March 13, 2022

Can animals evolve to deal with climate change?

27 minutes

As climate change brings rising temperatures, droughts and shifting patterns of rainfall, animals are adapting to keep pace. Bird’s bodies are growing smaller, their wingspan longer, lizards are growing larger thumb pads to help them grip more tightly in hurricane strength winds, beak size is changing.

We visit the Galapagos, where evolution was first discovered by Charles Darwin, and investigate the many ways animals are adapting their behaviour and physiology to survive the impact of climate change. Changes to climate are also influencing animals’ genetics, meaning that we are seeing species evolve within our own lifetime.

However, most animals won’t be able to adapt quickly enough to cope with the speed they need to in order to survive in a warming world.

Presenters Jordan Dunbar and Kate Lamble look at what role evolution plays in helping animals adapt to climate change.

Contributors:

Kiyoko Gotanda, Assistant Professor at Brock University

Ramiro Tomala, Expedition leader, Metropolitan Touring in the Galapagos

Thor Hanson, conservationist and author of Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid

Anne Charmantier, Director of Research at Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Montpellier

With thanks to research carried out by Colin Donihue of Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.

Producer: Dearbhail Starr

Reporter: Mark Stratton

Series Producer: Alex Lewis

Editor: Nicola Addyman