The ever-increasing predicament of climate change results in major alterations in the immediate environment of different organisms at an unprecedented global scale. Thus, organisms find themselves trapped in an environment that alters at a rate much higher than their genotypes can adapt, owing to their relaxed rates of mutation. This is exactly where epigenetic modifications come in handy, as they help the organism cope with drastic changes in environmental conditions mediated by climate change. That said, these adaptations may not be enough to combat the rapidly-changing climate changes in the long run. Furthermore epigenetic modification-mediated adaptations are not always for the greater good; in certain cases, it may result in the organism becoming invasive, in which case other organisms which occupy the same niche, are also affected. Not all epigenetic modifications can be credited with enhanced adaptability in different organisms, and in certain cases have even been proven to be deleterious to the organism itself so much so that it threatens their survival on this planet. Along with climate change, environmental toxicants which are also on the rise lead to detrimental epigenetic alterations that ultimately manifest as life-threatening disease pathologies across different organism lineages.
