Study finds mammals, birds could have best shot at surviving climate change
VANCOUVER — Research suggests warm-blooded animals, such as mammals and birds, are better at adapting to climate change, shedding new light on how rapid temperature changes impact biodiversity.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia joined scientists in Switzerland and Sweden to analyze data from 11,465 species, spanning more than 270 million years.
Study author Jonathan Rolland, a UBC postdoctoral fellow at the biodiversity research centre, says the team relied on fossil records, evolutionary details and the current distribution of animals.
Those details helped to reconstruct where animals have lived over the past 270 million years and what temperatures they needed to survive.