Russians are Rushin' Towards Adaption

http://consequencesbynoor.com/yuri-kozyrev-nomadic-nenet-tribes-under-heavy-threat-from-global-warming/

By Anders Orn

Similar to controversial topics like stem-cell research, abortion, and gay rights, the issue of global warming is heavily discussed today. The entire world and all of mankind is doomed to burn in searing temperatures, as sea levels rise to the point that entire coastlines will be completely submerged, and entire ecosystems will cease to exist. And all in a few decades, right? Obviously, this explanation of global warming is the over-exaggerated version, but people who make this claim have the right idea. These events could happen, given the right circumstances- and the continuous stupidity of political leaders. However, it seems as if judgment day will be postponed to a later date due to new and upcoming research for renewable energy sources. Until these renewable energy sources we all hear about begin to take effect, we are seeing the beginnings of these apocalyptic effects of global warming all over the world.

Global air temperatures and ocean temperatures have been rising for years now, about one degree in the last half century. Such temperature increases raise the sea level and are melting polar ice sheets. Numerous populations are being forced to migrate or futilely attempt to evolve as fast as the weather is changing. A popular example these days is the gut-wrenching sight of innocent polar bears stranded on a lone piece of ice in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Although horrifying events like this are occurring all over the world, some ecosystems and civilizations remain strong and flexible. Organisms in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YNAO), on Russia’s West Siberian plain, have faced temperature increases of 1-2 degrees Celsius over the last 30 years, yet have managed to adapt and change their methods of survival in order to prosper in their harsh tundra environment.

Although tundra ecosystems are normally bare of inhabitants, there are a few species of organism that call the unforgiving tundra home. In the flat lands of western Russia, a small population of 5,000 Yamal-Nenet people survive by herding thousands of reindeer, but only just a fraction of the 600,000 that live there. Other than those two populations, there are not many more organisms that thrive there. Therefore, even the most miniscule of changes can have severe effects on the socio-economic culture as well as the ecosystem.

With climate change comes warmer temperatures, obviously, but that does not necessarily mean that cold temperatures won’t occur. In reality, the warmer temperatures lead to more unpredictable weather. Three times in the last 12 years, 1999, 2006, and 2007, large ice storms covered hundreds of square kilometers of vegetation in Siberian lands. With ice smothering mile after mile of grass, reindeer have nothing to eat, and therefore, neither do the nomads. In 2007, a group of herders lost approximately 25% of their animals due to cold and starvation. Pregnant female reindeer who were malnourished delivered stillborns or even died themselves because they simply could not get enough food. So even though a trend of warming temperatures is currently underway even in the frozen plains of Siberia, the hardest hitting impact is actually the less-frequent bouts of subzero weather.

In addition to the climate, increasing human inhabitation has lowered the amount of freshwater in the rivers and lakes. During the summer, the local herders, rather than butcher the young of their herd, prefer to fish for a few months and allow their animals to mature to adulthood. The lakes are drying up, and airports, sand quarries, and other construction sites are being put in place of them. Without a major water source, and therefore a primary source of food, the herders face a major problem, starvation. Also, the increase of inhabitants in the western Siberian plains decreases the amount of land that the Yamal-Nenet have to work with. With an annual migration of thousands of miles, loss of grazing land can be detrimental to reindeer and their cultivation. Human inhabitation is slowly choking out one of the last nomadic peoples by cutting off their progressively diminishing food sources.

Now, here’s where everything gets interesting. Even with global warming looming and a possible future development for an industrial powerhouse, this environment and its inhabitants are adapting. Everything is okay there! However, the Yamal-Nenet people have less to work with, yes. The occurrence of ice storms happening every few years, there is no food during those tough winters. Yet, new shrubs and grasses have emerged, and have proven to be more productive and successful in growing. As many forms of biomass are dwindling, increases in highly productive, nutritious, and digestible forms of shrubs are giving a large sense of hope for the reindeer and, in turn, the Nenet people.

In the shadow of all the negative global warming repercussions, the frozen Siberian plains of western Russia is proving to be one of the most resistant communities to the climate change effects. The resiliency is a positive symbol of hope for the rest of the world. It is one of the ecosystems and socio-economic cultures that is surviving, and even flourishing within the crumbling world. And this is powerful for the select few who believe that the world is indeed speeding down a spiral of overwhelming temperature increases. If one population of Arctic nomads and their reindeer can make it, so can the rest of the world.

