Incorporating evolutionary adaptation into climate change predictions

13th August
The Royal Society Room, South Australian Musem

Evolutionary adaptation can be rapid and help species counter stressful conditions or realize ecological opportunities arising from climate change. In this talk I discuss the challenges around understanding when evolution will occur, and identifying potential evolutionary winners and losers including species living near physiological limits that lack adaptive capacity. I discuss the ways evolutionary processes can be incorporated into programs designed to minimize biodiversity loss under rapid climate change. These challenges can be met through realistic models of evolutionary change linked to experimental data across a range of taxa.