UPSC-Relevant News Items

1. Covid-19 lockdown triggered rapid adaptive evolution in urban songbird beak morphology

Page: 3

Summary:

• • A new study documented that dark-eyed juncos, a songbird population on the UCLA campus, developed longer, slimmer beaks during the 2020-2021 pandemic lockdown period.
• • This rapid shift occurred because the birds, previously accustomed to human food scraps, reverted to a wildland diet when the campus shut down and anthropogenic food sources became scarce.
• • The phenomenon, dubbed the "anthropause," demonstrated how temporary changes in human presence can quickly influence animal physical traits via natural selection driven by diet change.

Additional Facts:

• • The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, provides the statutory framework for conservation. State Forest Departments manage urban wildlife, enforcing rules against provisioning that alters natural diets and drives evolutionary shifts.
• • The temporary anthropause resulted from lockdowns mandated under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The MoEFCC uses frameworks like the NBAP to monitor ecosystem response to such large-scale human behavioral changes.

Linkage with UPSC course:

• • GS Mains (GS-3): Conservation; Environmental pollution and degradation; Environmental impact assessment.
• • Prelims: Adaptive evolution; Anthropause; Effect of anthropogenic activities on biodiversity; Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

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