One of the many changes that results from global warming is
a shift to earlier springs - something that has led many biologists to worry
what will happen to populations that have adapted to specific events with
precise timing when that timing shifts.
Bernt-Erik Sæther, an NTNU biologist and director of the
university's Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, was a co-author on a paper
published Friday, 26 April in Science magazine that explores this problem.
Earlier springs have caused caterpillars to hatch and grow
earlier than they used to. But great tits, which catch caterpillars to feed
their young, have not been able to advance their timing of egg-laying to keep
pace with the caterpillars. This has
caused an increasing mismatch between the peak availability of caterpillars and
the hatching of baby great tits, which has caused early offspring survival in
great tits to decline.