Life history responses of meerkats to seasonal changes in extreme environments

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aau5905
• Publication Date: 2019-02-08T00:09:23Z
• Authors: Maria Paniw; Nino Maag; Gabriele Cozzi; Tim Clutton-Brock; Arpat Ozgul
• Keywords: Male; Population Density; 0301 basic medicine; 1000 Multidisciplinary; Multidisciplinary; Botswana; Herpestidae; Climate Change; Rain; Population Dynamics; Temperature; 15. Life on land; Adaptation, Physiological; 10127 Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies; 03 medical and health sciences; Fertility; 13. Climate action; 570 Life sciences; biology; 590 Animals (Zoology); Animals; Female; Seasons; Extreme Environments

Timing matters

How a species responds to rapid climate change is complicated. Paniw et al. used long-term data on the Kalahari meerkat, an arid specialist, to explore how predicted changes might affect population persistence over time. Warming and rainfall changes in one part of the year had a negative impact on survival and persistence, whereas similar changes during another part of the year had the opposite effect. Understanding such variability will be essential as we attempt to understand the broader influence of climate change.

Science , this issue p. 631