Original Article:

Forbes, Bruce, and Florian Stammler, et al. "High resilience in the Yamal-Nenets social- ecological system, West Siberian Arctic, Russia." Proceedings of the National Academy of the Natural Sciences. 106.52 (2009): 22041-22048. Print.

Exercising without forcing yourself to

Scales, measuring tapes, salads, and palates classes – America is in a frenzy of fitness fever and health consciousness as the awareness of obesity, heart disease, and depression become more prominent in society. Health education is becoming more emphasized in schools and people are slowly beginning to turn to a more active lifestyle. Even television shows, i.e. NBC’s the Biggest Loser, are pushing for this change. Sadly, even though many of us know the benefits of exercise, we tend to stay glued to our laptops rather than going outside for a nice jog.

According to research, exercising is a healthy habit and is beneficial to everyone. Not only does it lower the risk of heart disease, but also heightens self-esteem and our sense of well-being, among many other things. Although people are aware of its benefits, most people do not engage in regular exercise, and according to researchers Puente and Anshel, fifty percent of beginner exercisers drop out of their exercise plan in the first few months. This doesn't look too good for those of us that cling to our laptops and comfy bed.

For people who have never exercised before, exercising can be the biggest challenge they’ve ever faced. Lacking self-motivation and having a high level of self-conscious, beginner exercisers often seek help from other people, particularly professional trainers. According to the US bureau of Labor, the demand of fitness trainers has increased from about 16,000 in 2008 to approximately 20,000 in 2010. It is expected to grow as more and more people turn to others for help. However, does hiring a trainer or joining a fitness club really help?

Although it seems reasonable for beginner exercisers to seek help from trainers, a benefit may not always be the result. If the trainer and exerciser are unable to communicate on friendly terms things may not go so well and the search for motivation is blocked. To better understand the relationship between instructors and exercisers, researchers Rogelio Puente and Mark Anshel conducted a study where they surveyed college students and the factors that influence their motivation to continue exercising.

Rogelio Puente and Mark Anshel focused their study on the influence of a fitness instructor. In their research, a fitness instructor was defined as any person who helps an exerciser engage in their activities. This includes friends, family members, coaches, and professional trainers. In the study, Puente and Anshel were observing these things: instructor-exerciser interaction affects the motivation to be personally independent and to perform well; and the level of motivation affects the enjoyment of exercise and how often that person exercises. These hypotheses were derived from the self-determination theory (SDT), which suggests that a person’s level of motivation varies and the variance affects the physical and mental health of that person.

To carry out this study, Puente and Anshel obtained 238 volunteers that were undergraduate students in the Midwestern United States. The volunteers were asked to fill out six different surveys that measured motivation; support of coaches or fitness instructors according to the individual; performance; independence; positive and negative behavior effects; and enjoyment of the activities. The answers from the volunteers gave support to the hypotheses; therefore, indicating that an exerciser’s willingness to exercise can be greatly influenced by their interactions with their instructors.

According to the study, the more supportive and positive an instructor is the better the performance, as well as the self-motivation, of the exerciser. This results in gaining pleasure and enjoyment from the activities and will become less dependent on outside (i.e. instructors) encouragement and become more independent, exercising without their help. Exercising will be more enjoyable and fun rather than goal oriented.

The researchers also tested a method of preparing an exercise routine. The trainers were required to have a list of activities for the exerciser to choose from. This list provided a list of options allowing the exerciser to have freedom, while also having some control of their own fitness. Exercisers chose activities they enjoyed which resulted in a greater amount of participation. From the research we can see this relationship: instructor → motivation → consistent exercising → Self-motivation → enjoyment → independence.

Before you set down your laptop and change your thoughts about jogging think first “will I enjoy this?” If no, think of something better for you to do that will encourage you to continue exercising. The lesson learned here is that, we can’t force ourselves to do something we don’t like, nor can anyone else. However, this doesn’t mean we can’t find alternatives that are more favorable to us. If independent exercisers can find their own rhythm of exercise, so can the rest of us. Instructors may be able to influence us by affecting our moods, but only we can control how to use that influence efficiently. Self-motivation and enjoying what you’re doing is the key. So, how about bike riding with some friends or playing street soccer with your buddies instead? It sounds good to me.

References: PUENTE, R. and ANSHEL, M. H. (2010), Exercisers’ perceptions of their fitness instructor's interacting style, perceived competence, and autonomy as a function of self-determined regulation to exercise, enjoyment, affect, and exercise frequency. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51: 38–45. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00723.x

"Athletic Trainers." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. .

Where the Wild Things Are: How Childhood Self-Control Affects Your Life

Remember the days of using paper fortune tellers, magic eight balls, and schoolyard games to predict your life? What if there was a more accurate method of determining a slice of your future? According to a study conducted by Dudedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development, there is. The purpose of this study was to test whether it would be cost-effective, for society’s benefit, to design programs that improve self-control among individuals. Researchers predicted that observing the self-control levels of young children could be used to determine what certain aspects of their lives might look like as adults. Sure enough, the study revealed that children’s levels of self-control could be used to predict their future health, financial statuses, and participation in crime.

Dudedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development used a longitudinal study, meaning that participants were observed in natural settings for extended periods of time. Because researchers wanted to draw data about self-control and its long-term effects on individual lives, they believed that a longitudinal study would be most appropriate and would produce the most accurate results. Experimental studies, which are typically brief and conducted in laboratory settings, would not have been as effective. Performance in laboratory experiments is not the best indication of behavior in the real world.

In the Dudedin study, a group of 1037 people who were born in the same year in Dudedin, New Zealand were studied from birth to the age of 32. Levels of self-control were evaluated among these people, from as early as age 3, by observing how they behaved on a day-to-day basis. These levels of childhood self-control were then placed on a scale (eg: maniac to angel, but in nicer terms), which served as a model for levels of self-control among society as a whole. Researchers believed that if the outcomes of the participants’ lives were patterned according to the scale of self-control, this would provide significant evidence that improving self-control (even by small amounts) would improve society’s health and wealth while reducing crime. Economists thought that this might even save the money of taxpayers. And who would complain about that?

However, there’s a catch. Researchers had to make sure that factors other than self-control did not influence the participants’ health, wealth, and criminal records as adults. Because the purpose of the study was to show whether improving self-control would improve society, it was crucial to test the influence of self-control alone. For this reason, researchers made sure in advance that the influences of factors such as intelligence, class, gender, and family life had already been accounted for and did not skew the results.

The health and wealth statuses and criminal records of the group of 1037 participants of the Dudedin study were observed at age 32. Those who had lower levels of self-control as children were found to have more health issues and were more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol as adults. They were also less careful with money, more likely to struggle financially, and more likely to be convicted of crime. To view these results, see Figure A below.

Figure A

The results, then, matched up well with the scale of self-control levels, showing that the development of programs to improve self-control would successfully contribute to the bettering of society.

Dudedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development did a second, similar test among 500 pairs of siblings from birth to age 12. Called The Environmental-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, its results closely paralleled those of the group of 1037, while removing the possibility for the factors of class and upbringing to influence the results. Studying the pairs showed that the siblings who had less self-control were more likely to engage in risky behaviors and make bad decisions that could be harmful to their health, wealth, and safety in the future.

Though the Dudedin study supported that developing self-control improvement programs would be effective, it never actually implemented such a program. It did, however, seek to discover what age ranges to target with these programs. Because teenage years are typically viewed as critical years in life where people begin to become more independent and make their own decisions, researchers closely observed the 1037 case studies during teenage years, looking at things such as dropout rates, smoking, and unplanned pregnancy. Researchers found that those who had less self-control as children were more likely to make “mistakes” that would significantly affect their futures, and that those whose self-control levels were the lowest made the most mistakes. This data supported that it would be beneficial to target self-control improvement programs at teenagers, so that their behavior could be corrected and they could be rerouted to the road less traveled by.

At the same time, researchers found that determining self-control levels among 3-5 year olds correctly predicted health and wealth statuses and crime involvement even among those who didn’t end up making “mistakes” as teenagers. Therefore, would it be fair to only benefit the ones who did and in a sense punishing those who didn’t? The thought brings me back to the days when the “good kids” were punished with silent lunch in elementary school for things they didn’t do, simply because a few kids made a few bad choices. Because the study results showed that the futures of people could be so greatly affected by how self-controlled they were as young children, researchers were given reason to believe that it would also be advantageous to target the self-control improvement programs at young children. Therefore, researchers decided that it would be best to plan self-control interventions for individuals when they are young children as well as for when they are teenagers. This would be most efficient, and therefore most cost-effective.

For a graphic outline of the design of the Dudedin study, see Figure B below.

Figure B

The Dudedin study answered a lot of questions, but in terms of putting those results into action, another question arises: should programs focus on improving the self-control of a particular group, or of everyone? According to the Dudedin study’s idea that a small shift would make a large impact, both would benefit society’s health, wealth, and safety. It seems as though targeting one level on the self-control scale would be most cost-effective, but attempting to serve everyone on the scale would likely gain more support. Once this question is answered, support can be gained for self-improvement programs and the first steps at developing them can begin. So maybe we should turn to those schoolyard games after all – they may not predict the future, but at least they can help us make a decision.

Reference:
Moffitt, Terrie, Louise Arseneault, Daniel Belsky, Nigel Dickson, Robert Hancox, et al. "A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108.7 (2011): 2693-2698. Web. 11 Mar 2011.

Photo Credit: http://www.correctchildrenbehavior.com

Figure A Link: http://www.pnas.org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/content/108/7/2693/F2.large.jpg

Figure B Link: http://www.pnas.org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/content/108/7/2693/F1.large.jpg

Weather Change Make Owls Lose their Tan

There are lots of differences in traits within a species. Looking just at us humans, the number of differences is endless. Whether comparing our skin color or the shape of our noses, there are many different possibilities. How do we, as individuals, end up looking the way we do? We inherit these traits from our parents. But, where did they get it from? How were these differences first determined? Could it be based on the environment they were in when the beginning of the line was created? And, if so, does that mean it’s possible for the traits of a population to change if they lived in a certain environment for a long time? Evidence for this change, known as microevolution, has yet to be proven. That is, until Patrik Karell found something strange occurring with the owls in Finland.

The tawny owl, strix aluco, is a bird commonly found around Europe. It has two distinct colors, grey and brown. Based on a number of observation, Karell, by process of elimination, has found that the number of brown owls in comparison to those of grey changes as the climate changes. He observed that when the snow in Finland, where he studied the owls, increased compared to years before, simultaneously the number of brown owls compared to grey ones decreased. Vice versa, when the amount of snow decreased, the amount of brown owls in comparison to grey ones increased. It’s important to understand that this change in color is not like people getting tans in the summer, when the sun’s out, and then becoming pale again in the winter when they are out of sunlight. These owls stay one color throughout their life. This frequent change means that this trait is highly heritable and is, therefore, a good way to observe whether or not the environment has an effect on heritable traits.


Figure 1: According to the chart, the number of grey owls is greater than the number of brown owls.

According to Karell, there was definitely some sort of a connection between climate change and the amount of brown tawny owls. It was evident that brown tawny owls were more sensitive to harsh winters than grey ones were. Karell came up with 3 explanations to this. The first possibility was that the predation of brown owls was more extreme in the snow. Because brown is spotted more in the snow than grey, their enemies found them sooner and more often. However, this theory was knocked because it’s biggest threat, the eagle owl, does not hunt using its eyes. It is similar to playing a game of tag when the tagger is blindfolded. You’re not hiding but they can’t see you and rely on other senses to find you. The second explanation is that the coloration is connected to another trait that effects the survival of the owls such as metabolism or immune system. Third, the coloration requires more energy to stay stabilized and is therefore more vulnerable. There is not enough knowledge to fully understand the second and third explanations; therefore, Karell looked at other information to explain the climate and coloration relationship.

Karell also focused on the fact that not only did the population of the brown owl decrease during harsh winters, but it also increased during lighter winters. This could have been due to microevolution, random changes in genes, or physical changes caused by the environment. The increase in the brown owls was observed in the entire population of Finnish tawny owls. This would be similar to a teacher refusing to believe that they hadn’t assigned homework for the night before even though one had done the assignment she had supposedly assigned. A collection of random coincidences? I think not. Likewise, it would be silly to believe that the entire population of Finnish owls were becoming brown was random. The gene changes were not random. The last theory, in which the owl has the ability to adjust their appearances as a result of the environmental changes, was disproved. Owls are not like chameleons, they stay the same color their whole life. If a change in the amount of brown owls was being observed, it was due to the amount of brown owls being born.

Karell and his team were able to prove that there is microevolution occurring, as seen within the tawny owls, in relation to climate change. Why is this important? This shows that climate changes are affecting natural selection within populations. This is the first piece of evidence that proves that populations are capable of evolving to adjust to climate changes. More information relating to the relationship between evolution and climate changes can be found here.

Works Cited

Karell, P. et al. Climate change drives microevolution in a wild bird. Nat. Commun.2:208 doi: 10.1038/ncomms1213 (2011).

Bye-Bye Bumble Bees

Think back on a hot summer day when you’re laughing and having a good time with some friends at a cook out by the pool. Suddenly, after hearing a feint buzzing sound in your ear and you find yourself writhing in pain and your fun in the sun is ruined. Because of times like this, a typical observer would probably think of bumble bees as little other than a nuisance or pest. A more typical opinion would probably be to wish they did not exist. However, if you wish this you probably never took into consideration the consequences of their disappearance, or knew these consequences could be quite severe. Bumble bees are so commonly found in the world that nearly all of us take their existence for granted.

Could you imagine an increase in world hunger due to scarcity of food? What if the price of agricultural resources, like food or cotton, doubled? What if the last pair of sneakers you bought cost $160 instead of $80? Without worldwide pollinators such as bumble bees, all of these things could happen. Bumble bees make great contributions to the environment and play a vital role in increasing the efficiency of pollen transfer in million dollar crops, such as tomatoes and berries. These little creatures help our nation agriculturally, economically, and environmentally. Unfortunately, there have been observations that reveal the bumble bee population in North America is slowly decreasing.

In the article “Patterns of widespread decline in North American bumble bees,” scientists came up with two possible reasons for the decrease of bumble bees. One factor is Nosema bombi, a parasite which lives inside cells. This parasite is found commonly in bumble bees and is a pathogen, which is an infectious germ. Scientists investigated the relationship between patterns in population decline and levels of infection. They examined 6,708 specimens for presence of parasites and found a significantly higher amount of N. bombi in the fast declining species of bumble bees. The trend for other slower declining species was less strong. However, there is still additional need to study other known bumble bee infections and possible viruses that could contribute to the observed species that are decreasing in numbers.

The other factor that affects the decline of bumble bees is lower range-wide genetics caused by inbreeding between smaller populations. The study of the two types of bumble bees B. occidentalis and B. pensylvanicusshows that they may typically live in smaller colonies than other species that live together, which could play a role in declining population. Since these two types of bumble bees have small populations, there is a higher chance of inbreeding and genetic drift, both of which make the bumble bees more vulnerable to infectious agents like N. bombi. Genetic drift means a random change in allele frequencies that can lead to loss of genetic diversity. An easy way to understand this concept is to pretend alleles are last names. If a family had the last name Brown and everyone in the family had daughters, none of their children would have the last name Brown. Therefore, this last name would be gone in this family. Genetic drifts are more likely to happen in small populations. It may be easier for bumble bees from small colonies to lose the genes that help them resist these parasites.

Although there have been observations of declining bumble bee populations, there is not concrete evidence to support that this is truly happening. Due to survey protocols and limited geographic scope of studies, scientists can only obtain limited sampling and cannot draw conclusions about the general population of bumble bees. For example, you want to determine whether or not all the oranges on an island are juicy and sweet, but the master of the tribe living on the island only allows you to take sample oranges from the trees on the northeast side. The northeast side happens to be the side with the least sun and water; therefore the oranges in this area will most likely be less sweet than the oranges on the rest of the island. These sample oranges will not be able to represent all the oranges on the island. In relation to bumble bees, limited sampling of the bumble bees may cause skewed results.

In order to overcome the problem of limited sampling and test the validity of the declining of bumble bee population, scientists compared historical collection records with those from current field surveys from 2007 to 2009. It is found that the species of bumble bees are less abundant across the nation than they used to be. As figure 1 illustrates, the bumble bee species B. occidentalis that was once among the broadest geographic ranges of any bumble bee species in North America are now only abundant throughout the intermountain west and Rocky Mountains. Although many species of these bees are less abundant on current studies than historical records, there are still some species that remain relatively abundant and widespread, such as B. bifarius, B. vosnesenskii, B. bimacultatus, and B. impatiens.

Figure 1. The relative abundance of different kinds of bumble bee species

Understanding the connection between pathogen infection levels and population genetic factors will be a promising possibility for future research to explore species and the relationship between population-specific genetic differences and N. bombi infection. This would provide an important test of the hypothesis that the N. bombi infection is causing the population decline. By doing this, we may be able to discover a way to prevent the declining of bumble bees.

Why is preventing the declining of bumble bee populations such an important global concern for us? The loss of pollinator diversity may have wide-range effects on both natural and agricultural systems. The decline of bumble bee populations has raised many concerns over impacts on global food production, stability of pollination services, and disruption of plant–pollinator networks. This has become a worldwide issue that we must work to come up with a solution for. Having bumble bees around are like having an annoying little brother; although they can be annoying sometimes, we cannot live without them.

Sources:

Cameron, Sydney A. “Patterns of widespread decline in North America bumble bees”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 108 (Jan. 2011): 662-667. Web. 18 Mar. 2011.

