Phenotypic plasticity increases exposure to extreme climatic events that reduce individual fitness.

ABSTRACT: Climate models, and empirical observations, suggest that anthropogenic climate change is leading to changes in the occurrence and severity of extreme climatic events (ECEs). Effects of changes in mean climate on phenology, movement, and demography in animal and plant populations are well documented. In contrast, work exploring the impacts of ECEs on natural populations is less common, at least partially due to the challenges of obtaining sufficient data to study such rare events. Here, we assess the effect of changes in ECE patterns in a long-term study of great tits, near Oxford, over a 56-year period between 1965 and 2020. We document marked changes in the frequency of temperature ECEs, with cold ECEs being twice as frequent in the 1960s than at present, and hot ECEs being ~three times m

SUBMITTER: Regan CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10947444 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature