As Climate Warming Accelerates, Deer On Scottish Island Now Give Birth Two Weeks Earlier
We usually think of evolution as a slow process that takes place over millions of years. However, a team of scientists has now documented how wild red deer on a Scottish island appear to be evolving over the space of decades—possibly in response to climate change—causing them to give birth earlier in the year.
According to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, these deer—which live on the Isle of Rum just off Scotland's west coast—have experienced genetic changes that have contributed to the animals having children nearly two weeks earlier over the course of the past four decades.
Previous studies by other groups of scientists have demonstrated that the deer on this island have been giving birth earlier, partly as a result of warmer temperatures that have altered their behavior and the functioning of their bodies. However, the latest study shines a light on the important role of adaptive genetic changes in this process. The researchers say that this work represents some of the first evidence that evolutionary changes are affecting the time of year that wild animals give birth.
"This is one of the few cases where we have documented evolution in action, showing that it may help populations adapt to climate warming," Timothée Bonnet, lead author of the study from the Australian National University, said in a statement. For their research, Bonnet and colleagues examined field records and genetic data scientists have collected from the deer population living on the island between 1972 and 2016.
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https://www.newsweek.com/red-deer-give-birth-year-climate-change-1470035