[Animals] Look for appendages.. How do animals face climate change?

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A study published in the journal "Trends in Ecology and Evolution" on the sixth of September says that the phenomenon of climate change is not only a human problem that humans must adapt to, but that it is a problem that a number of animals are exposed to in the world. Planet Earth, where some "warm-blooded" animals change shapes and get larger beaks, legs and ears. This is because our planet, which is getting hot, forces these animals to quickly "change shape" to better regulate their body temperature as the planet's temperature rises, according to the study's expression.

 

 

According to a report published by The Conversation, global warming poses a major challenge to animals that must maintain a constant body temperature. The report adds that animals deal with global warming in different ways, as some move to cooler areas, such as the poles, or to higher ground. Some also change the timing of key life events such as reproduction and migration, which occur at cooler times, and others change their body sizes to cool more quickly, according to the report.

This study comes after decades of monitoring how animals adapt to global warming.

Bird beaks perform the function of diverting blood flow to the beak when the bird is hot (Getty Images)
Stick to the Allen Rule
The Conversation report says that according to Allen's rule, animals use their appendages to regulate their internal temperature. African elephants, for example, pump warm blood into their large ears, then flap them to disperse the heat. Bird beaks perform a similar function, as they can divert blood flow to the beak when the bird is hot.

The Allen rule is a community rule formulated by Joel Allen in 1877, which states that animals adapted to cold climates have relatively short limbs. Allen's rule also helps make predictions about how animals will evolve as the climate warms, looking for examples of animals changing shape over the past century consistent with a warming climate.

In the new study, scientists from Australia's Deakin University analyzed museum records of animal bodies and reviewed long-term analyzes of wild animals.

The examination revealed several cases in which some appendages had grown rapidly over a short period of time, and they found that most documented examples of deformation specifically involve birds, such as increases in beak size. This includes several species of Australian parrots.

The sizes of parrots' beaks have increased between 4 and 10% since 1871 (Getty Images)
Previous studies have indicated that the beak size of gang-gang cockatoos and red-rumped parrots has increased by between 4 and 10% since 1871.

There have also been increases in some mammals, for example, the "masked shrew" - of rodents - whose tail and leg length have increased significantly since 1950. In the "Great Roundleaf Bat", it has increased Wing size increased by 1.64% during the same period.

A variety of examples indicate that deformation occurs in different types of appendages and in a variety of animals, and in many regions of the world. But more studies are needed to determine which animal species are most affected.

The masked shrew has increased its tail and leg length significantly since 1950 (Getty Images)
Other uses for supplements
But other reasons may explain changes in the animal's body shape. For example, studies have shown that the average beak size of the Galapagos medium ground finch changed over time in response to seed size, which in turn is affected by rainfall.

In this study, the researchers also found clear evidence that birds with smaller beaks are less likely to survive the hot summer, as this effect on survival is stronger than that observed with precipitation. The study also suggests that the role of temperature may be just as important for other uses of appendages, such as feeding, in inducing changes in appendage size.
The researchers say that it is possible to predict which species are most likely to change appendage size in response to warming, that is, those that adhere to Allen's rule. These include, with some caveats, starlings and song sparrows, and a range of seabirds and small mammals, such as the graceful opossum of South America.

 

https://www.aljazeera.net/science/2021/9/15/فتش-عن-الزوائد-كيف-تواجه-الحيوانات