Talk on Climate Change and Thermal Adaptation by Michael Logan on 29/3

Posted by Katie Duryea

Next week my grad student friend and academic brother, Mike Logan will be in the area and has agreed to give a talk at our EXEB meeting (Weizhao has nicely agreed to switch to the 17/5 meeting so we could use his spot.).

Mike is currently an NSF postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He does exiting work on thermal biology, thermal adaptation, and its relevance to climate change. Most of his work has been with lizards but he has been involved in some recent projects with insects, so I think his work will be interesting and relevant to all of us. More details about Mike can be found on his website:
www.evolutioninthetropics.com

Below is an abstract for his talk. The talk will be about 30 minutes with plenty of time for discussion. All are welcome!

When: Tues, 29 Mar, 10:00

Where: Argumentet

What: Talk, Discussion, Fika 

Anolis lizard in Honduras. Photo by Mike Logan.

Abstract:

The myth of the porcelain population: are we overestimating extinction risk by underestimating the power of evolution?

Models that explore the impact of climate change at global scales predict that terrestrial ectotherms are especially prone to extinction. But in order to evaluate many species and generate broad conclusions, global models must sacrifice data resolution. In the push for sweeping generalities, is it possible that these models ignore important adaptive features of real populations? In this talk, I will use data from New World reptiles and Old World insects to argue that in situ adaptive processes will significantly reduce the negative effects of rapid environmental change for many, if not most, species.