University of Zagreb. Faculty of Science. Department of Biology.
Abstract
Klimatske promjene česta su tema u medijima i znanosti. Biologe osobito zanima utjecaj koji
promijenjena ili nestabilna klima može imati na biocenozu. Osnovnim reakcijama na
promjenu abiotičkih uvjeta smatraju se promjena areala i lokalna izumiranja. Ovaj rad želi
predstaviti treću, često spominjanu, ali još ne posve istraženu mogućnost, evolucijski odgovor
na klimatske promjene. Cilj je predstaviti probleme s kojima se znanstvena zajednica susreće
pri istraživanju potencijalnih evolucijskih odgovora na klimatske promjene, primjere koji bi
mogli nuditi argument za i protiv takvog odgovora te prikazati različite načine na koje klima
potencijalno utječe na evoluciju kako indirektno tako i direktno. Naglasak je stavljen na odnos
evolucije i fenotipske plastičnosti te različitih prostorno-vremenskih razina na kojima se
evolucijski odgovor može proučavati – trenutno, u geološkoj prošlosti i u budućnosti.Climate change is a very frequent theme of both scientific inquiries and media reports. The
effect of changing or unstable climate on the biota is of the particular interest for biologists. It
is widely accepted that the main course of action for populations under climactic stress are
extinction and range change. This work aims to present another often considered but not fully
investigated option - evolutionary response to climate change. The goal is to present the
problems that scientific community faces when investigating potential evolutionary responses
on climate change, to put forward some examples which could represent arguments for and
against viability of such responses and show several different possibility for mechanisms of
climate as indirect and direct factor of evolution. Emphasize is put on relationship of
evolution and phenotypic plasticity and different time and range scales in which evolutionary
responses can be studied, currently, in geological past and in the future
