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Why we find it so hard to save our own planet, and how we might change that.

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The Climate Question: Can animals evolve to deal with climate change?

Magazines & Reviews

14/03/2022 GMT

Can animals evolve to deal with climate change?

BBC World Service - The Climate Question, Can animals evolve to deal with climate change?

What role can evolution play in helping animals survive in a warming world?

Can animals adapt or evolve quickly enough to survive and even thrive on a warmer planet?

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 
Production Coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed 
Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell

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Can animals evolve to deal with climate change?

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