Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 372, 20160146 (2017)

Climate change and an increased frequency of extreme events is impacting, and will continue to impact, organisms. How organisms will cope is normally considered in terms of ecology due to the short or gradual nature of these stresses. Over longer timescales species can evolve to adapt to changing environments, however on shorter timescales evolution is rarely considered.

Now Peter Grant of Princeton University, USA, and co-authors consider contemporary evolution in the context of climate and extreme events. Whilst there are some examples of contemporary evolution discussed by the authors, evidence of such evolutionary response is limited due to a lack of genetic information. Extreme events put strong selection pressure on species, which can result in the alteration of communities and impact species interactions. These changes in community composition are likely triggers of evolution.

To gain understanding of species and population resilience in the face of on-going gradual climate change as well as episodic extreme events, the authors recommend consideration of both ecology and evolution in long-term field studies.