fitness across species and environmental gradients

Dispersal plasticity, when organisms adjust their dispersal decisions depending on their environment, can play a major role in ecological and evolutionary dynamics, but how it relates to fitness remains scarcely explored. Theory predicts that high dispersal plasticity should evolve when environmental gradients have a strong impact on fitness. Using microcosms, we tested in five species of the genus Tetrahymena whether dispersal plasticity relates to differences in fitness sensitivity along three environmental gradients. Dispersal plasticity was species- and environment-dependent. As expected, dispersal plasticity was generally related to fitness sensitivity, with higher dispersal plasticity when fitness is more affected by environmental gradients. Individuals often preferentially disperse out of low fitness environments, but leaving environments that should yield high fitness was also commonly observed. We provide empirical support for a fundamental, but largely untested, assumption in dispersal theory: the extent of dispersal plasticity correlates with fitness sensitivity to the environment.

Genomic insights into local adaptation and future climate-induced vulnerability of a keystone forest tree in East Asia

Rapid global climate change is posing a substantial threat to biodiversity. The assessment of population vulnerability and adaptive capacity under climate change is crucial for informing conservation and mitigation strategies. Here we generate a chromosome-scale genome assembly and re-sequence genomes of 230 individuals collected from 24 populations for Populus koreana, a pioneer and keystone tree species in temperate forests of East Asia. We integrate population genomics and environmental variables to reveal a set of climate-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms, insertion/deletions and structural variations, especially numerous adaptive non-coding variants distributed across the genome. We incorporate these variants into an environmental modeling scheme to predict a highly spatiotemporal shift of this species in response to future climate change. We further identify the most vulnerable populations that need conservation priority and many candidate genes and variants that may be useful for forest tree breeding with special aims. Our findings highlight the importance of integrating genomic and environmental data to predict adaptive capacity of a key forest to rapid climate change in the future.

Combined effects of abamectin and temperature on the physiology and behavior of male lizards (Eremias argus): Clarifying adaptation and maladaptation

Chemical pollution and global warming are two major threats to organisms, which can interact to affect the normal activities of living beings. In this study, to explore the effects of abamectin and high temperature on adaptability of lizard, male adult Eremias argus (a native Chinese lizard) were exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of abamectin (0.02 mg·L^-1 and 2 mg·L^-1) and different temperature (26 °C and 32 °C) for 30 days. The fitness-related behaviors (locomotion, predation, and thermoregulation) of lizards were evaluated. Physiological effects were addressed using biochemical biomarkers related to oxidative stress, detoxification, and neurotransmitter content. The results showed that abamectin could affect the neurotransmitter systems, cause oxidative stress, and alters lizard locomotion and predation-related behaviors of lizards, but lizards up-regulating detoxification metabolic enzymes, exhibiting higher body temperature preference to alleviate the toxicity of abamectin, and compensate the increased energy demand for detoxification and repair damage by increasing food intake. After exposure to high temperature, lizards showed adaptation to high temperature (higher body temperature preference), the thermal compensation mechanisms may involve elevated Hsp70 levels and increased food intake. At the combined effects of abamectin and high temperature, more obvious behavioral disorders and more severe oxidative stress were observed, although lizards avoided the negative effects of overheating and pollutants by seeking thermal shelter and reducing energy expenditure, this may subsequently reduce foraging opportunities and the ability to obtain energy needed for vital physiological functions (i.e., growth, maintenance, and reproduction). From a long-term perspective, these short-term adaptive strategies will be detrimental to individual long-term survival and population sustainability, and may transformed into maladaptation.

Adaptation Strategies and Approaches for Managing Fire in a Changing Climate

As the effects of climate change accumulate and intensify, resource managers juggle existing goals and new mandates to operationalize adaptation. Fire managers contend with the direct effects of climate change on resources in addition to climate-induced disruptions to fire regimes and subsequent ecosystem effects. In systems stressed by warming and drying, increased fire activity amplifies the pace of change and scale of severe disturbance events, heightening the urgency for management action. Fire managers are asked to integrate information on climate impacts with their professional expertise to determine how to achieve management objectives in a changing climate with altered fire regimes. This is a difficult task, and managers need support as they incorporate climate adaptation into planning and operations. We present a list of adaptation strategies and approaches specific to fire and climate based on co-produced knowledge from a science–management partnership and pilot-tested in a two-day workshop with natural resource managers and regional stakeholders. This “menu” is a flexible and useful tool for fire managers who need to connect the dots between fire ecology, climate science, adaptation intent, and management implementation. It was created and tested as part of an adaptation framework used widely across the United States and should be applicable and useful in many fire-prone forest ecosystems.

Evolution of Phytoplankton as Estimated from Genetic Diversity

Phytoplankton are photosynthetic, single-celled organisms producing almost half of all oxygen on Earth and play a central role as prey for higher organisms, making them irreplaceable in the marine food web. As Global Change proceeds, imposing rapidly intensifying selection pressures, phytoplankton are forced to undergo evolution, local extinction, or redistribution, with potentially cascading effects throughout the marine ecosystem. Recent results from the field of population genetics display high levels of standing genetic diversity in natural phytoplankton populations, providing ample ‘evolutionary options’ and implying high adaptive potential to changing conditions. This potential for adaptive evolution is realized in several studies of experimental evolution, even though most of these studies investigate the evolution of only single strains. This, however, shows that phytoplankton not only evolve from standing genetic diversity, but also rely on de novo mutations. Recent global sampling campaigns show that the immense intraspecific diversity of phytoplankton in the marine ecosystem has been significantly underestimated, meaning we are only studying a minor portion of the relevant variability in the context of Global Change and evolution. An increased understanding of genomic diversity is primarily hampered by the low number of ecologically representative reference genomes of eukaryotic phytoplankton and the functional annotation of these. However, emerging technologies relying on metagenome and transcriptome data may offer a more realistic understanding of phytoplankton diversity.

Rapid evolution generates synergism between multiple stressors: Linking theory and an evolution experiment

Global change encompasses many co-occurring anthropogenic stressors. Understanding the interactions between these multiple stressors, whether they be additive, antagonistic or synergistic, is critical for ecosystem managers when prioritizing which stressors to mitigate in the face of global change. While such interactions between stressors appear prevalent, it remains unclear if and how these interactions change over time, as the majority of multiple-stressor studies rarely span multiple generations of study organisms. Although meta-analyses have reported some intriguing temporal trends in stressor interactions, for example that synergism may take time to emerge, the mechanistic basis for such observations is unknown. In this study, by analysing data from an evolution experiment with the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus (~35 generations and 31,320 observations), we show that adaptation to multiple stressors shifts stressor interactions towards synergism. We show that trade-offs, where populations cannot optimally perform multiple tasks (i.e. adapting to multiple stressors), generate this bias towards synergism. We also show that removal of stressors from evolved populations does not necessarily increase fitness and that there is variation in the evolutionary trajectories of populations that experienced the same stressor regimes. Our results highlight outstanding questions at the interface between evolution and global change biology, and illustrate the importance of considering rapid adaptation when managing or restoring ecosystems subjected to multiple stressors under global change.

DNA Methylation Can Mediate Local Adaptation and Response to Climate Change in the Clonal Plant Fragaria vesca: Evidence From a European-Scale Reciprocal Transplant Experiment

The ongoing climate crisis represents a growing threat for plants and other organisms. However, how and if plants will be able to adapt to future environmental conditions is still debated. One of the most powerful mechanisms allowing plants to tackle the changing climate is phenotypic plasticity, which can be regulated by epigenetic mechanisms. Environmentally induced epigenetic variation mediating phenotypic plasticity might be heritable across (a)sexual generations, thus potentially enabling rapid adaptation to climate change. Here, we assessed whether epigenetic mechanisms, DNA methylation in particular, enable for local adaptation and response to increased and/or decreased temperature of natural populations of a clonal plant, Fragaria vesca (wild strawberry). We collected ramets from three populations along a temperature gradient in each of three countries covering the southern (Italy), central (Czechia), and northern (Norway) edges of the native European range of F. vesca. After clonal propagation and alteration of DNA methylation status of half of the plants via 5-azacytidine, we reciprocally transplanted clones to their home locality and to the other two climatically distinct localities within the country of their origin. At the end of the growing season, we recorded survival and aboveground biomass as fitness estimates. We found evidence for local adaptation in intermediate and cold populations in Italy and maladaptation of plants of the warmest populations in all countries. Plants treated with 5-azacytidine showed either better or worse performance in their local conditions than untreated plants. Application of 5-azacytidine also affected plant response to changed climatic conditions when transplanted to the colder or warmer locality than was their origin, and the response was, however, country-specific. We conclude that the increasing temperature will probably be the limiting factor determining F. vesca survival and distribution. DNA methylation may contribute to local adaptation and response to climatic change in natural ecosystems; however, its role may depend on the specific environmental conditions. Since adaptation mediated by epigenetic variation may occur faster than via natural selection on genetic variants, epigenetic adaptation might to some degree help plants in keeping up with the ongoing environmental crisis.

The evolution of powerful yet perilous immune systems

The mammalian immune system packs serious punch against infection but can also cause harm: for example, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) made headline news of the simultaneous power and peril of human immune responses. In principle, natural selection leads to exquisite adaptation and therefore cytokine responsiveness that optimally balances the benefits of defense against its costs (e.g., immunopathology suffered and resources expended). Here, we illustrate how evolutionary biology can predict such optima and also help to explain when/why individuals exhibit apparently maladaptive immunopathological responses. Ultimately, we argue that the evolutionary legacies of multicellularity and life-history strategy, in addition to our coevolution with symbionts and our demographic history, together explain human susceptibility to overzealous, pathology-inducing cytokine responses. Evolutionary insight thereby complements molecular/cellular mechanistic insights into immunopathology.

Social Selection and the Evolution of Maladaptation

Evolution by natural selection is often viewed as a process that inevitably leads to adaptation or an increase in population fitness over time. However, maladaptation, an evolved decrease in fitness, may also occur in response to natural selection under some conditions. Social selection, which arises from the effects of social partners on fitness, has been identified as a potential cause of maladaptation, but we lack a general rule identifying when social selection should lead to a decrease in population mean fitness. Here we use a quantitative genetic model to develop such a rule. We show that maladaptation is most likely to occur when social selection is strong relative to nonsocial selection and acts in an opposing direction. In this scenario, the evolution of traits that impose fitness costs on others may outweigh evolved gains in fitness for the individual, leading to a net decrease in population mean fitness. Furthermore, we find that maladaptation may also sometimes occur when phenotypes of interacting individuals negatively covary. We outline the biological situations where maladaptation in response to social selection can be expected, provide both quantitative genetic and phenotypic versions of our derived result, and suggest what empirical work would be needed to test it. We also consider the effect of social selection on inclusive fitness and support previous work showing that inclusive fitness cannot suffer an evolutionary decrease. Taken together, our results show that social selection may decrease population mean fitness when it opposes individual-level selection, even as inclusive fitness increases.

The stagnation paradox: the ever-improving but (more or less) stationary population fitness

Fisher's fundamental theorem states that natural selection improves mean fitness. Fitness, in turn, is often equated with population growth. This leads to an absurd prediction that life evolves to ever-faster growth rates, yet no one seriously claims generally slower population growth rates in the Triassic compared with the present day. I review here, using non-technical language, how fitness can improve yet stay constant (stagnation paradox), and why an unambiguous measure of population fitness does not exist. Subfields use different terminology for aspects of the paradox, referring to stasis, cryptic evolution or the difficulty of choosing an appropriate fitness measure; known resolutions likewise use diverse terms from environmental feedback to density dependence and ‘evolutionary environmental deterioration’. The paradox vanishes when these concepts are understood, and adaptation can lead to declining reproductive output of a population when individuals can improve their fitness by exploiting conspecifics. This is particularly readily observable when males participate in a zero-sum game over paternity and population output depends more strongly on female than male fitness. Even so, the jury is still out regarding the effect of sexual conflict on population fitness. Finally, life-history theory and genetic studies of microevolutionary change could pay more attention to each other.

Depicting the phenotypic space of the annual plant Diplotaxis acris in hyperarid deserts

The phenotypic space encompasses the assemblage of trait combinations yielding well-suited integrated phenotypes. At the population level, understanding the phenotypic space structure requires the quantification of among- and within-population variations in traits and the correlation pattern among them. Here, we studied the phenotypic space of the annual plant Diplotaxis acris occurring in hyperarid deserts. Given the advance of warming and aridity in vast regions occupied by drylands, D. acris can indicate the successful evolutionary trajectory that many other annual plant species may follow in expanding drylands. To this end, we conducted a greenhouse experiment with 176 D. acris individuals from five Saudi populations to quantify the genetic component of variation in architectural and life history traits. We found low among-population divergence but high among-individual variation in all traits. In addition, all traits showed a high degree of genetic determination in our study experimental conditions. We did not find significant effects of recruitment and fecundity on fitness. Finally, all architectural traits exhibited a strong correlation pattern among them, whereas for life history traits, only higher seed germination implied earlier flowering. Seed weight appeared to be an important trait in D. acris as individuals with heavier seeds tended to advance flowering and have a more vigorous branching pattern, which led to higher fecundity. Population divergence in D. acris might be constrained by the severity of the hyperarid environment, but populations maintain high among-individual genetic variation in all traits. Furthermore, D. acris showed phenotypic integration for architectural traits and, to a lesser extent, for life history traits. Overall, we hypothesize that D. acris may be fine-tuned to its demanding extreme environments. Evolutionary speaking, annual plants facing increasing warming, aridity, and environmental seasonality might modify their phenotypic spaces toward new phenotypic configurations strongly dominated by correlated architectural traits enhancing fecundity and seed-related traits advancing flowering time.

The evolutionary genomics of species' responses to climate change

Climate change is a threat to biodiversity. One way that this threat manifests is through pronounced shifts in the geographical range of species over time. To predict these shifts, researchers have primarily used species distribution models. However, these models are based on assumptions of niche conservatism and do not consider evolutionary processes, potentially limiting their accuracy and value. To incorporate evolution into the prediction of species' responses to climate change, researchers have turned to landscape genomic data and examined information about local genetic adaptation using climate models. Although this is an important advancement, this approach currently does not include other evolutionary processes-such as gene flow, population dispersal and genomic load-that are critical for predicting the fate of species across the landscape. Here, we briefly review the current practices for the use of species distribution models and for incorporating local adaptation. We next discuss the rationale and theory for considering additional processes, reviewing how they can be incorporated into studies of species' responses to climate change. We summarize with a conceptual framework of how manifold layers of information can be combined to predict the potential response of specific populations to climate change. We illustrate all of the topics using an exemplar dataset and provide the source code as potential tutorials. This Perspective is intended to be a step towards a more comprehensive integration of population genomics with climate change science.

Physiological insight into the evolution of complex phenotypes: aerobic performance and the O2 transport pathway of vertebrates

Evolutionary physiology strives to understand how the function and integration of physiological systems influence the way in which organisms evolve. Studies of the O2 transport pathway - the integrated physiological system that transports O2 from the environment to mitochondria - are well suited to this endeavour. We consider the mechanistic underpinnings across the O2 pathway for the evolution of aerobic capacity, focusing on studies of artificial selection and naturally selected divergence among wild populations of mammals and fish. We show that evolved changes in aerobic capacity do not require concerted changes across the O2 pathway and can arise quickly from changes in one or a subset of pathway steps. Population divergence in aerobic capacity can be associated with the evolution of plasticity in response to environmental variation or activity. In some cases, initial evolutionary divergence of aerobic capacity arose exclusively from increased capacities for O2 diffusion and/or utilization in active O2-consuming tissues (muscle), which may often constitute first steps in adaptation. However, continued selection leading to greater divergence in aerobic capacity is often associated with increased capacities for circulatory and pulmonary O2 transport. Increases in tissue O2 diffusing capacity may augment the adaptive benefit of increasing circulatory O2 transport owing to their interactive influence on tissue O2 extraction. Theoretical modelling of the O2 pathway suggests that O2 pathway steps with a disproportionately large influence over aerobic capacity have been more likely to evolve, but more work is needed to appreciate the extent to which such physiological principles can predict evolutionary outcomes.

