The squirrels know - or at lest some of them

A scientist by the name of Stan Boutin has been studying the Yukon's North American Red Squirrel of about 15 years and has come to the conclusion that they are undergoing genetic changes due to global warming. The timing of their breeding period has changed 18 days over the last 10 years. He believes that this shift is a due to genetic changes in the squirrels.

This is a BIG DEAL for a number of reasons. Certainly shifting breeding patterns to adjust for global warming is important, but the changes being due to actual genetic change challenges the idea of the speed at which species genetic changes occur.

Boutin's report is going to be published in the March 03 edition of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. Unfortunately, you have to have membership to access the report. If anyone out there does have access, I would love to at least see a summary.