Survival of the Fittest: Which Animals Are Most Suited to Survive Climate Change?

A recent study's subject of which animals will fare the best under climate change.

Extreme weather events like protracted droughts and torrential downpours are happening more frequently as the average global temperature rises, and they will only worsen in the coming decades.

What will happen to the ecosystems of the planet?

According to biologist John Jackson, "That is the big question and the context for our study."

Jackson just published a new study in the journal eLife with the assistance of his biologists Christie Le Coeur from the University of Oslo and Owen Jones from the University of Southern Denmark.

Who Gets to Adapt?

(Photo : David Heiling/Unsplash)

John Jackson is a student at Oxford University right now, but he was enrolled at the University of Southern Denmark while the study was conducted. Associate professor of biology at the University of Southern Denmark is Owen Jones.

The researchers combined population change information from 157 mammal species worldwide with meteorological and climatic data from when the animal data were obtained. For each species, they gathered data for at least ten years.

They now better understand how populations of various animal species have fared during periods of extreme weather: Did their number grow or shrink? How did the number of their children change?

We can observe a pattern: Animals with long lifespans and few offspring are less susceptible to harsh weather than those with short lifespans and numerous offspring. As opposed to mice, possums, and uncommon marsupials like the woylie, examples include llamas, long-lived bats, and elephants stated Owen Jones.

Also Read: Due to Climate Change, this Species of "Walking" Shark is Evolving to Adapt Harsher Conditions

Large Animals Surviving

(Photo : Ranjith Jaya (Unsplash))

The study discovered that animals less affected by harsh weather included the African elephant, Siberian tiger, chimpanzee, larger horseshoe bat, llama, vicuña, white rhinoceros, grizzly bear, American bison, klipspringer, and Schreibers' bat.

The ability of large, long-lived animals to survive, breed, and raise their young is not as significantly impacted by environmental factors like extended drought as it is for small, short-lived animals. When circumstances get difficult, they can, for instance, focus their efforts on only one child or perhaps wait for better times.

On the other hand, little rodents with short lifespans experience more drastic short-term population shifts. Large portions of their food source, such as insects, flowers, and fruits, may disappear more quickly in the event of a protracted drought; for example, because they have a finite amount of fat reserves, they may be left to starve.

Because these small mammals can generate more young than large mammals, their populations may increase to capitalize on favorable conditions.

"These small mammals respond swiftly to extreme weather in both directions. According to John Jackson, the probability of extinction should not be linked with their susceptibility to extreme weather.

More Threats

(Photo : Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

He also reminds us that when determining an animal species' vulnerability to extinction, its capacity to tolerate climate change cannot be taken into account alone:

"Many animal species are threatened by habitat destruction, poaching, pollution, and invasive species-in many cases much more so than climate change," he added.

Climate change may cause habitat suitability to shift, forcing species to relocate as their current habitats become uninhabitable. These changes are based on a species' life strategy and can significantly alter how an ecosystem functions.