At least one fish species can adapt in just three generations to survive a sharp change in temperature, researchers said in a study on the fastest rate of evolution ever recorded in wild animals.

“Our study is the first to experimentally show that certain species in the wild could adapt to climate change very rapidly,” said lead researcher Rowan Barrett.

However, the University of British Columbia evolutionary geneticist warned, the evolutionary jump carries a deadly price tag: a high mortality rate.

In their research, scientists from Canada and Europe removed marine stickleback fish from the ocean, put them into ponds with gradually dropping temperatures, and studied them for three years.

Over three generations, one per year, the fish evolved to survive water 2.5 C below the limit for their great grandparents, said the study released online and to be published in the September 7 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The findings suggest at least some animals may be able to change quickly enough to survive predicted climate change.

Virtually all climate research in peer-reviewed science journals predicts global temperatures will gradually rise by several degrees in coming decades, accompanied by swings of extreme cold and heat.

“But just because we’ve seen a large evolutionary response, that doesn’t mean a natural population can adapt to climate change with no consequences,” Mr Barrett said.

“About 95 per cent of the fish population died during the three-year study, with only five per cent developing a tolerance for cold,” he said.

“The consequences of losing 95 per cent might be catastrophic, because the remaining five per cent might not be able to sustain the population,” said Dr Barrett.