Climate Change Impact No. 326: The Birds Start Sleeping Around

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-06/climate-change-impact-no-326-the-birds-start-sleeping-around.html


Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus) pair arguing at wintering site, Kussharo-ko, Hokkaido, Japan.

***SNIP

The cheating makes sense once the authors walk through the logic and evidence. When the environment changes, different traits can become more attractive to prospective mates. For example, if it's suddenly drier and you are going to have to dig deeper for worms, it might be nicer to have a spouse with a bigger beak (if you follow me).

All these broken nests, tumultuous in the short term, could end up making species more resilient to unpredictable environments. More pairings, and more offspring, mix up the gene pool. That increases the chances that young tweeters will be born with traits better suited for the new conditions.

Humans are pretty good at insulating themselves from the natural world, which makes an analogous study of modern marriage pretty hard to conduct, according to lead author Carlos Botero of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center. Income, market volatility and prices are things that affect our lives more directly than longer growing seasons do.

Still, "I wouldn't completely discount the effects of simple environmental variables," like precipitation and temperature, Botero said by email. "They clearly have effects on our economy," he said. "We know they affect our behavior in meaningful ways."