Chapter 38, Problem 12TYK

SCIENTIFIC THINKING The human-generated increase in greenhouse gases is a natural experiment (see Module 38.11) that provides many opportunities to study the effects of warming temperatures and climate change on populations, communities, and ecosystems. For example, snowshoe hares are adapted to the climate of their habitat in the taiga of the high mountains and northern regions of North America. One prominent adaptation is seasonal changes in fur color—a white winter coat that turns brown in the spring—that camouflage hares from a long list of predators, including lynx, bobcats, martens, weasels, foxes, owls, hawks, mountain lions, wolves, and coyotes. These color changes are triggered by day length. As increasing spring temperatures cause earlier snowmelt in the taiga, biologists have observed many white hares sitting on brown earth. Suggest how this natural experiment could be used to investigate the effects of climate change on populations and communities in the taiga ecosystem (assume historical data are available).