Samwik asked:
"Don't we see historical evidence of rapid (decadal) climate change."
I think it's accepted the change at the end of the last ice age was spectacular. I'll try to find a link. From memory, temperature rose rapidly, over a decade or two, about 10,000 years ago to warmer than today, dropped back to near ice age temps again, then rose more slowly from about 8000 years ago.
You also asked:
"Are there other examples of adaptation preceding the pressures in evolution?"
I very much doubt it. There have probably been times when some members of a species are pre-adapted to conditions that develop.
Then that gene combination would take over the population. If we pull off adaptation preceding evolutionary pressure I would say this could be the first. Unfortunately we don't really know what we need to adapt to.
