Genomic Adaptation to Climate Change in Ecosystems

Genomic adaptation underpins the capacity of species and communities to persist as climates shift. By integrating large‐scale sequencing with environmental data, researchers have begun to unravel how natural populations harbour and deploy adaptive variation in response to temperature extremes, altered precipitation regimes and novel ecological pressures. Key approaches include mapping genotype–environment associations to pinpoint candidate loci, quantifying polygenic signals across landscapes and modelling genomic offset to forecast areas of potential maladaptation. Studies now demonstrate that both single‐gene effects and the cumulative action of many loci contribute to resilience, while hybridisation can introduce novel adaptive variants. Such insights are guiding conservation strategies—from assisted gene flow in forest trees to risk assessments for invasive species—and emphasise the need for global collaboration to exchange germplasm and bolster ecosystem stability under rapid climate change.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Whole‐genome resequencing of hundreds of European beech individuals has revealed that, despite high phenotypic plasticity, fine‐scale genotype–environment associations highlight a handful of genomic regions implicated in adaptation to winter temperatures and spring phenology. This work underscores a polygenic basis of climate response and illustrates how spatial resolution influences detection of adaptive signals. In a separate study of rainbowfish, hybrid populations formed between generalist and endemic species display reduced genomic vulnerability to future climates, with overlapping introgressed and adaptive regions indicating a role for adaptive introgression in evolutionary rescue. Finally, a chromosome‐scale assembly and population re‐sequencing of a keystone temperate forest tree uncovered climate‐associated single‐nucleotide polymorphisms and structural variants that have been incorporated into environmental models to predict spatiotemporal shifts in range and to prioritise vulnerable populations for conservation and breeding programmes.

Genomic Adaptation to Climate Change in Ecosystems publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in genomic adaptation to climate change in ecosystems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Genomic adaptation: Genetic changes within populations that enhance survival under new environmental conditions.

Genotype–environment association (GEA): Statistical correlation between genetic variants and environmental variables indicating potential adaptive loci.

Polygenic adaptation: Adaptive change driven by small effects at many genetic loci rather than a single gene.

Adaptive introgression: Incorporation of beneficial genes from one population or species into another through hybridisation.

Genomic offset: Predicted mismatch between current genomic composition and future environmental conditions, indicating potential maladaptation.

References

1. Genomic variation of European beech reveals signals of local adaptation despite high levels of phenotypic plasticity. Nature Communications (2024).
2. Natural hybridization reduces vulnerability to climate change. Nature Climate Change (2023).
3. Genomic insights into local adaptation and future climate-induced vulnerability of a keystone forest tree in East Asia. Nature Communications (2022).
4. Incorporating adaptive genomic variation into predictive models for invasion risk assessment. Environmental Science and Ecotechnology (2023).
5. Considering adaptive genetic variation in climate change vulnerability assessment reduces species range loss projections. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2019).
6. Prospects and limitations of genomic offset in conservation management. Evolutionary Applications (2021).