Climate change and timing of avian breeding and migration: evolutionary versus plastic changes.

ABSTRACT: There are multiple observations around the globe showing that in many avian species, both the timing of migration and breeding have advanced, due to warmer springs. Here, we review the literature to disentangle the actions of evolutionary changes in response to selection induced by climate change versus changes due to individual plasticity, that is, the capacity of an individual to adjust its phenology to environmental variables. Within the abundant literature on climate change effects on bird phenology, only a small fraction of studies are based on individual data, yet individual data are required to quantify the relative importance of plastic versus evolutionary responses. While plasticity seems common and often adaptive, no study so far has provided direct evidence for an evolutionary r

SUBMITTER: Charmantier A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3894895 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature