UM scientist examines jackrabbit camouflage in relation to climate ... - Missoulian

UM scientist examines jackrabbit camouflage in relation to climate change
Dressing for snow when the snow doesn't come can be a life-and-death matter if you're a jackrabbit. But new research shows the rabbits' color-change survival strategy might not be as vulnerable to climate change as originally assumed. “It ended up being, in my mind, a surprisingly hopeful study,” said Jeff Good, a University of Montana professor of ecology and evolution who coordinated the study. “When we first set out with it, it looked like this species was going to be really confronted with a ton of environmental change that was going to lead to its decline.” While Good said there’s a chance that fear could still be true, the research pointed to a key component of how the color camouflage works. His team discovered that white-tailed jackrabbits actually have a pretty robust response to the changing climate.

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This week, their latest chapter in a series of studies to better understand animals’ camouflage and seasonal camouflage was published in Science Magazine in an article titled, “ The evolution of white-tailed jackrabbit camouflage in response to past and future seasonal climates.” The study focuses on white-tailed jackrabbits and how they can change the color of their coats to match their environment in changing seasons by tracking light instead of snow. When the animals find themselves in wintry, snowy terrain, their coats change from brown to white. Climate change brings shorter winters, which can lead to a color mismatch. That makes the jackrabbits stand out to predators. The study discovered genes that determine jackrabbit color variation. That created a better understanding of how color variation evolved and allows researchers to predict how certain jackrabbit populations will be better able to adapt to future declines of snow cover. “A dark animal will be more easily noticed by predators on a white snowy landscape,” said Mafalda Ferreira, a Portuguese scientist who led the study while a graduate student at UM. “For prey like hares and jackrabbits, the ability to remain camouflaged can be the difference between life and death.” Scott Mills, a UM wildlife biology professor involved in the study, said this critical variation may help rescue white-tailed jackrabbits from population declines caused by climate change. Three graduate students, including Ferreira, led the charge for the research. They started in 2018 looking at jackrabbits in south-central Colorado that showed a wide variation in coat color from where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains. This work underscores the potential for student experiences in research at the University of Montana and the unique stamp that they bring to this type of work, Good said. The study also highlighted the collaborative partnership between the university and the community to make research like this happen. “I can honestly say that if three other people would have done the study under my guidance and mentorship it would have been a different study,” Good said. “We would have had similar themes and asked similar questions, but the insights and creativity that the students bring is incredible.”