Data from: Winter coat color polymorphisms identify global hotspots for evolutionary rescue from climate change

Maintenance of biodiversity in a rapidly changing climate will depend on
the efficacy of evolutionary rescue, whereby population declines due to
abrupt environmental change are reversed by shifts in genetically-driven
adaptive traits. However, a lack of traits known to be under direct
selection by anthropogenic climate change has limited the incorporation of
evolutionary processes into global conservation efforts. In 22 vertebrate
species, some individuals undergo a seasonal color molt from summer brown
to winter white as camouflage against snow, while other individuals remain
brown. Seasonal snow duration is decreasing globally, and fitness is lower
for winter white animals on snowless backgrounds. Based on 2,713
georeferenced samples of known winter coat color – from 8 species across
trophic levels – we identify environmentally driven clinal gradients in
winter coat color, including polymorphic zones where winter brown and
white morphs co-occur. These polymorphic zones, underrepresented by
existing global protected area networks, indicate hotspots for
evolutionary rescue in a changing climate.

在气候快速变化的背景下，维持生物多样性将依赖于进化拯救（evolutionary rescue）的效能——即通过遗传驱动的适应性性状转变，逆转突发环境变化引发的种群衰退。然而，目前尚未发现可直接响应人为气候变化（anthropogenic climate change）的相关性状，这一局限限制了进化过程被纳入全球保护实践。

在22种脊椎动物中，部分个体存在季节性换毛变色现象：夏季毛色为棕色，冬季转变为白色以适应积雪环境的伪装需求，其余个体则始终保持棕色毛色。当前全球季节性积雪时长持续缩短，在无积雪背景下，冬季毛色为白色的个体的适合度（fitness）更低。

本研究基于2713份已知冬季毛色的地理参考（georeferenced）样本，这些样本来自8个分属不同营养级的物种，最终鉴定出受环境驱动的冬季毛色渐变梯度，其中包含冬季棕色与白色毛色形态型共存的多态区域。

现有全球保护区网络对这类多态区域的覆盖度不足，而这些区域恰恰是气候变化背景下进化拯救的热点区域。