Subchronic impacts of 2,4-D herbicide Weedestroy®AM40 on associative learning in juvenile yellow perch (Perca flavescens)

Aquatic herbicides are commonly used to control a wide variety of invasive and nuisance plants. One common active ingredient used in commercial herbicide formulations in Midwestern states is 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Due to the stability of 2,4-D in aquatic environments, many non-target aquatic species experience prolonged exposure throughout critical developmental life stages that can affect essential behaviors. However, the impacts of 2,4-D exposure on learning behaviors in juvenile fish are poorly understood. Therefore, we conducted a series of experiments using a maze environment to determine the effects of a commercial 2,4-D amine salt herbicide formulation (Weedestroy®AM40; WAM40; at 0.00, 0.50, 2.00, and 50.00 mg/L 2,4-D acid equivalent (a.e.)) exposure on juvenile yellow perch's ability to perform a feed associated learning behavior. We observed a significant decrease in the ability of yellow perch to correctly complete the feed associated learning behavior within 200 s when exposed to WAM40 at 2.00 and 50.00 mg/L 2,4-D as compared to controls (p = 0.0002; p < 0.0001, respectively) and within 600 s when exposed to WAM40 at 2.00 and 50.0 mg/L 2,4-D as compared to the controls (p = 0.0107 and p < 0.0001). These data suggest that exposure to 2,4-D in WAM40 can both increase the amount of time it takes for yellow perch to complete a feed associated learning behavior and/or obstruct the behavior altogether. Further experiments showed no significant decreases in locomotion (p > 0.05), hunger motivation (p > 0.05), and a visually guided startle response (p > 0.05), in all treatment groups tested as compared to controls. This suggests that 2,4-D in WAM40 does not inhibit feed associated learning behaviors via interaction with these mechanisms. Altogether, the results indicate that the use of 2,4-D herbicides for weed control in aquatic ecosystems could present risks to cognitive functions that control essential behaviors of yellow perch.

Local Adaptation in Marine Foundation Species at Microgeographic Scales

AbstractNearshore foundation species in coastal and estuarine systems (e.g., salt marsh grasses, mangroves, seagrasses, corals) drive the ecological functions of ecosystems and entire biomes by creating physical structure that alters local abiotic conditions and influences species interactions and composition. The resilience of foundation species and the ecosystem functions they provide depends on their phenotypic and genetic responses to spatial and temporal shifts in environmental conditions. In this review, we explore what is known about the causes and consequences of adaptive genetic differentiation in marine foundation species over spatial scales shorter than dispersal capabilities (i.e., microgeographic scales). We describe the strength of coupling field and laboratory experiments with population genetic techniques to illuminate patterns of local adaptation, and we illustrate this approach by using several foundation species. Among the major themes that emerge from our review include (1) adaptive differentiation of marine foundation species repeatedly evolves along vertical (i.e., elevation or depth) gradients, and (2) mating system and phenology may facilitate this differentiation. Microgeographic adaptation is an understudied mechanism potentially underpinning the resilience of many sessile marine species, and this evolutionary mechanism likely has particularly important consequences for the ecosystem functions provided by foundation species.

A transdisciplinary research agenda for understanding insect responses to ecological light pollution informed by evolutionary trap theory

Evolutionary traps are phenomena in which rapid environmental change causes environmental cues that historically guided adaptive behavioral or life-history decisions to become poor predictors of the consequences of such decisions for an organism's fitness. Evolutionary trap theory offers an ideal framework for understanding and mitigating the effects of ecological light pollution (ELP) on insects. We emphasize the utility of an evolutionary trap perspective in demonstrating the importance of an integrated understanding of the sensory, behavioral, evolutionary, and demographic mechanisms underlying insect responses to ELP. We also highlight neglected areas of research where greater focus can help enhance understanding of how ELP affects the persistence, evolutionary trajectory, and population dynamics of insects across space and time.

Phenotypic stability in scalar calcium of freshwater fish across a wide range of aqueous calcium availability in nature

Spatial environmental gradients can promote adaptive differences among conspecific populations as a result of local adaptation or phenotypic plasticity. Such divergence can be opposed by various constraints, including gene flow, limited genetic variation, temporal fluctuations, or developmental constraints. We focus on the constraint that can be imposed when some populations are found in locations characterized by low levels of an essential nutrient. We use scales of wild fish to investigate phenotypic effects of spatial variation in a potentially limiting nutrient-calcium. If scale calcium (we use "scalar" calcium for consistency with the physiology literature) simply reflects environmental calcium availability, we expect higher levels of scalar calcium in fish from calcium-rich water, compared to fish from calcium-poor water. To consider this "passive response" scenario, we analyzed scalar calcium concentrations from three native fish species (Lepomis gibbosus, Percina caprodes, and Perca flavescens) collected at multiple sites across a dissolved calcium gradient in the Upper St. Lawrence River. Contradicting the "passive response" scenario, we did not detect strong or consistent relationships between scalar calcium and water calcium. Instead, for a given proportional increase in water calcium across the wide environmental gradient, the corresponding proportional change in scalar calcium was much smaller. We thus favor the alternative "active homeostasis" scenario, wherein fish from calcium-poor water are better able to uptake, mobilize, and deposit calcium than are fish from calcium-rich water. We further highlight the importance of studying functional traits, such as scales, in their natural setting as opposed to only laboratory studies.

