Move, Adapt or Perish

Source Institution: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Source Exhibit: David H. Koch Hall of Fossils - Deep Time

Source Url: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list

Source Kind: interpretive_topic_or_panel

Use: research inspiration only; SAGE will write original interpretation

Dossier Status: scientifically_enriched_concept_room_10

Plain Language Explanation: When environments change, species do not all respond the same way. Some populations track suitable habitat into new regions. Some persist because existing traits already tolerate the new conditions. Over generations, populations may evolve. Others decline or become extinct when change is too fast, suitable habitat disappears or ecological relationships break down.

Evidence: Pleistocene mammals repeatedly shifted ranges as glaciers advanced and retreated.; Beringian fossils and genetic evidence document dispersal between Eurasia and North America.; Many Ice Age megafaunal lineages ultimately disappeared while others survived into the modern world.

Examples From Collection: Mammuthus primigenius; Bison priscus; Gulo gulo; Ursus americanus; Megaloceros giganteus

Common Misconception: Species do not decide to adapt. Individual organisms may change behavior, but evolutionary adaptation occurs in populations over generations.

What Scientists Still Debate: The relative roles of climate change, habitat transformation and human activity in late-Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions differ among regions and species and remain actively studied.

Sources: https://www.nps.gov/articles/beringiamegafauna.htm; https://www.nps.gov/articles/aps-17-1-4.htm; https://home.nps.gov/articles/000/quaternary-period.htm

Enrichment Method: SAGE original interpretive concept; natural Earth-system change separated from human-driven change; migration, body size, ecosystem reconstruction and human impacts tied to explicit evidence and uncertainty