Winter wren populations show adaptation to local climate

Most studies of evolutionary responses to climate change have focused on phenological responses to warming, and provide only weak evidence for evolutionary adaptation. This could be because phenological changes are more weakly linked to fitness than more direct mechanisms of climate change impacts, such as selective mortality during extreme weather events which have immediate fitness consequences for the individuals involved. Studies examining these other mechanisms may be more likely to show evidence for evolutionary adaptation. To test this, we quantify regional population responses of a small resident passerine (winter wren Troglodytes troglodytes) to a measure of winter severity (number of frost days). Annual population growth rate was consistently negatively correlated with this measure, but the point at which different populations achieved stability (λ = 1) varied across regions and was closely correlated with the historic average number of frost days, providing strong evidence fo...

现有关于气候变化下演化响应的研究，大多聚焦于生物对气候变暖的物候响应（phenological responses），且仅能为演化适应提供较弱的证据支撑。这可能是因为，相较于气候变化影响的其他直接作用机制（如极端天气事件引发的选择性死亡，这类事件会对受影响个体产生直接的适合度（fitness）后果），物候变化与适合度的关联程度更为薄弱。针对这类其他作用机制开展的研究，更有可能提供演化适应的相关证据。为验证这一假说，我们以小型留居雀形目鸟类冬鹪鹩（Troglodytes troglodytes）为研究对象，量化其种群对冬季严酷程度指标（霜冻日数）的区域响应特征。研究发现，种群年增长率与该指标始终呈负相关，但不同区域种群达到种群稳定（λ=1，λ为有限种群增长率）的临界值存在区域差异，且与历史平均霜冻日数紧密相关，这为……提供了强有力的证据支持。