Evolutionary mismatch along salinity gradients in a Neotropical water strider

The evolution of local adaptation is crucial for the in situ persistence of populations in changing environments. However, selection along broad environmental gradients could render local adaptation difficult, and might even result in maladaptation. We address this issue by quantifying fitness trade-offs (via common garden experiments) along a salinity gradient in two populations of the Neotropical water strider Telmatometra withei-a species found in both fresh (FW) and brackish (BW) water environments across Panama. We found evidence for local adaptation in the FW population in its home FW environment. However, the BW population showed only partial adaptation to the BW environment, with a high magnitude of maladaptation along naturally occurring salinity gradients. Indeed, its overall fitness was ~60% lower than that of the ancestral FW population in its home environment, highlighting the role of phenotypic plasticity, rather than local adaptation, in high salinity environments. This suggests that populations seemingly persisting in high salinity environments might in fact be maladapted, following drastic changes in salinity. Thus, variable selection imposed by salinization could result in evolutionary mismatch, where the fitness of a population is displaced from its optimal environment. Understanding the fitness consequences of persisting in fluctuating salinity environments is crucial to predict the persistence of populations facing increasing salinization. It will also help develop evolutionarily informed management strategies in the context of global change.

In a nutshell, a reciprocal transplant experiment reveals local adaptation and fitness trade-offs in response to urban evolution in an acorn-dwelling ant

Urban-driven evolution is widely evident, but whether these changes confer fitness benefits and thus represent adaptive urban evolution is less clear. We performed a multiyear field reciprocal transplant experiment of acorn-dwelling ants across urban and rural environments. Fitness responses were consistent with local adaptation: we found a survival advantage of the "home" and "local" treatments compared to "away" and "foreign" treatments. Seasonal bias in survival was consistent with evolutionary patterns of gains and losses in thermal tolerance traits across the urbanization gradient. Rural ants in the urban environment were more vulnerable in the summer, putatively due to low heat tolerance, and urban ants in the rural environment were more vulnerable in winter, putatively due to an evolved loss of cold tolerance. The results for fitness via fecundity were also generally consistent with local adaptation, if somewhat more complex. Urban-origin ants produced more alates in their home versus away environment, and rural-origin ants had a local advantage in the rural environment. Overall, the magnitude of local adaptation was lower for urban ants in the novel urban environment compared with rural ants adapted to the ancestral rural environment, adding further evidence that species might not keep pace with anthropogenic change.

The inflated significance of neutral genetic diversity in conservation genetics

The current rate of species extinction is rapidly approaching unprecedented highs, and life on Earth presently faces a sixth mass extinction event driven by anthropogenic activity, climate change, and ecological collapse. The field of conservation genetics aims at preserving species by using their levels of genetic diversity, usually measured as neutral genome-wide diversity, as a barometer for evaluating population health and extinction risk. A fundamental assumption is that higher levels of genetic diversity lead to an increase in fitness and long-term survival of a species. Here, we argue against the perceived importance of neutral genetic diversity for the conservation of wild populations and species. We demonstrate that no simple general relationship exists between neutral genetic diversity and the risk of species extinction. Instead, a better understanding of the properties of functional genetic diversity, demographic history, and ecological relationships is necessary for developing and implementing effective conservation genetic strategies.

