Camouflage mismatch in seasonal coat color due to decreased snow duration.

ABSTRACT: Most examples of seasonal mismatches in phenology span multiple trophic levels, with timing of animal reproduction, hibernation, or migration becoming detached from peak food supply. The consequences of such mismatches are difficult to link to specific future climate change scenarios because the responses across trophic levels have complex underlying climate drivers often confounded by other stressors. In contrast, seasonal coat color polyphenism creating camouflage against snow is a direct and potentially severe type of seasonal mismatch if crypsis becomes compromised by the animal being white when snow is absent. It is unknown whether plasticity in the initiation or rate of coat color change will be able to reduce mismatch between the seasonal coat color and an increasingly snow-free bac

SUBMITTER: Mills LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3645584 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature