Can animals sufficiently adapt to climate change?

A new study shows that in multiple animal species climate change causes changes in the life cycle, e.g. the timing of the egg hatching, or adaptations in their morphology, e.g. body size. GCE scientists Frank Adriaensen and Erik Matthysen have contributed to a newly published article in the interdisciplinary science. The new study shows that in multiple animal species climate change causes changes in the life cycle, e.g. the timing of the egg hatching, or adaptations in their morphology, e.g. body size. Earlier, this was shown in other studies also. However, the new research shows that the changes are 'adaptive' in some animal populations at least. This means the changes in the life cycle or the morphology help the animals to cope with the negative consequences of climate change, increasing population sustainability. While earlier studies showed changes in morphology and seasonality, they never showed that the changes gave the animals increasing survival chances.