A wildflower survived a historic megadrought. Scientists now think they know how | CNN Wild scarlet monkeyflowers in California survived a historic drought by relying on a rapid evolution, marking the first time the process has been observed in the wild.

During the worst dry spell in 1,200yrs, #wildflowers relied on a type of #RapidEvolution ( #EvolutionaryRescue) that had never been documented

This happens when a species is able to recover from the threat of #extinction by an external factor such as a #drought

#climate
www.cnn.com/2026/03/12/s...

Evolution to the rescue Recovery of wildflower populations from extreme drought reveals hidden evolutionary resilience

#ExtremeEvents
#evolutionaryrescue
#genetics

"Human disturbances, such as climate change, habitat degradation, & pollution, can extirpate wild populations & even species."

Yet "the [Western US] monkeyflower populations that experienced the most extreme droughts declined, but some of them
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Original post on mstdn.science

The symposium on mechanisms of adaptation to changing conditions in microorganisms (S34) is taking place today and I’m presenting a poster. If you’d like to learn about the role hypermutation and environmental fluctuations play in rescuing a cold-adapted marine bacterium from heat death, feel […]

Cane toads = rapid evolutionary change for those species who don’t learn #CTA #evolutionaryrescue @CSUpostdocs some snakes don’t even try to eat toads! Natural selection!