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According to a new study, as the climate warms, male dragonflies are losing the “golden” wing decoration used to attract females.
As a result, scientists call for more research to study whether this radically different evolution would cause females to no longer recognize males of their own species in the long run.
Many dragonflies have decorative black patterns on their wings to help them find a mate.New research Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences It was found that male dragonflies are evolving in warmer climates to reduce the “golden light”, although female dragonflies do not seem to follow suit.
These findings reveal how different organisms adapt to their environment, and how characteristics related to mating have more impact than just mating-but they also raise the question of how dragonflies look and mate as the earth warms. How the model will change over the years.
“There is a big problem in biology, that is, how animals adapt to different climates, thereby shaping the diversity of species characteristics,” said Michael Moore, An evolutionary biologist and postdoctoral research assistant at Washington University in St. Louis, engaged in this research. “It turns out that this mating-related feature has these very important effects on its ability to live in different parts of North America, depending on how hot or cold it is.”
There are different amounts of black paint and patterns on the wings of dragonflies. They are used to identify potential romantic partners, woo them, and scare away competitors who may also be interested.But this dark wing pigmentation Can raise the body temperature of dragonflies Up to 2C, leading to damage to their wing tissues, reduced fighting ability, and even death due to overheating-so it will also affect the response of some dragonflies to temperature rise and warming.
In this study, the scientists used a database of more than 300 dragonfly species, and cross-referenced the wings color, position and climate information of nearly 3,000 dragonflies from different species. Then they compared how dragonflies from the same species changed their wing colors depending on whether they were born in a hotter or colder climate.
They found that male dragonflies almost always respond to warm temperatures by evolving fewer black wing decorations.
“This seems to be a very consistent way for dragonflies to adapt to different climates,” Moore said. “This is really exciting because it is one of the most consistent evolutionary responses we have seen in any kind of environment with any kind of mating-related characteristics in any kind of animal.”
In fact, although the characteristics of sexual selection are generally believed to help increase reproductive success rates, said Kathy Fowler-FinnAssociate professor in the Department of Biology at St. Louis University, this evidence suggests that they may actually play a key role in adapting to climate emergencies.
The study used climate warming predictions to show that as the earth warms, the black wing decorations of dragonflies may need to be further reduced. “Our research shows that this may be a very beneficial way of adaptation,” Moore said, “and they may continue to evolve in this way, which seems to make sense.”
Dragonfly females will not respond to climate change in the same way and will not discard black decorations in warm climates. Although researchers don’t yet know why men and women respond so differently, there are two things: It reminds scientists that they probably shouldn’t assume that men and women will adapt to climate emergencies in exactly the same way, Moore said, it proposes The question of how dragonfly mating patterns will change with climate.
These changes may cause females to no longer recognize males of their own species: the scientists behind this study call for more research on this.
Moore said that, in fact, research in this area only “really touches the skin at this point.” He said that in one hundred years, the earth will look very different, and scientists need to understand as much as possible the reactions of organisms in order to better manage these populations as the world around them changes.
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