Isn’t it just beautiful?
I guess there’s just something about writing a piece of your own – whether it’s the time it takes, the passion you find, or just something completely else?
As I’ve mentioned earlier, my project was all about the Willow Grouse (Eng.), or Willow Ptarmigan (Am.). But to put a twist on it, I decided to niche into exposing density gradients in edge habitat to understand how well they use the surrounding environment! This can become important to understand if climatic changes causes the environment to change, or their habitat to become smaller.
There are a few ways animals can react to climate change if their habitat is lessened, here follows a non-exhaustive list:
1) They can move, and find their habitat in another place.
2) They can adapt to their new environment by the selection of suitable traits.
3) They can go extinct.
But what will the willow ptarmigan do? Will it hybridize with the rock ptarmigan and pick up suitable traits? Will it utilize an increase in habitat such as after the pleistocene? Only the future can tell – but I’d rather make sure I’m not surprised!