Physiological adaptation to cities as a proxy to forecast global-scale responses to climate change

Cities are emerging as a new venue to overcome the challenges of obtaining data on compensatory responses to climatic warming through phenotypic plasticity and evolutionary change. In this Review, we highlight how cities can be used to explore physiological trait responses to experimental warming, and also how cities can be used as human-made space-for-time substitutions. We assessed the current literature and found evidence for significant plasticity and evolution in thermal tolerance trait responses to urban heat islands. For those studies that reported both plastic and evolved components of thermal tolerance, we found evidence that both mechanisms contributed to phenotypic shifts in thermal tolerance, rather than plastic responses precluding or limiting evolved responses. Interestingly though, for a broader range of studies, we found that the magnitude of evolved shifts in thermal tolerance was not significantly different from the magnitude of shift in those studies that only reported phenotypic results, which could be a product of evolution, plasticity, or both. Regardless, the magnitude of shifts in urban thermal tolerance phenotypes was comparable to more traditional space-for-time substitutions across latitudinal and altitudinal clines in environmental temperature. We conclude by considering how urban-derived estimates of plasticity and evolution of thermal tolerance traits can be used to improve forecasting methods, including macrophysiological models and species distribution modelling approaches. Finally, we consider areas for further exploration including sub-lethal performance traits and thermal performance curves, assessing the adaptive nature of trait shifts, and taking full advantage of the environmental thermal variation that cities generate.

Genetic variation reveals individual-level climate tracking across the annual cycle of a migratory bird

For migratory species, seasonal movements complicate local climate adaptation, as it is unclear whether individuals track climate niches across the annual cycle. In the migratory songbird yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia), we find a correlation between individual-level wintering and breeding precipitation, but not temperature. Birds wintering in the driest regions of the Neotropics breed in the driest regions of North America. Individuals from drier regions also possess distinct morphologies and population responses to varying rainfall. We find a positive association between bill size and breeding season precipitation which, given documented climate-associated genomic variation, might reflect adaptation to local precipitation regimes. Relative abundance in the breeding range is linked to interannual fluctuations in precipitation, but the directionality of this response varies across geography. Together, our results suggest that variation in climate optima may exist across the breeding range of yellow warblers and provide a mechanism for selection across the annual cycle.

Imprints of selection in peripheral and ecologically marginal central-eastern European Scots pine populations

Knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying the stress response in plants is essential to understand evolutionary processes that result in long-term persistence of populations. Populations inhabiting marginal ecological conditions at the distribution range periphery may have preserved imprints of natural selection that have shaped functional genetic variation of the species. Our aim was to evaluate the extent of selection processes in the extremely fragmented, peripheral and isolated populations of Scots pine in central-eastern Europe. Autochthonous populations of the Carpathian Mts. and the Pannonian Basin were sampled and drought stress-related candidate genes were re-sequenced. Neutrality tests and outlier detection approaches were applied to infer the effect and direction of selection. Populations retained high genetic diversity by preserving a high number of alleles and haplotypes, many of them being population specific. Neutrality tests and outlier detection highlighted nucleotide positions that are under divergent selection and may be involved in local adaptation. The detected genetic pattern confirms that natural selection has played an important role in shaping modern-day genetic variation in marginal Scots pine populations, allowing for the long-term persistence of populations. Selection detected at functional regions possibly acts to maintain diversity and counteract the effect of genetic erosion.

Preference Provides a Plethora of Problems (Don't Panic)

This review was solicited as an autobiography. The "problems" in my title have two meanings. First, they were professional difficulties caused by my decision to study oviposition preferences of butterflies that were not susceptible to traditional preference-testing designs. Until I provided video, my claim that the butterflies duplicate natural post-alighting host-assessment behavior when placed on hosts by hand was not credible, and the preference-testing technique that I had developed elicited skepticism, anger, and derision. The second meaning of "problems" is scientific. Insect preference comes with complex dimensionality that interacts with host acceptability. Part Two of this review describes how my group's work in this area has revealed unexpected axes of variation in plant-insect interactions-axes capable of frustrating attempts to derive unequivocal conclusions from apparently sensible experimental designs. The possibility that these complexities are lurking should be kept in mind as preference and performance experiments are devised.

Pedal to the metal: Cities power evolutionary divergence by accelerating metabolic rate and locomotor performance

Metabolic rates of ectotherms are expected to increase with global trends of climatic warming. But the potential for rapid, compensatory evolution of lower metabolic rate in response to rising temperatures is only starting to be explored. Here, we explored rapid evolution of metabolic rate and locomotor performance in acorn-dwelling ants (Temnothorax curvispinosus) in response to urban heat island effects. We reared ant colonies within a laboratory common garden (25°C) to generate a laboratory-born cohort of workers and tested their acute plastic responses to temperature. Contrary to expectations, urban ants exhibited a higher metabolic rate compared with rural ants when tested at 25°C, suggesting a potentially maladaptive evolutionary response to urbanization. Urban and rural ants had similar metabolic rates when tested at 38°C, as a consequence of a diminished plastic response of the urban ants. Locomotor performance also evolved such that the running speed of urban ants was faster than rural ants under warmer test temperatures (32°C and 42°C) but slower under a cooler test temperature (22°C). The resulting specialist-generalist trade-off and higher thermal optimum for locomotor performance might compensate for evolved increases in metabolic rate by allowing workers to more quickly scout and retrieve resources.

Want climate-change adaptation? Evolutionary theory can help

The idea of adaptation, in which an organism or population becomes better suited to its environment, is used in a variety of disciplines. Originating in evolutionary biology, adaptation has been a central theme in biological anthropology and human ecology. More recently, the study of adaptation in the context of climate change has become an important topic of research in the social sciences. While there are clearly commonalities in the different uses of the concept of adaptation in these fields, there are also substantial differences. We describe these differences and suggest that the study of climate-change adaptation could benefit from a re-integration with biological and evolutionary conceptions of human adaptation. This integration would allow us to employ the substantial theoretical tools of evolutionary biology and anthropology to understand what promotes or impedes adaptation. The evolutionary perspective on adaptation focuses on diversity because diversity drives adaptive evolution. Population structures are also critical in facilitating or preventing adaptation to local environmental conditions. This suggests that climate-change adaptation should focus on the sources of innovation and social structures that nurture innovations and allow them to spread. Truly innovative ideas are likely to arise on the periphery of cohesive social groups and spread inward. The evolutionary perspective also suggests that we pay careful attention to correlated traits, which can distort adaptive trajectories, as well as to the importance of risk management in adaptations to variable or uncertain environments. Finally, we suggest that climate-change adaptation could benefit from a broader study of how local groups adapt to their dynamic environments, a process we call "autochthonous adaptation."

Human adaptation to climate change: An introduction to the special issue

OBJECTIVES

Despite our focus on adaptation and human responses to climate, evolutionary and biological anthropologists (EBAs) are largely absent from conversations about contemporary "climate-change adaptation," a term popular in other disciplines, the development world, and related policy decisions. EBAs are missing a big opportunity to contribute to impactful, time-sensitive applied work: we have extensive theoretical and empirical knowledge pertinent to conversations about climate-change adaptation and to helping support communities as they cope. This special issue takes a tour of EBA contributions to our understanding of climate-change adaptation, from data on past and contemporary human communities to theoretically informed predictions about how individuals and communities will respond to climate change now and in the future. First, however, we must establish what we mean by "climate change" and "adaptation," along with other terms commonly used by EBAs; review what EBAs know about adaptation and about human responses to climate change; and identify just a few topics EBAs study that are pertinent to ongoing conversations about climate-change adaptation. In this article, we do just that.

CONCLUSION

From our work on energy use to our work on demography, subsistence, social networks, and the salience of climate change to local communities, EBAs have an abundance of data and theoretical insights to help inform responses to contemporary climate change. We need to better reach the climate community and general public with our contributions.

Genomic Prediction of (Mal)Adaptation Across Current and Future Climatic Landscapes

Signals of local adaptation have been found in many plants and animals, highlighting the heterogeneity in the distribution of adaptive genetic variation throughout species ranges. In the coming decades, global climate change is expected to induce shifts in the selective pressures that shape this adaptive variation. These changes in selective pressures will likely result in varying degrees of local climate maladaptation and spatial reshuffling of the underlying distributions of adaptive alleles. There is a growing interest in using population genomic data to help predict future disruptions to locally adaptive gene-environment associations. One motivation behind such work is to better understand how the effects of changing climate on populations’ short-term fitness could vary spatially across species ranges. Here we review the current use of genomic data to predict the disruption of local adaptation across current and future climates. After assessing goals and motivationsunderlying the approach, we review the main steps and associated statistical methods currently in use and explore our current understanding of the limits and future potential of using genomics to predict climate change (mal)adaptation.