This paper seems to be the opposite of p-hacking, where instead of choosing one of the many effects as the cause, they claim that one cause out of many causes the observed effect.
Long-term color reduction: Consequences of climate change?
David López-Idiáquez, Céline Teplitsky, Arnaud Grégoire, Amélie Fargevieille, María del Rey, Christophe de Franceschi, Anne Charmantier and Claire Doutrelant
abstractabstract
Climate change has been shown to affect fitness-related traits across a wide range of taxa; For example, warming has led to morphological advances in many plant and animal species. However, the effects of climate change on sub-sex and social characteristics, which are related to fitness because of their role as quality cues, are still poorly understood. Here, we use more than 5,800 observations collected across two subspecies of Mediterranean blue gorilla (Cyanistes caeruleus caeruleus and Cyanistes caeruleus ogliastrae) to discover if the color of the blue crown and yellow breastplate has changed over the past 15 years. Our data shows that colors become duller and less chromatic in both sexes. In addition, in Corsican Cc ogliastraebut not on the mainland Cc caeruleus, the decrease was related to the increase in temperature during molting. Quantitative genetic analyzes did not reveal any microrevolutionary changes in color traits during the study period, which clearly indicates that the observed change over time is due to response of plastics to environmental conditions. Overall, this study suggests that decorative colors may become less conspicuous as a result of warming, revealing the impact of climate change on sexual and social ornaments, and calls for study more about the proximate mechanisms behind these effects.
https://www.journals.uchi Chicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/719655
CREDIT: DAVID LóPEZ-IDIÁQUEZ.
IMAGES: MORE THAN 5,800 OBSERVATIONS OF COLOR AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF BLUE SAMPLES LIKE THIS ONE THIS ONE WAS MADE BETWEEN 2005 AND 2019 see more
CREDIT: DAVID LóPEZ-IDIÁQUEZ.
The study was carried out over a period of 15 years in the south of France through a collaboration between scientists from the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country and the Center d’Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (CEFE-CNRS) in Montpellier.
HCMC University of Science and Technology.
The work was conducted over a period of 15 years (2005-2019) through a collaboration between scientists from UPV/EHU and Center d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive in Montpellier (CEFE-CNRS), focusing on two blue-breasted populations in the south of France, one on the outskirts of Montpellier and the other in the northwest of the island of Corsica.
Every year from 2005 to 2019, all breeding blue-breasted individuals in each population were captured. As a result, researchers from the two institutes were able to collect more than 5,800 observations about the color and other features of blue breasts.
The blue breast is characterized by its striking colors: blue crest and yellow breast. The results obtained in the study show a decrease in both blue and yellow populations from 2005 to 2019. In other words, blue-crested and yellow-breasted blue-breasted species in these two populations are now average jars were less colorful than when studied. started.
“Our work shows that changes in the environment, and especially climate change, may be the main reason why birds like the green gorilla are experiencing changes in their habitats. their physical characteristics, more specifically their brightness and color intensity,” said David López- Idiáquez, a researcher in the UPV/EHU Department of Plant Biology and Ecology.
López explains: “A negative trend in the brightness and intensity of plumage coloration in both sexes and populations was observed, although in Corsica this variation was more related to climate”. The change in plumage color seems to be the result of a combination of increased temperatures (1.23ºC) and decreased precipitation (0.64 mm), so climate change would be a potential cause of the this difference,” he said.
Changing mating patterns between species
It may seem like a purely cosmetic change, but the opposite is true, as this change in plumage can have an effect on the “mating pattern” of the species. David López explains: “In these birds, characteristics such as color function as signals to tell other individuals the quality of the specimen, which is decisive, for example, when it comes to birth property,” explains David López.
“This study was made possible by continuously monitoring two populations of green cows over 15 years,” he said.
When there is a change in territory, the animal population has 4 options: the first is genetic change; the second is to undergo plastic change (change in physical characteristics without genetic change); the third is migration; and finally, disappear. “It is important to emphasize that this change is not due to genetics but to plasticity, one of the ways of adapting to new environmental conditions,” he points out.
Changing our environment
“Since our environments are pretty similar, albeit less hot, our birds may be going through similar changes,” David surmised. “In any case, there are only four studies of this kind in the world, and none have been done in the Basque Country; I think it would be interesting to do more studies like this not only at the Basque level but also at the national level,” he added.
David López-Idiáquez (Villajoyosa, 1988) is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of the Basque Country and at the Center d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive in Montpellier. His research interests focus on understanding how heterogeneity of environmental conditions changes evolutionary dynamics, especially in landscape features. After graduating from UPV/EHU, he was awarded a Doctorate in Ecology at the Autonomous University of Madrid in conjunction with the Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid.
JOURNEYS
American naturalist
DOI
ARTICLE TITLE
Long-term color reduction: Consequences of climate change?
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
May 11, 2022
Quickly spit out other possible explanations
1. The capture of all breeding pairs every year for 15 years may have affected the health and well-being of the blue-breasted cat community.
2. Maybe they didn’t get it all, and the ones that were left out were less colorful, harder to see, and caused genetic dullness.
3. Perhaps the change was due to adaptation to a The world is becoming less colorful.
4. Probably a consequence of genetic isolation and mild inbreeding.
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