By the end of the week, the Northeast is likely to feel
the effects of the cold snap, though temperatures will be a little less extreme and likely in the 8 ° -14 °F below normal range.
«Identifying which
of these candidate genes actually causes variation in responses to
cold snaps will give us the potential to understand whether evolution to climate change can occur in both wild and domesticated animals, allowing us to better predict which species or breeds will be «winners» and «losers» and to better mitigate the
effects of anthropogenic climate change on a wide range
of organisms from beneficial pollinators to invasive pests,» said Theodore Morgan an associate professor
of evolutionary genetics in the Division
of Biology at Kansas State University and senior author
of the study.
One side
effect of the recent
cold snap, during which morning temperatures hovered somewhere between the freezing point and single digits, was noted by copy editor Rusty Blackwell, who found that «stop / start doesn't activate much, if at all, in the
cold December temperatures.»