When we talk about climate change the emphasis is normally on how it will affect us, our children and our great grand-children. However, a research study published in Science, has looked into the effects that climate change will have on our furry friends in the animal kingdom.
A study conducted between Imperial College, The Department of the Interior in the US and several other universities, created a mathematical model based on the known links between population size compared to changing physical traits. These traits, from body size to coat colour already vary season to season and so any fluctuations in the surroundings can have a huge impact. Up until now it was unknown if these links were based on particular environmental changes or if they could result in evolutionary transformations.
Grey wolves have been integral to the study, since their large numbers in Yellowstone National Park mean they, and their environment, can be studied in detail and over long periods of time. The information was collected from both the data chip collars the wolves wear and also by field work. This required the scientists to fly across the park in helicopters, shooting the wolves with tranquilisers in order to weigh and measure them. During ‘good years’ when the population thrived, and ‘bad years’ when it dwindled, it was found that the population was responding to long term changes in their environment, instead of the year-to-year fluctuations predicted.
The study has been conducted on 15 years worth of data but this large amount of information just doesn’t exist for most other animal populations. If this data could be collected we could even predict which animals may be in danger of extinction in the future. Professor Tim Coulson, who led the study said: "We now have a way to predict with unprecedented detail how populations of many different animals will respond to environmental change, including those animals threatened with extinction. However we urgently need more data if we are to understand how the natural world will be affected by continuing climate change.”
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