Evolutionary adaptation and species barriers under climate change

Climate change poses new selective pressures for biodiversity. Populations and species risk decline unless they respond adaptively with plastic or genetic changes that let them tolerate the new environments they face, or with range shifts that let them track environments to which they are already adapted. In turn, reproductive interactions may also change, with implications for species barriers. Given the complexity of these responses, our understanding of them remains limited. This thesis contributes novel insights into evolutionary adaptation and species barriers that may inform predictions of biological responses to future climates, and aid the evolutionarily-enlightened management and conservation of biodiversity.