Study
Climate change and evolutionary adaptation
Hoffmann, Ary A.; Sgrò, Carla M.
Nature, 2011
Reviews the evidence that populations are evolving in response to recent climate change, separating shifts in timing and range — which are often plastic — from genetic change, and assessing how much adaptive capacity populations actually hold.
- Studied in
- Animalia, Plantae
- Sample size
- review
Documented genetic adaptation to recent warming is far rarer than documented phenotypic response, and much of the observed change in wild populations is plasticity rather than evolution.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Adaptive capacity should be measured directly rather than inferred from observed phenotypic change, because the two are routinely confused in the literature.
How NatureHQ reads it
Read alongside Somero, this is what keeps NatureHQ from writing that species are adapting to a warming world. Most of what has been observed is individuals adjusting, which is real, useful, and has a ceiling that evolution does not.
- A 2011 review; the evidence base for rapid adaptation has grown since, though the central distinction has held.
- Necessarily selective about which systems it treats in depth.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Nature PortfolioPublished in a Nature Portfolio journal.
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-03.