It reads: “The increased temperatures associated with climate change are likely to influence, among other things, the thermoregulatory demands placed on animals. The paper argues that shapeshifting is likely to continue as the climate becomes warmer. Bats in warm climates were shown to have increased wing size. Researchers have also reported tail length increases in wood mice, and tail and leg size increases in masked shrews. Meanwhile, research on the North American dark-eyed juncos, a type of small songbird, showed a link between increased bill size and short-term temperature extremes in cold environments. While the scientists say it is difficult to pinpoint climate breakdown as the sole cause of the shapeshifting, it is what the instances studied have in common across geographical regions and across a diverse array of species.Įxamples include several species of Australian parrot that have shown a 4-10% increase in bill size since 1871, positively correlated with the summer temperature each year. “It just means they are evolving to survive it – but we’re not sure what the other ecological consequences of these changes are, or indeed that all species are capable of changing and surviving.” The author of the study, Sara Ryding of Deakin university, a bird researcher, said: “Shapeshifting does not mean that animals are coping with climate change and that all is fine. The review, published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, found that the differences are particularly pronounced in birds. The beak of the mulga parrot ( Psephotus varius) has been increasing in size.
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