Early onset of winter triggers evolution towards smaller snow voles in Graubünden
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 - 11:31
in Psychology & Sociology
Researchers have succeeded in documenting an extremely rare case of evolutionary adaptation “in action” among wild snow voles. The selective pressure triggered by several consecutive winters with early snowfall resulted in a genetic decrease in body weight. The reason: Smaller voles are fully grown by the time the weather conditions deteriorate.