Seasonality, Adaptation, & Resilience

Organisms are forced to cope with seasonal environments in nearly every habitat on Earth (Fig. 2). Species commonly alter their physiology, morphology, or behavior to survive harsh seasons such as winter, and many display tremendous flexibility in the timing of these transitions to align with local climate conditions (e.g., a longer or shorter winter). Extensive progress has been made in understanding seasonal timing in plant systems like Arabidopsis and corn, but our understanding in animals is still somewhat limited because many animal model systems have weak seasonal responses. This gap has become alarming because there are now firm links between the capacity to adjust the seasonal timing of life’s key events and local extinction risk in diverse organisms, including species of conservation concern (e.g., pollinators) and those important for human health (e.g., pests, vectors). We are using a non-model insect with a robust seasonal response to better understand the evolutionary processes and molecular mechanisms underlying seasonal timing, as well as possible links with population persistence. Our results thus far highlight an important role for the circadian clock gene pathway, suggesting that a single set of genes could be governing how animals respond to daily and yearly environmental change.

Fig. 2. An example of organismal response to seasonal change at a temperate habitat. Attribution: J. Hagelüken, CC BY-SA 4.0