Hurricane Dorian has set a new record on storm strength. With such weather conditions becoming more and more widespread, experts are worried that the living species on the planet won't be able to survive the threat.
A researcher team at Washington University in St. Louis showed important insights on how plants and animals fare with the new norm in terms of weather and climate.
The conditions caused by climate change have indeed altered the life of people. It has done the same to plants and animals too, but not everyone is lucky to survive it.
Carlos Botero, a biology professor in Arts and Sciences, alongside with Thomas Haaland, a graduate of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, teamed up to develop a new model. The model will help scientists predict the kind of changes in weather conditions that could drive an entire species into extinction.
The study with results has been published in the Ecology and Evolution journal in late September of this year. The new research challenges the concept of how species that have been exposed to variable conditions could survive extreme weather events.
"It can be quite a challenge to predict how organisms would react to such weather conditions, primarily because these conditions have been considered rare," Botero said. "However, the model presents a good idea of how particular species respond to the current changes that they are experiencing in the environment." He further emphasized the importance of looking into the climatic regime that these species may have experienced in the past.
The researchers used a variety of tools to explore how life, from the tiniest of bacteria to humans, adapts with the changing environment and copes with what it has to offer. Botero partnered with a former student to develop a model that will show the evolutionary nature of life to show how creatures respond to the changes in their environment.
Through various computer simulations, the researchers were able to identify key traits and experiences that indicate moments of vulnerability. The key insight of this new discovery is that species can quickly adapt to more extreme conditions as long as they happen more frequently. Sadly, when the extremes become a bit more intense, the species find it difficult to adjust.
The results of the study challenge the idea that species that have been exposed to extreme situations in the past are likely to survive the impacts of climate change. What the study reveals is that the intensity of the environmental changes could be deadly even to those who have been exposed to similar situations in the past.
"The model we created simply helps researchers get a better understanding of when the condition actually becomes a problem," Botero said.
While the call to conserve the environment and its resources and reduce the use of plastic and carbon emissions could not reverse the impacts of climate change, it can help shift the balance and reduce the vulnerability of species under extreme conditions.
"It may just buy them enough time to change evolutionarily and allow themselves to adjust to the current conditions," Botero added.