Make no bones about it, it pays to be old — as a species — to survive environmental challenges.
Swiss researchers have found that vertebrates — creatures with backbones and skeletons — that have proven their evolutionary mettle will more likely be able to survive climatic changes.
“A species that has persisted through very long periods — and thus, survived across a wide range of environmental conditions — may be more resilient than a recently evolved taxon whose vulnerability has not yet been tested to the same degree,” the four University of Lausanne scientists wrote. “An important question is then what are the factors that affect a species’ age?”
Older, hardy species like sea lions and toads have avoided extinction for millions of years and have a greater chance to endure environmental challenges than their extinct counterparts, according to the study, the findings of which were reported in The Christian Science Monitor.
Dr. Sylvain Dubey and his colleagues compared 600 species around the world and created a “complete and clear picture of the factors shaping the resilience of species.”
The study, published Tuesday in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, determined that latitude, color and reproductive mode were very important — findings that could help determine which species will be susceptible to climate changes.
“Species that are color polymorphic, viviparous, and/or live at low latitudes have exhibited resilience to past environmental changes, and hence may be better able to deal with current climate change,” according to the study.
Color-polymorphic species — comprising those with at least two colors — were 1.86 million years older, on average, than single-color species.
“Body color plays a major role in the evolution of organisms as it is involved, for instance, in thermoregulation, prey-predator interaction, behaviour, protection against UV-light or abrasive agents,” the study found.
Polymorphic creatures such as owls and amphibians are better able to adapt to different habits, they found.
Viviparous species — which give birth to living young that develop inside the mother’s body — were found to be more resilient across all latitudes compared to their egg-laying counterparts.
The so-called oviparous species were found to be older at low latitudes and younger at higher ones — suggesting that egg-layers rely more on steady weather patterns to reproduce.
Species that are color-polymorphic, viviparous, and/or live at low latitudes have exhibited resilience to past environmental changes.
A team of ecologists and biologists confirmed last year that Earth is entering a sixth mass extinction with “an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last few centuries,” The Christian Science Monitor reported.
In the past 100 years, global extinction has increased a hundredfold, the scientists found, using “extremely conservative assumptions.”
“The earlier we identify and protect species in trouble, the more likely they survive and recover,” Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the news site.