Link to Article

Is Brown the New Gray? Why the Popularity of Feather Color is Changing for the Tawny Owl

By Heather Mills, Chapel Hill, NC

Photo credit: MacJewell/Creative Commons

The Tawny Owl population in Finland is changing colors from gray to brown. The gray owl used to have a better chance of surviving in the winter snow, but now due to climate change the playing field has shifted in favor of the brown owl.

The geography and climate of the earth has without a doubt changed drastically over its long life span; so unsurprisingly the species that inhabit it have changed too. Every species naturally has individuals of a population who are more likely to survive and reproduce in their environment. Overtime as these “more fit” individuals have more and more offspring, they become more prevalent in the population. This process is known as microevolution and it is how species are able to adapt to new environments. It is assumed that global climate change, due to global warming, will cause an increase in microevolution in species. But these millions of years of adaptations can also be the downfall for some species in the face of climate change if they cant adapt quick enough. Species are obviously changing continuously, however it is a difficult task to scientifically prove that microevolution is occurring as a result of recent climate change since there are many factors that contribute it. Despite the difficulty, Patrik Karell from the University of Helsinki has done it. Karell and his team at the university of Helsinki, studied the feather colors of a population of tawny owl in Finland and proved that climate change is causing a change in feather color. But how exactly can this relationship be proved?

The tawny owl population in Finland is an ideal candidate for a study on microevolution. It has long been known that the gray tawny owl has a survival advantage over the brown tawny owl and it has therefore existed in a larger proportion. The gray owl blends into the snow in the winter, which is advantageous because it enables it to hide from predators. The tawny Owl population is also an ideal candidate for a study on microevolution because the trait that is favored, the feather color, is determined by genetics. Karell’s study, published in Nature Journal, proved there are two alleles, or sections of DNA, brown and gray, that determine the feather color. The brown allele is dominant, meaning it will beat the recessive gray allele in the competition for which color an owl is born.

Once the study determined the genetic basis for the adaptive trait, feather color, the study modeled the survival of the gray tawny owl verses the brown tawny owl. The study compiled information on the tawny owl population in Finland to model the survival of the different colored owls in relation to the climate. The study used data collected by amateur bird ringers from the Finnish Museum of Natural History, who used a capture-mark-recapture method. The capture-mark-recapture method used to collect the data involves capturing an owl from the wild, recording its feather color and tagging it, then releasing it back into the wild. Owls are then recaptured and using a specific formula based on the number of tagged owls captured, the population of brown and gray owls is estimated. They tracked the number of each color over time with relation to the climate for a total of 28 years. This data became a great resource for this study on microevolution.

Karell and his team compiled the data and examined trends in the color of tawny Owls. The results demonstrated that brown individuals have a lower survival rate in deeper snow. Brown owls stand out in the snow and are consequently susceptible to predators. Over the years of the study, the averages of snow decreased as a result of warming average temperatures. As the snow decreased, the number of gray owls remained constant but the number of brown owls increased. The environment no longer fights against the survival of the brown owl so its numbers have increased. The brown owl can blend into the environment in the absence of heavy snow, which helps it survive. The data used in the study is summarized in the graphs below.

The shift in the frequency of brown owls is significant and is greatly impacting the appearance of the tawny owl population in Finland. Gray owls and brown owls now exist at equal rates. So far the tawny owl has been lucky, their change in apperance has presented no threat to their survival. However this could mean trouble down the road for the tawny owl. Without its adaptive advantage, there will be a decline in the number of gray owls in the population of tawny owls. Since the brown feather color is dominate over the gray feather color they will soon outnumber gray owls. A loss of gray owls would mean a loss of genetic diversity. High genetic diversity is key to longterm survival of a species. Think about it this way, the more colors and types of shoes that are in your closet, the higher the diversity and the higher the chance you will find the perfect pair for an outfit. With only a few pairs, the chances of matching are slim. For animals this means trouble, without enough shoes, genes, they will not be able to adapt and survive in changing environments. As a society we must think about how our actions affect the species, like the tawny owl, who live on our planet, and practice eco-friendly behaviors for a healthier planet!

Reference: Karell, Patrik, Kari Ahola, Teuvo Karstinen, Jari Valkama, and Jon E. Brommer. "Climate Change Drives Microevolution in a Wild Bird." Nature Communications 2. 2011/02/22 (2011). Nature. Web. 01 Mar. 2011.

View the original article here: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n2/full/ncomms1213.html

Check out a news article on the change in the tawny owl feather color: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9401000/9401733.stm