Maja Tarka

TL;DR: A meta-analysis focussing on birds suggests that global warming has not systematically affected morphological traits, but has advanced phenological traits and indicates that the evolutionary load imposed by incomplete adaptive responses to ongoing climate change may already be threatening the persistence of species.

TL;DR: This study analysed telomere length measured early in life in both parents and offspring and applied statistical models (so-called ‘animal models') that are based on long-term pedigree data, which revealed a significant heritability and an equally large maternal effect.

TL;DR: This study is to the authors' knowledge the most comprehensive empirical evaluation of the performance of the animal model in relation to parent-offspring regressions in a wild population using data on eight morphological traits in the great reed warbler.

TL;DR: All males had a high migration speed in spring despite large variation in departure dates, indicating a time-minimization strategy to achieve an early arrival at the breeding site; the latter being decisive for high reproductive success in great reed warblers.

TL;DR: The results suggest that genetic correlations can impose significant constraints on the evolution of avian morphology in wild populations, which could have important impacts on evolutionary dynamics and hence population persistence in the face of rapid environmental change.