AUTHOR=Mayekar Harshad Vijay , Ramkumar Durga Kavya , Garg Divita , Nair Abhishek , Khandelwal Ashwin , Joshi Kavya , Rajpurohit Subhash 

TITLE=Clinal variation as a tool to understand climate change

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2022.880728

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2022.880728

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=Clines are observable gradients that reflect continuous changes in the biological traits of species across geographical ranges. They can be both genotypic and phenotypic in nature. Various phenomena promote the formation of clines, which includes selection and gene flow between two forms of life that are separated by migration, space, or are targets of natural selection. The extent of variation reflects the gradient of the cline. The focus of this review is to study the interactions between geographical variations in traits and climatic variables and use it as a tool to understand organismal responses to climate change. Clinal variations are active genomic responses at the population level and provide an immense power to address questions related to warming. In recent times it is evidenced that populations are responding to climate change way faster than expected i.e. they adapt rapidly and this adaptation has been recorded at the allelic levels as well. This review primarily takes into account ectotherms and particularly drosophilid flies.  We discuss traits associated with clinal variation at the phenotypic level as well as their underlying genetic regulators. Given prevailing climatic conditions and future projections for climate change, clines could emerge as monitoring tools to track cross-talk between climatic variables and organisms.